According to some surveys, public speaking is ranked the number one fear for humans.
Above spiders.
Above death.
You’ll recognise the symptoms, I’m sure. The palms start to sweat, the thoughts start to race, and the blankness of thought starts to descend.
In my experience, the best part of Pink Elephant’s public speaking training is that it takes the subjective artform of presenting and neatens it up to into a more scientific process.
Input – Process – Output.
Or, Pink Elephant training – Implement tips and practise – Present more confidently.
Where does it come from?
I often hear people on training explain that it’s only when they stand up to present, they start to feel nervous.
If sitting around a table and presenting, everything’s fine.
It’s often the way. We present regularly throughout the day in terms of simply communicating.
Once that moves from presenting to Presenting, things seem to change.
The physiological response comes from our days as hunters and gatherers. If, during the berry forage, we noticed a pair of eyes on us, there’s a good chance we were about to be hunted and gathered ourselves.
So, fight or flight kicks in. There’s actually also flock (follow the crowd) or freeze too.
All of these reduce our ability to do our higher-order thinking, and our performance suffers as a result.
When standing up, we feel even more vulnerable.
This is a completely normal response.
I’m often reminded of Elton John headlining the Glastonbury music festival in 2023.
Despite touring for around 60 years, he still felt nervous walking onto the stage. It’s what drives him to continue to perform.
The symptoms can often be similar to that of excitement.
If it’s okay for Elton to feel a bit nervous and perform anyway, then it’s okay for you too!
Here are my four tips to help beat those nerves:
1. Rehearse out loud
Speaking gigs for me often involve either a long drive or a really long drive.
These can grate after a while. However, I’ve found that actually the shorter the drive, the less prepared I feel.
I like to mutter my upcoming presentation away to myself.
Useful, yes. It can only be done, though, if I’ve prepared properly.
This means saying it out loud.
My favourite method is to run through it with a full script firstly.
I’ll then do the same while looking in the mirror. This upgrades to doing it with shorter bullet-pointed notes.
Now, it’s time to introduce a voice recorder to hear it back. Eventually, it’s the video and watching it back.
This is a horrible experience to begin with. It gets more tolerable over time.
These progressions help you make necessary changes.
However, the main hidden benefit for me is by the time you’ve gone through all these steps more than once, you’ve likely read you presentation out loud over ten times.
It’s invaluable.
2. Breathe
Okay, a little obvious.
Breathing before and during the presentation is vital.
Beforehand, try some breathing exercises. Things like box breathing where you inhale for four seconds, hold for four, exhale for four, and hold for four again. And repeat.
You can change the number depending on your lung capacity.
The outcome is the same; a slower breathing rate is linked to a lower heart rate.
It also demonstrates control by holding the breath at the top and bottom.
3. Start well
Give extra practice to your opening 3-4 lines.
If we start well, it can create momentum that motivates us for the rest of the presentation.
It also helps your audience engage.
Simply by writing it with the audience’s needs prioritised and rehearsing it well we manage to get both presenter and audience feeling better.
This energy helps both.
4. Challenge your doubts
The audience want you to do well.
It can be hard to remember this.
Whether it’s a wedding speech, a business pitch, or an update to the team, they’re all looking for something positive to happen.
There’s rightly pressure that comes with that, and we should commit to delivering.
However, they want the positive outcome. They’re on your side.
Even tough questioning is done with the goal of making sure you’re preparation is thorough and all eventualities considered.
It can feel different at the time!
However, if we can challenge the voice inside our head, it can help focus on the support in the room.
Public speaking: How to turn it from an artform into a science
We offer training on all aspects of communication.
We do this because there’s a lot of scenarios out there that can make us feel nervous.
Presentations, writing, media interviews, job interviews, assertiveness, and so much more.
This can be done individually or in teams.
It can be done in-person and remotely.
We’re here to help you shake off those nerves and feel more confident the next time you have to communicate.
Get in touch to find out how we can help.
Photos in Public speaking: How to turn it from an artform into a science by Pink Elephant Communications.
Public speaking: How to turn it from an artform into a science was written by Stuart Fenwick and edited by Maxine Montgomery.
