Public speaking

[Rooter]

Who is good at it? I am having to do it more and more for work, biggest audience so far is about 200 people (all german! and i only speak english!)

I have an event in Bucharest next month where i am delivering a 45 minute keynote to 5/600 people! Starting to get nervous about it already!

Anyone actually good at it? any good tips? once i get my flow, i'm fine, but brick it before getting on stage. Find i end up speaking too fast, so worked on some breathing exercises..

 

[Tashyboy]

Who is good at it? I am having to do it more and more for work, biggest audience so far is about 200 people (all german! and i only speak english!)

I have an event in Bucharest next month where i am delivering a 45 minute keynote to 5/600 people! Starting to get nervous about it already!

Anyone actually good at it? any good tips? once i get my flow, i'm fine, but brick it before getting on stage. Find i end up speaking too fast, so worked on some breathing exercises..

When I first started teaching first aid as an instructor, I used to sit in the class before hand and thought this will be easy. Er it wasn't.
But if everything is well prepared, you should have no real problems.The old adage " Fail to prepare, prepare to fail " is spot on.
If you are asked questions and you don't know the answer, be honest and tell them you will try to find out.
look for the friendly faces in the audience, the odd joke goes down well, but I don't know any Hungarian jokes.
Let us know how it goes.

 

[Rooter]

the odd joke goes down well, but I don't know any Hungarian jokes.

Its lucky you don't! Bucharest is in Romania! thanks Tashy!

 

[Hobbit]

I do a fair bit of this sort of thing, and have done for about 15 years... I still get nervous. However, a few tips that were given to me.

Develop a 'trigger' to start every presentation. It might be "hi, I'm Rooter of the Root and I'm really looking forward to sharing xxxxx with you." You pick something that suits you, and is simple to get the flow going.

Don't worry about mistakes. The audience don't know your script.

Do a dry run, speaking out loud and stood up. And if you want to be pedantic about it, in front of a mirror.

 

[GreiginFife]

Public speaking to large audiences is a mainstay of my job. Over the years I have been given loads of tips but it's a bit like golf clubs in that a lot of it is personal to you and, well, your personality.
Lots of the tips didn't work because they felt forced to me.
What I did develop was a preamble to any presentation that acted as a front but not for the audience. I spend a few moments before taking stage and talking the preamble to myself so that when I get up there I am already in flow and ready to start the real thing. Works every time but can't say if it would or wouldnt work for you.

 

[Rooter]

Thanks chaps!

 

[richart]

Its lucky you don't! Bucharest is in Romania! thanks Tashy!

Perhaps a joke about Ilie Nastase ?

 

[Hacker Khan]

I used to train people on it and do a bit of it. A lot of it is common sense really, ensure you prepare well as no matter how good you think you are at winging it, you will not be as good as you think you are and an audience can smell someone underprepared a mile off.

If you are using PowerPoint then do not have lots of text and just read off it as that is fatal. Appear interested in your audience and appear authentic, a bit of humour usually goes down well assuming it seems natural, if you are not naturally humourless then don't force it. Also might be stupid but make sure you talk to the audience and not the screen.

Also visualisation can work well to reduce the fear, kind of same principle that sportspeople use but visualise yourself in front of the audience, it going well, people being engaged etc etc. And that will reduce the fear a lot. In the vast majority of cases the audience want you to succeed and start off interested in what you want to say. The first 30 seconds can be pivotal as people will make their initial minds up very quickly and as you say, people tend to have a tendency to rush it a bit if they are nervous, deep breathing will help there. When you speak the vast majority of the impression people have of you is actually made up of how you speak (pace, tone, volume) and how you act/body language, what you say plays a relatively small factor. So pay attention to that. Also have a glass or water handy, avoid milk before you speak (it will make your throat phlegmy) .

And if all else fails http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4646010.stm

 

[Rooter]

a bit of humour usually goes down well assuming it seems natural, if you are not naturally humourless then don't force it.

Dude, i am the funniest person in my office!! (i work at home, alone)

And i will forward the link to the wife, And worst case, my colleague David who will be there. He may have to take one for the team.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Dude, i am the funniest person in my office!! (i work at home, alone)

And i will forward the link to the wife, And worst case, my colleague David who will be there. He may have to take one for the team.

