As he finishes to his last point, Edgar Mumble looks up at the audience. ‘Phew, it’s over,’ he thinks with satisfaction. He half-heartedly asks if anyone has any questions and then, when his offer is met with silence, he scuttles out of the room to a thin ripple of applause.
‘That was pretty alright,’ he tells himself with a relieved sigh, ‘I’ll do the same presentation again next year.’
How many times have you sat through a similar scenario? How many times have you been the speaker with the same attitude? The good news is that it doesn't have to be that way- and the first step in this (and any other) personal development process is to become aware of yourself and your impact on the world. There's no other way to get the distance needed to change your actions?
Awareness starts with a desire to do better, so first you need to want to give a presentation that doesn't just pass for 'okayish.' Just in case you're on the fence, look at those people who you know who entertain and dazzle their audiences. Do you prefer hearing them talk? Do you listen more and remember more about what they say? Chances are you do.
So, have you got the motivation? Good. Now you’ll do well with a framework for analysing yourself. Buddhists, the masters of awareness, identify five different centres in the body. Four of these are relevant for public speaking awareness- our body, speech, mind and qualities. Let's take a look at each in turn:
Body
First, consider your eye contact – do you cover all of the room or do you hold onto a supportive-looking group on the left hand side? Do you have the tenacity to make eye contact with specific people for 1-3 seconds, or do you find yourself inspecting the ceiling because that way you can pretend you have nobody watching you?
Second, look at your gestures. Take your hands away from your ear, the back of your head, your necklace and other undesirable places (we all do it). And stop with the flappy, general and repetitive hand movements. Now you’ve got some space for crafting gestures that tell your story and emphasize the bits you want your audience to remember. Pick gestures that are strong and memorable.
And there’s much more. Consider the way you hold your body, your facial expressions and how you move. You will, of course, be ditching the lectern.
Speech
Look at the way your voice behaves when you talk in public. Once your volume’s not too loud and not too soft, but just right, you can start to use it as a tool for adding drama and tension into what you say. Same goes for an awareness of your gaps, your intonation, your clarity, your energy and so on. Play with your voice and use it to create a story that engages your audience.
Mind
The voices in our mind can play funny tricks on us if we’re unaware on stage. Because we take our nerves seriously we feel that fight-or-flight are the only two serious choices. If we’re aware, we’ll learn that our nerves are energy that can either help, or hinder our performance. That energy can either be labelled 'fear' or 'excitement.' We chose which way it goes.
Qualities
And finally, awareness of your qualities will indicate the kind of presenter you can be at your very finest. Your ‘stage persona’ – be it the Kind Expert, the Competitive Dad the Energiser Bunny, or countless others, will provide you with hooks for creating humour and themes that are natural and dazzling.
To develop your stage persona, start by pondering the ideal persona for your message. Are you challenging, or consensus focused; serious or humorous? Now, look at where you are on each of those spectrums. The gap is your list of points to develop.
If you'd like to learn more about these techniques, join the next Public Speaking with Wings- Your Presenter's Toolkit session - http://www.go-ginger.com/workshops.html. You can also request a free Public Speaking with Wings e-book here which goes into further techniques for becoming a master of public speaking.
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