If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

From time to time even the most experienced presenter gets an attack of nerves or an episode of panic.   It happened to me the other evening whilst being Toastmaster at my local public speaking club.

I had prepared well for the meeting.  I had my agenda and notes but when I arrived at the meeting things began to unravel.  Firstly, we had an unusually high call of rate that night so the audience were thin on the ground and we were short of members to fulfill club roles.   Then I discovered that one of the speakers had forgotten to arrange for a laptop for his presentation!   Then it was time to start the meeting and Our president and another two speakers had not yet arrived  due to traffic problems!

What was I to do?   I could feel the anxiety and panic rising within me and I have to admit that I even fleetingly though about walking away!   Thankfully I knew I was made of sterner stuff and so I fell back on that tried and tested standby of most speakers, Deep breathing.

After a couple of minutes of proper belly breathing” the fog started to clear and I was able to rearange the agenda and get the meeting started with a topics session.    Belly breating is a slow deep breathing  techhnique where, when you breath in, your belly expands rather than your chest.   Correspondingly, when you breath out, your belly contracts.   Just putting one hand on your tummy and experimenting with your breathing will teach you to get it right.

When you breath in this way, you fill the whole of your lungs and get much more oxygen into your lungs which helps you to think clearly.  Also that slow, rhythmic deep breathing sends physiological signals which force your brain to calm down.

so next time you feel the panic rising, take a few deep belly breaths, step up  to meet your fears and watch them dissolve as your confidence and clarity grows.  It works like magic!

Fellow Blogger Frank Roche just posted a neat article throwing down the gauntlet for those presenters who struggle with meaningless slide headlines. Check it out here.
In my experience presenters often don’t give enough thought t their headline. This is especially important if you follow the tips in Cliff Atkins Beyond Bullet Points approach. A great test of headlines is to read them from slide to slide in order and see if they make sense. Is there a logical flow of one idea to another and does each headlien accurately represent the main one main idea supported by the slide?

Let me know what you think.

Gavin

As many of you may have already guessed, I am a member of Toastmasters, a worldwide
association of public speaking clubs which provides the opportunity for novice
and experienced speakers alike to practice and get contructive feedback.

It is standard protocol in a Toastmasters meeting that a speaker starts his
speech with the words “Mr Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters and most welcome
guests.”

Now I am the first to admit that this can get a bit formulaic and repetitive but
I was reminded recently of the benefits a practiced opening brings, particularly to new and
inexperienced speakers.

When you are nervous, getting started can be one fo the hardest parts of public
speaking. By giving everyone a familiar and well rehearsed opening like
“Mr Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters, and most welcome guests” everyone who
comes up to the lectern to speak can start off knowing exactly what they are going to say
and can say it clearly and confidently. This positive start builds both confidence
and a positive momentum that leads the speaker naturally into the introduction
and the body of their speech.

Of course this opening is not appropriate for all types of speech or presentations inside or outside of
Toastmasters however, the principle of having a well rehearsed opening is. Ideally one should always rehears the whole presentation a number of times prior to delivering the speech for real but this isn’t always possible. But there is always time to prepare and rehearse your first few words. If you are confident about the first few words yu are going to say, you increase your chances of a successful presentation significantly.