If you have a voice in your head saying ‘ I am rubbish at public speaking’ – then good news – I am about to give you the liberating power of shutting that voice up! Just test yourself out – follow these 5 days of challenges and get things moving – action is the best tool to beat over-thinking and procrastination!

This blog post is full of relevant tips for you if you’re new to the ‘public speaking’ adventure.

You will be guided through more steps with me as you progress. You will of course progress very quickly if you have me on your team. So I suggest you connect with me via the form below – that way I know you are genuinely up for the challenge of becoming an effective speaker – an engaging presenter – the kind of person who gives talks that create an impact.

If you have a mouth and a brain you can speak in public

That’s all very well, but what if….

• my voice isn’t nice to listen to
• I shake when I try to speak in public
• people just glaze over when I start a speech
• I freeze up half way through – and look stupid
• people know I am sweating
• I get asked something I can’t answer

We never completely get rid of the gremlins in our brain – nagging nasty negative gremlins. We can put them in a box though – and starved of fresh air they begin to wilt. The best tools we have to enable us to put these fears into a box – tactics and action – followed by learning and more action – we can take control. 

Study this list – they all make for strong connection with the audience:

• Relaxed body posture
• Conversational style
• Unexpected jolt
• Involving the audience  with reflective questions … (Don’t you..?)
• Humour – but in a very relaxed authentic style – woven in.
• Serious points combined with humour 

Really – you are saying I do the 5 day challenge and I will achieve this standard? Come on!

You will not reach this level of skill overnight – what seems so natural to experienced speakers will actually have been highly prepared, practised and tweaked with with all that experience.

You have to start somewhere – that is what I am saying! So start now. 

What now?

Start. Write a list of all the reasons for making the effort – and start the journey. Take this 5 day challenge set out below.

It would be good to hear about your progress and barriers as you go through this – so please let me know in the comments here. Better still do these 2 things:

1. Sign up below to become a ‘purposeful presenter’ – see form at bottom of this post – and be aware that you will be getting VERY good value for free!

2. Ask to join the  ‘YOU FOR BUSINESS’ Facebook group. I will appear there for live training and Q & A regularly – and you will get other people’s perspective and tips on using video or face-to-face communication and presentation to get more people engaged with your business – what works and what doesn’t – the triumphs and the disasters! I hope to encourage members to share examples of engaging or bad presenters and speakers you spot online or on TV – even radio. This is how we learn – this is how we get motivated and brilliant! The group will cover many other topics too – anything that is to do with using the power of YOU (your voice and real life presence) to engage your target market. Loads of ‘how to’ stuff – and very ‘real’.

But for now –  back to the business of getting you up and speaking 

Ready to get started – here is your 5-day challenge to get presentation ready.

During your 5 days you need to make time to work through the following process – it won’t take a whole day – but needs commitment.

DAY 1

• Read for 1 minute – out loud – from an article that interests you – record it on your Iphone or Laptop recorder. Play back. Listen as objectively as you can. Make a note of what you ‘feel’ and write a list of the obvious ‘need to sort’ stuff.
• Repeat step 1 – but do it ‘better’.

DAY 2

• Now address every issue you noted along the way so far – but most importantly you need to see everything you do as ‘doing it for them’ – the listener, the audience.  It is not about you – it is how you make THEM feel that counts.
• Record yourself on your laptop or phone – but this time – with the visual too – and playback – and repeat the process. Spot the body language negatives – how would that make YOU feel if YOU were the audience? Relaxed? Confident that they could relax? Or – nervous for you.. not good.  Audiences don’t want to be mean and they will clap to be polite – but that is not what you are aiming for – you need the real instinctive responses!

DAY 4

• Now get your guinea pig again (and ideally 2 or 3) – and by now you will also have changed the structure and content a little I imagine (if you are paying attention to the flow and engaging quality of what you are saying).  Deliver the mini talk to the guinea pig/s. DO THIS AS IF YOU WERE IN A CONVERSATION – but also in control and using a structure – that’s the strong/warm balance you need to aim for. Get them to write notes and feedback afterwards.

DAY 5

• Go for a walk. Go over your presentation out loud and in your head – get very comfortable with the flow, purpose and content. Feel like you own it – and get excited about the message. Relax and prepare.

If you really commit to the above list of actions (done in the right order) – you will have the tools to feel more confident about getting out there and spreading the word about you and your business – of engaging people who might well become clients and who will certainly start spreading the word about you in a positive way.  If this is your first attempt at doing a presentation then be gentle with yourself –  you won’t be at your top level until you start getting more practice. Take action to start the process of learning from experience.