Reading to an Audience

Public speaking is counterintuitive.  That is to say what your intuition tells you is a good thing is not always the truth.  And what your instincts say not to do is often the best thing to do.  Your natural inner voice when you find out you have to do a public presentation is to write it all out and read it to the audience word for word.  That way, so your inner voice thinks, there is no way you have to depend on memory and you won't ever get stuck and have that sinking feeling up there when your brain empties out and you have nothing to say. 

But even if you don’t use the method of writing your entire speech out, there are situations where reading to an audience is called for.  You may have a passage from a part of your research that is key to what you need for them to know.  Or there may be quotations that are too long to just quote and you need to read them.  The situations are varied where reading to a group of people is called for.  So to be prepared for that becoming part of your presentation, you should practice it and have some technique down before the situation comes up.  Then pausing to read a segment of your presentation is not going to be so disruptive.

Don't Fear the Pause

If you listen to experienced speakers, it's easy to see some real differences in how they step through their presentation than maybe how you go about giving a talk when you are called upon to speak in public.  But it is a good exercise to use every opportunity to listen to different public speakers and learn from them.  From speakers who are not effective, study why they are and learn how to correct those problems in your presentation.  For speakers who are very good, learn what they do that works and copy their methods without shame.  It's all part of learning from each other.

One thing that jumps out when an experienced public speaker is holding an audience in the palm of his hand is that he is totally relaxed up there.  That is a calculated relaxation.  In fact most of the methods he uses such as his use of hands, the vocal range of his voice, where he looks and how he moves are all carefully planned and part of that presentation and who that speaker is.  And all of those things come with time and practice.  So if you need a few times in front of a group, or a few dozen times before you can begin to get that relaxed, be generous with yourself and allow that public speaking is the kind of thing that you can read about all day long but you don’t get good at it until you get good at it.

It's all in the Voice

Maybe one of the most common occurrences that happens in a public speaking situation is to see someone in the audience go to sleep on you.  When you are the one going to sleep, you just hope the speaker doesn’t notice.  But when you are the speaker, you know that you do notice and you wonder what you are doing wrong.  You worked hard on your speech and you thought it was pretty interesting stuff.  So why do they doze off?

Well you are in good company if you see that happen.  For some reason this phenomenon happens routinely in churches all over the country every Sunday morning.  And that preacher is a skilled public speaker who you would think could keep that crowd riveted.  But in many public situations, even when the speaker has decades of experience, he may still not know how to keep that audience awake.  That is because there is a public speaking technique that if you learn it early, you will be come of the rare public speakers that routinely is considered to be "great" no matter what the quality of your material.

If you Like Them, They Will Like You

When you see experienced public speakers, sometimes it seems they can cast a spell on an audience.  You as an audience member know what that spell feels like.  And one of the first evidences that this public speaker was going to keep this audience in the palm of his hand is that you almost instinctively liked him or her.  And the interesting thing about that "spell" is that once you genuinely like this speaker, you naturally are open to his presentation, you listen more attentively and you are more open to suggestion if the speaker is driving to a point.

So as you prepare to begin doing some public speaking, its natural to want to know how to make that spell work for you.  We all have a natural feeling of insecurity or inferiority and we worry that the audience will not like us and our presentation will go badly.  So you wonder if that speaker just naturally more likeable than you or did he use some public speaking magic to make the audience like him.

Where to Look When You Speak

When you are giving a presentation or speech, your body language and how you hold yourself in front of a crowd speaks to them as much as your words do.  And part of not begin nervous in front of people when you are doing public speaking is not "acting" nervous.  If you have complete control over your body, your face and your hands, you can perform relaxation in front of people and you will actually accept the idea that you are relaxed and begin to feel more at ease as you do your speech.

One problem that you often see in public speakers who is the use of the eyes.  It's extremely easy as a public speaker to want to look at your outline or your written out speech throughout your presentation so you never get lost or have that terrifying feeling of not knowing what you are going to say next.  That is why many people who do not become skilled at talking in front of crowds write out their speeches word for word and just read it to the group. 

Deer in the Headlights

People who make their living researching what frightens people the most have made a pretty amazing discovery.  Consistently when people list the top five things they are afraid of in life, they have are some pretty intimidating terrors.  But you would think that death would rank number one on that list.  But death doesn’t take number one, it has to settle for number two.  Amazingly, the number one thing that terrifies most people is not death, it is public speaking.  A popular comedian once said that this means that people would rather be the guy in the casket at a funeral than the guy giving the eulogy.

If you have ever been in a meeting listening to a speaker, you can usually tell if they are terrified.  They will get up there and you will see that "deer in the headlights" look.  You know that look.  It is one of extreme fear, panic, and terror so profound that the person is frozen in place unable to speak of move.  And if you have ever been that guy or gal in front of a group giving the "deer in the headlights" look, you know the feeling of terror that happens in front of a group of people can be pretty awful.

Make Them Laugh

In the delightful Broadway musical "Singing in the Rain", there is a song called "Make em Laugh" which is based on this idea that the best way for any stage performer to build a bond with an audience is to use humor to bring a smile, or a laugh, to that audience.  Well, that idea is not just valid for stage performers.  It's just as true when you begin to develop your style as a public speaker.

If you pick up any self help guide to how to be effective as a public speaker, one of the golden rules is to open with a joke.  But guess what?  That is not actually a hard and fast rule.  Humor is the type of thing that works just as well about a minute into your presentation, halfway through or just about anywhere that you feel you are losing your audience.