E-Tips

Turning Speaking Fear into Speaking Confidence

"When I know what I'm talking about, I'm not nervous" is a comment we hear often in the PowerSpeaking® training. No question about it. Most of us are much better on our feet when we know our topic "like the back of our hand."

Without that level of familiarity, most of us begin to suffer from speech anxiety. Dry mouth, pounding heart, sweaty palms - we've all been there. Truth is, sometimes we get speech anxiety even when we do know our material well.

So what can be done about all this? Is there a magic pill? There's good news and bad news. The bad news is, there is no magic pill. The good news is, managing fear of speaking is not that hard. In fact, the solution to this whole problem boils down to just one word: rehearsal. Rehearsal ties right into my opening sentence. The way to get familiar with what you're talking about is practice. Practice doesn't make you perfect (contrary to the old expression), but it will make you better.

What is practice? Practice means getting up out of your chair with your notes, and saying the whole presentation out loud. Thinking about it and visualizing it are helpful, but not enough. To get that level of confidence, we must actually get up, move around, and say the words out loud - over and over again. Can you imagine an actor going on stage having just read over the script and imagined doing it without actual rehearsal? Of course not.

Most of us have little time to rehearse business presentations, or so we tell ourselves. The truth is, rehearsal is awkward and embarrassing. I hate doing it. I'll put it off as long as possible. I'll find any excuse to avoid it. Yet, I know it's the only way to build my confidence.

Here are a couple of tips about rehearsal:

• Develop your talk early so you leave time in your schedule for rehearsal. Going into a presentation cold pushes anxiety right through the roof.

• Practice the presentation enough to feel confident, perhaps two to three times completely through it. Avoid memorizing it which will make it feel stiff. Use your notes.

• A great place to practice is in the car. Stuck on the freeway? Pull out your note cards and start practicing . . . out loud. As a type A personality, I love the feeling that I'm multi-tasking, going somewhere and practicing my talk at the same time.

• If your talk involves visual aids, be sure to include them in your standing up, moving around, out loud practice.

Well, there you have it. No magic pills. Just the hard work and awkwardness of rehearsal. The payoff for all this effort will be a splendid presentation with a lot less speech anxiety. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee no fear. All rehearsal will do for us is turn stark terror into ordinary fear. But, hey, I call it excitement. Let 'er rip!