Busting the Biggest Myth About Public Speaking and Presentations

If you were planning on running a marathon, you wouldn’t think that the fact that you have been walking since you were a toddler meant that you had all the experience and training that you needed. Should one of your friends have that attitude, they would quite obviously be gasping for air and suffering from muscle cramps after only a short distance but you certainly wouldn’t consider them to simply be “naturally “ bad at running. Instead you would advise them that long distance running is a skill that requires training and practice if you are to be successful.

And yet, many people hold exactly this attitude about public speaking and presentation skills training. They do not see the point in seeking public speaking training or presentation training and coaching, because they do not see how it could do any good. They believe that talking is the same as speaking in public, and that one poor showing means that they simply do not have the talent. This is as ridiculous as the analogy above. There are of course some people who have a particular innate talent for public speaking in the same way that some people are naturally athletic, but all successful public speakers and presenters have had hours of presentation training and coaching in order to become as accomplished as they are.

Any fears that you might have about speaking in public or giving presentations are perfectly natural – it is unlikely that you have had the levels of presentation training and coaching that the professionals have had, so of course it seems absurd to you that you could ever perform at that level. However, this barrier is one that can easily be overcome once you realise that speaking in public is a skill like any other, and like other skills you will need to practice and train if you are to reach your potential. This knowledge allows you to understand your current level of ability as not a “natural” incapability or innate lack of talent. Instead, you are simply untrained.

With proper presentation training and coaching, you can easily become an accomplished presenter or public speaker. Successful public speakers make the entire process seem effortless as they deliver an entire presentation without notes and with panache and style.
However, it is this very element of public speaking that requires the most amount of effort. These speakers will have spent serious amounts of time preparing their presentation, training and coaching themselves not to forget any of their planned turns of phrase or body language.
The next time you begin to worry about speaking in public or making presentations, take a step back and consider how much of this worry is based on the myth that successful public speakers are simply innately talented. You will find that a little presentation training and coaching will show you just how untrue that is.
Editor notes
Presentation Guru is a specialist presentation training and coaching company aimed at senior managers. Further information can be found at www.presentationguru.co.uk or email john@presentationguru.co.uk, telephone 0845 899 1248.

Presentation anxiety, how do we overcome it?

I've been pondering and researching all week on how to better address presentation anxiety, which if you believe the stats, is the no one fear in the US, bigger than the fear of death itself! Anxiety is largely rooted in past experiences, so in our case somewhere along the line you have had a bad presentation, or believe that you are about to give a bad presentation. The reality is that the things you fear are extremely unlikely to happen if you give yourself time to prepare, and techniques like breathing, viusualisation or simple engaging with members of the audience before your presentation will help.

I'll be talking about NLP to alleviate presentation anxiety in my next post, but please follow the attached link if you want some direct tips. http://www.oatmealtraining.co.uk/News/Scared-of-public-speaking.html

Presentation anxiety, friend or foe

Simply put, some anxiety is good. It's only bad when you are so nervous that its visible to the audience and prevents you from communicating clearly. All good presenters suffer from some level of anxiety, even if it doesnt show, I guarantee you that they are anxious inside before a big talk. And lets face it, we value our pride, dignity and the respect of the audience, and what we really fear is failing before an audience in any shape or form. When I ask my students what they fear, the list is fairly predictable, forgetting lines, being boring, equipment failure or even being regarded as a fraud! But the good news is, our fears rarely see the light of day and even less so if you prepare. So, research your audience, minimise the failure of equipment by testing everything and having backups, understand your topic thoroughly and REHEARSE, and your anxiety will be kept to a minimum.