Public Speaking Jitters: How To Give an AWESOME Presentation PART TWO

Welcome to Part Two on my Public Speaking Series. Series is the wrong word, considering this is the second, and last part. Welcome to my duet on Public Speaking?

Moving on. Last time I talked about how to calm those nerves (scary scary blank faces and sleeping audience of doom!) by Knowing Your Audience, Tailoring Your Anecdotes To Your Audience, Observing Your Audience (really it was all about them and not you) and Using Your Body. If you didn't read it, it has some useful tips so I'd go check it out here, or you can scroll down to the last post.

Today, I'm talking about you and the person who hired you to present!

WHY YOU ARE PRESENTING

Remember when someone asked you to do a presentation on eg., How to Write a Screenplay and you, the screenwriter extraordinaire you are, said "Sure, I'll do it!". Well the person or company who hired you to speak is expecting your insight on screenwriting. The audience is looking forward to your tips and insider secrets on how to write a blockbuster movie or an indie award winner.

So perhaps it's not the right audience for you to talk about your Horse Ranch or that you have a killer bottle cap collection.
Or less tongue in cheek topics - don't do a presentation on what it's like being a TV Showrunner, or a director or producer. Your audience wants to know what a script looks like, they need to know abouts acts and how you can't really put a character's internal thoughts in a screenplay because if they don't say it or you can't see it, it can't be done. This audience is probably a long way from being a Showrunner, and they may have no interest in being a director or producer. You will hold your audience's attention if you stick to the topic they have spent their time and money to come and see.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

Practice your presentation, time it and make sure you're not going to run too long or too short. Record yourself and listen to see where you can improve - are you speaking in a lullaby-like monotone? Change up your tempo and your pitch. Do you speak too fast and are overloading you audience? Slow it down. Give them a chance to think about the shiny ideas you've just presented them. Not only does practice allow you to hone your skills, but it helps you get to know your product, and your presentation more fully.

And that brings me to the big one. The biggest thing that will help you conquer your nerves when it comes to giving a speech or compelling presentation.

KNOW YOUR PRODUCT

If you know the topic you are talking about inside and out, you are less likely to get mental blanks and forget everything, you are going to feel more confident that you can handle the day because you know your shizzle and if you forget one detail, you'll have something else you can talk about.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

This weekend I worked at The Age VCE & Careers Expo as a Student Ambassador for my University. I spoke to year 10, 11 and 12 students, parents, careers advisors and adults looking to change their career direction about the benefits of my University.
I am studying a Bachelor of Writing & Publishing, so when I had potential students of Aquaculture, Plumbing or Enginering etc come to me for information about what we offer, I floundered a little bit and had to look up the course guide. I got mental blanks in what I could tell them and didn't know the answers to some of their questions (but could direct them on who to contact, by email or phone or if they happened to be standing next to me). I got NERVOUS. Because I didn't KNOW MY TOPIC. When I had potential Writing and Publishing Students I was a completely different person. I was passionate, I could tell them about the different subjects and the industry connections they could make and practical experience they would gain from the course. I knew my stuff and I became fired up (in a good way) when talking to them. I had a girl come and speak to me on Saturday and she came back with a friend and her mother on Sunday (hi if you're reading this!).
Doing the research and KNOWING YOUR TOPIC truly are the KEY to conquering nerves.

As Conference and Festival Season approaches (heck, the whole year is Conference and Festival Season) I hope some of these tips will have helped you.

Much Love,

Sairz

Public Speaking Jitters: How To Conquer All Encompassing Nerves Part ONE

From anxietyreliefsolutions.com

Public speaking scares the heck out of (almost) everyone, right? Your heart starts thumping distractingly, you start getting sweaty palms, you blush and for some reason you forget how to use the English language but you CAN'T STOP TALKING.

It's a big part of being a professional writer, speaking at schools, at conferences, at book launches and signings, at festivals, on panels...gone are the days when a writer's literary prowess could speak for itself!

But fear no longer, fellow glossophobics (the word for fear of public speaking. You learnt something new just then, didn't you.), Public Speaking is a learned skill and I gots some easy tips to help you through it! This is part ONE of a TWO part series on conquering your public speaking nerves.
First up lets talk

KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE

Who are you presenting to? A bunch of kindergarteners, year nine girls or Wall Street bankers? Even if the difference isn't as profound as this, merely knowing you're speaking to Women's Magazine editors instead of bankers will make a difference. By knowing your audience you can

TAILOR YOUR ANECDOTES AND EXAMPLES 

You might be doing a presentation on writing, so when discussing writing sales copy to the Women's Magazine editors you might talk about use an example of different approaches to writing about shoes, whereas you might talk to the Wall Street bankers about the lifestyle they are selling their clients.
Enhance interest in what you're saying by tailoring your anecdotes and examples to appeal to your specific audience. By doing this, they will be more actively engaged in your talk and listening attentively. And it will help you feel more CONFIDENT on stage.
But what if you are the last speaker of an awfully long morning and everyone's zoned out and ready for lunch already?

OBSERVE YOUR AUDIENCE

Notice that a half the audience is dozing in their seat, or doodling in their notebook or perhaps whispering with a friend about their weekend. Do not just:

Instead, GET YOUR AUDIENCE TO USE A DIFFERENT SENSE
Your audience have been LISTENING and LOOKING for a long time. Get them out of their seats and MOVING: make them jump up and down a little or perhaps do a spontaneous dance. Make them stretch or SPEAK - for five seconds, have them introduce themselves to the person behind them. And after five or thirty seconds get them sitting down and ready for your presentation and you'll be surprised at how attentive your passive audience of seconds ago has become.

USE YOUR BODY

SMILE. Even though you're nervous, make sure you SMILE A LOT. It is a proven fact that people are more likely to warm to you if you smile.
PUT YOUR SHOULDERS BACK and stand up tall. This gives you the appearance of confidence and tricks not only the audience, but your body into believing you are confident in front of your audience.
PROJECT YOUR VOICE. Audiences that cannot hear the speaker are likely to tune out and either talk to their neighbours or look bored. And seeing people look bored can cause little gremlins of doubt to enter your brain and convince you that you are boring and shouldn't be there. But in fact all it really means is that you should speak LOUDER.

That's it for PART ONE: Know your audience, tailor your anecdotes, observe your audience and use your body. In PART TWO I shall discuss zipping your lip, getting there early, and knowing your product.

Big kiss,

Sairz

DISCLAIMER: I am by no means a public speaking aficionado. I do it very infrequently and it makes my heart thump, face heat up and I can't control my mouth to make it shut up. I tell you this because I do not want to heighten your expectations of my public speaking skillz. My public speaking nerves are however, what happens now. They are not forever. These tips come from a training seminar I attended this week which I wanted to share.