One other thing I would say is ensure you practice it in real time speaking out loud as if you were doing it. This helps on so many levels including timings and confidence. But also if you just do it in your head it will be brilliant, the best public speaker ever, guarantee it. But everyyone needs to do it out loud as it becomes apparent very quickly which bits don't flow, which bits you trip up on etc etc. And if you are using any presentation tool (PPT is a common culprit here) then remember that is purely a visual aid to help you, it is not the presentation, you are the presentation. It is used far too much as a crutch for people to read off and that is mostly excruciating.

Best presentation I have seen in years was by a 20 year old paralympian recently who spoke for an hour to a big hall full of school governors using just 4 or 5 pictures. He just spoke from the heart about what he'd done and how he'd done it, no text flying in from different angles, no fancy templates. And he had the audience in tears of sadness, howling with laughter and every emotion in between. Utterly superb and you think if he can do it, why the hell can 95% of people who present at conferences and in businesses screw it up.

Again apologies if this is teaching grandma to suck eggs but as I am sure you have, I have seen so many awful presentations in my time when people just ignore the basics.

 

[Rooter]

No Thanks HK, reminded me of a few things. Like you the best presentations have PPT to show a picture, or context, i hate text heavy ppt's!!!

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Lots of good comments by people who know far more than me. My one tip would be to speak slowly. Nerves inevitably speed you up and I think someone speaking slowly gives an air of confidence. Maybe not a full Alan Rickman but perhaps an Anthony Hopkins in Westworld. Try your best to slow down, walk around a bit if you can. Break up the monotony of one person in one spot talking for 45 minutes. Best of luck, I don't envy you.

 

[tugglesf239]

Thanks chaps!

I do this a lot with work and have a back ground of doing presentations whilst in the Royal Navy.

My routine is always to kind of script what you want to say on paper, ensuring that structurally it flows and makes logical sense.

Then once i was happy with the points i wanted to make and that the key facts / figures etc were accurate. I will record myself giving the speech on my phone.

Then i would just listen to my voice over and over again saying the presentation in the order.

This meant that i would ingrain the structure and facts into my head and when i was actually delivering the speech, i knew what was coming next in my head.

Likewise if you start to ad lib or answer questions, your brain is kind of pre programmed to know whats next.

Benefits for me where that i have never had to rely on paper note or queue cards and could just relax and make good contact with the audience.

All differs on the individual though

 

[tugglesf239]

Lots of good comments by people who know far more than me. My one tip would be to speak slowly. Nerves inevitably speed you up and I think someone speaking slowly gives an air of confidence. Maybe not a full Alan Rickman but perhaps an Anthony Hopkins in Westworld. Try your best to slow down, walk around a bit if you can. Break up the monotony of one person in one spot talking for 45 minutes. Best of luck, I don't envy you.

Possibly the single most important thing

eye contact is next

 

[Fromtherough]

I have to give regular presentations in my new role. I'm certainly not a natural at it by any means and have to put a lot of effort into the planning, and thought into how best to deliver.

Given that's it's a keynote you will be seen as an authority in your field. So the good news is that people will actually be interested in what you're going to say. I find engagement is half the battle so you're already winning on that front.

I truly admire natural orators who command the room and speak without notes etc. I just don't have that in me - I don't know if you do? If not prep work is key. I don't read from a script word for word but I do prepare bullets in case I lose the thread. I've learned to harness the nerves and use these to keep me on my toes.

The final thing to add is only invite questions if you're confident you can provide an answer there and then. I was in the audience recently when a colleague delivered an amazing speech, then had a Q&A at the end. He didn't know the answer to 75% of questions and promised to get back to them. Despite his impressive speech colleagues were left with the impression he didn't know what he was on about.

 

[Old Skier]

Prior
Planning &
Preparation
Prevents
P Poor
Performance

 

[chrisd]

I'm the quietest person I know

 

[Hobbit]

I'm the quietest person I know

Sssshhhh! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep

 

[chrisd]

Sssshhhh! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep

I can hear you are!

 

[Val]

Haven't done it for years but you need to be slow, deliberate and annunciate your words well particularly if you have a regional accent.

Edit to add, always preferred a mix of crib cards and a script, script on its own left no room to freewheel a bit and crib cards on their own we're too easy to go off script. Fine lines to stay professional with a little character