I've been asked frequently if I get nervous at all before I speak or perform. My honest answer is "yes, at least a little, and sometimes more than that."

One of the fears people have about public speaking is the fear of being seen as nervous while in front of an audience. People believe that the audience will see their knees knocking, or that their nerves will get in the way of delivering a great presentation.

Let's consider this: the speaker, with nerves of steel, and having delivered his presentation many, many times, comes out in front of the audience exuding calm. He or she runs through the presentation with nary a glitch and a steady voice. Is this where you want to be?

Maybe. Sort of. Kinda. 

A calm and steady speaker with absolutely no edge can certainly deliver. But is he/she delivering in a way that is too calm? Too steady? Too indicative of a rote performance? 

Does the audience sense that he/she is essentially "phoning it in"? Does the calm lead or equate to a lack of enthusiasm and even monotony?

Either of these can cause the audience to turn away from the speaker, to lose interest, and even, dare I say, be lulled into the semi-hypnotic state that monotonous presenters seem to engender in their audiences.

Being at least a little nervous is actually a good thing. Nervous energy is energy. Nervousness can give you a boost of adrenaline. Use that energy in your performance and the audience will respond.

As someone who speaks professionally and entertains professionally (as a psychic entertainer/mentalist and former magician),  I am more concerned before a presentation or show if I am not at least a little nervous. That means I'm not really on my game and I may never grab the audience's attention in the ways that I want.

Knees knocking? Move around (if not tied to a podium).

Notice your voice cracking? Start playing with vocal variety (and/or take a sip of water...maybe you have a little dry mouth).

Know that most people are nervous about speaking (if not downright afraid). If they notice a little of that in you, it actually connects them to you while thinking "Wow, I'd be so much more nervous than that!"

So take your nerves as a good sign that you are aware of yourself and will be more aware of your audience. Channel the energy into enthusiasm and you'll be ahead of the game every time.

Or go for utter calm and take the chance that you'll calm the audience as well...until they fall asleep.




 

The most important attribute of any speaker is his or her voice. But this is more than mere pitch and volume. How you speak, the way you use your voice, is extremely important.

Monotony is not just about the tone of your voice staying at the same level. Any aspect of your voice, including the cadence/speed of your speaking, can become monotonous. Repetition of any aspect, whether speed, pitch, tone, volume, and the words you use can be boring or hypnotic--and we don't normally want to either bore our audiences or put them in a trance.

One quick way to practice vocal variety is to pick up a children's book and read the story out loud. You can do it with your kids, or even with adults.

There's just something about reading a children's story that brings out the storyteller in just about everyone. It brings out our vocal variety.

Audio record it! Listen to what you did with the telling of the tale, and how your voice maneuvered through the process. 

If you don't want to use a children's book, I can recommend the book I've used in many of my classes and workshops: Fractured Fairy Tales by A.J. Jacobs. Yes, this is a book collecting many of the Jay Ward Fractured Fairy Tales that appeared on the Rocky and Bullwinkle shows.

My own vocal variety comes from watching Captain James T. Kirk's monologues on the original Star Trek.  I often tell people "I went to the William Shatner School of Speech!" Whatever one might say about Shatner's acting, he is one of the best examples of vocal variety out there.

Welcome to my new blog.

I've been teaching public speaking and presentations skills since the 1980s, but haven't really written anything on the subject. I was the Technical Editor for two editions of Malcolm Kushner's excellent book PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR DUMMIES (and am quoted in all editions), but haven't put my name on any articles on this topic. I am the author of seven books and co-author of two others, none of which have been on public speaking or presentations or media skills, other than writing materials for classes and seminars.

But at this point in my life, I want to share more and positively affect many more than the clients I've had so far. 

The intention of this blog is to provide tips and answer questions generally about public speaking, creating presentations, and achieving great skills as the subject of interviews by the media/press. More specifically, I'll be addressing  the titular topic of this website and my personal thrust for coaching/training: How to Speak as Yourself.

There are many training programs for speakers out there, and many of them are absolutely good (and some excellent and some poor). 

There are also organizations such as Toastmasters who offer both regular opportunities to speak and some structure for speakers.

However, one thing I've noted is how little emphasis is often placed on bringing out the personality of the potential speaker as one way to clearly differentiate that speaker from others. In fact, if one watches speakers who represent an organizational training--which you can do on YouTube these days--you might get the feeling that, subject matter aside, you're watching cookie cutter speakers.

In other words, while there are certain rules for public speaking (which I really see as "guidelines" rather than rules), from voice to movement, audiences need to get a sense of who YOU are as a person, not just your subject matter. People need to connect with the speaker, with YOU, and they do that by considering how you present yourself when speaking. If you remind them too much of other speakers they've seen, especially speakers on other topics, they get no sense of YOU.

My perspective is to learn to speak as yourself even when speaking to huge audiences. In other words, I want to help you bring out what it is about you that makes you interesting to talk with about your topic, how you bring your personality out in general conversation with others and apply it to more formal speaking situations.

In coming blog posts, I'll provide general speaking tips and suggest ways to practice to help you bring your own personality into your presentations. Someone (actually several sources) once told me that when speaking to an audience, especially a large one, you must be yourself--only more so! I'll discuss what this means and how to get there, at least basic tips (got to save the good stuff for my coaching). 

"What if I don't have a personality, Loyd?" you may ask (okay, most people wouldn't ask, but we've all met people with little or no personality).

I'll help you find one (and help you find a sense of humor, too, in case you're missing that).

In the meantime, start thinking about the conversations you have with others about the topics you might want to speak about (or already are speaking about). Think about how you behave and speak in the best of these conversations, the ones that really engage the people you're conversing with.

We'll start there, very soon.

In the meantime, please do feel free to send questions and comments to me, either through the contact form here on the site, or directly to me at [email protected]

Happy Holidays!