By Dylan Cernoia | Observer Contributor
Picture this: You have a massive speech to give and close to 100-125 people are there waiting for you to come out and speak. You shuffle your notes, take a few steps out up to the podium and, just as you are about to speak, you freeze.
According to The Washington Post, around 25% of Americans are fearful of such a scenario. I have been doing public speaking for about 10 years and I was involved with several different speech tournaments throughout that time. I’d like to share some tips that I have learned through my many failures and successes.
1. The audience doesn’t see the speech the same way.
I always love to start out with this because it’s easily overlooked. When you freeze for a second as you struggle to remember what you wanted to say next, it isn’t as bad as you think. Trust me that the two seconds you spend without speaking feels completely natural to your audience as it gives them a second to process what you just said. The audience also doesn’t know if you jumble up a sentence that you wrote down because, unlike you, they haven’t heard this speech 70 times! Even if you make what seems like a massive mistake, remember that the audience is comprised of people who are afraid of public speaking themselves and often will give you grace for your mistakes.
2. Watch how you speak.
I have listened to many speeches and given just as many and something I notice when someone is uncomfortable speaking is a quiet voice and a fast pace. How you sound is a huge part of speaking, massively impacting how the audience receives what you say. Often, when someone is uncomfortable, they will talk in a whisper and speak faster than a speeding car. I hear it so often that honestly at this point it’s become somewhat of a pet peeve of mine. Always try to speak so that the people in the back of the room can hear you, and never be afraid to slow down. Speaking slower allows time for your audience to process the things you’ve said.
3. Stories are the way to communicate.
I have listened to so many boring speeches that I only try to remember the most boring speeches I’ve heard for laughs later. The speeches that I think of as good speeches now are stories. The best speech I ever heard was a simple story.
To this day I could still tell you all about that speech even though I watched it over three years ago. So why did I remember it? It was a story. The entirety of his speech revolved around this man quitting his job. Just think about your own life. If I asked you to give me the basic principles of a class or the basic story behind a TV show, which would you remember more easily?
4. It’s okay to be scared but not to be terrified.
Fear is a practical emotion. I once heard it said that it is one of the three emotions that can cause us to do something. That said, it should never control you in any aspect of your life especially when delivering a speech. Fear can be a natural caffeine, boosting and heightening your senses, giving you a better memory, and helping your presentation go well.
However, too much fear could cause you to choke on your words mid-speech and give you that irresistible urge to run away. To keep fear from becoming terror, just remember that it’s just a presentation. You’ve prepared, and that in roughly ten minutes, it will all be over and at that point you can briefly excuse yourself from the room to go and reward yourself.
So now back to the story at the beginning. That wasn’t just a fun anecdote. It actually happened to me. I stood in front of a room of roughly 100 people and couldn’t remember my opening line to my speech and stood there for probably a minute trying to remember it. But honestly, that is probably one of my proudest speech moments. It certainly shouldn’t be as it was probably one of the worst speeches I had ever given but I am proud because, while it would have been easier to give up, I persevered .
So, get out there and try to do some public speaking, especially if it scares you. Public speaking is one of those things that, while you may only give a few speeches in your life, it really does help when getting a job, giving presentations during class, and just handling yourself in higher class social situations.
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