For Business, Conference or Career
It is said people fear public speaking more than they fear death!
Some perhaps do, but I can show you what it is that makes you fearful and show you how to overcome that fear to the point you can enjoy being on stage and knock it out of the park.
It is very common for people to be afraid to speak in front of people, and if you have fear then no matter how much you have prepared a knock out talk, you will probably not land it as well as you hope – I know from personal experience!
I first realised I hated speaking in front of people when I attended conferences or seminars. I would want to ask a question and I’d put my hand up, but before I got chosen to ask my question the fear and realization of what I was about to do got the better of me. I would slowly put my hand down and keep quiet, meanwhile my heart was silently beating at double speed.
It’s amazing how quickly the excitement or desire to speak out is taken over by self doubt, adrenaline, fear, increased heart rate and eventually total incapacitation. Not everyone, but many will until you learn how to conquer it.
Having since had much training, and spent a great deal on coaching, from some amazing coaches worldwide, I believed I had the skills to finally get on stage, but no, I still had the fear and totally bombed at my first major public attempt, so I had to work out what the fear was and how to get over it and I can help you too if that is a problem for you.
Getting the talk written is another challenge I often see from the people I help. Having heard literally hundreds of people present in front of me for feedback, it always surprises me how often the journey through their talk is not as smooth as it could be. Perhaps you don’t know how to start, or maybe you don’t know how to finish, should you deliver facts, stories, humour, how should the energy be? I have had people tell me at the opening of their talk what should be their conclusion, I have had people do a reveal in the first sentence which takes power from the talk when they could have built some suspense. Occasionally I hear a talk that is so very dull and then there is a nugget of gold simply skipped over. We need to make sure those nuggets are the pillars of any talk and not the decoration around it. I can help you do find those and more.
Whether you want to do a talk in the office, at a local business event or stand at a school or raise money at a charity ball, perhaps it’s your Dragons Den style pitch you need to nail then there is much we can do together.
For all talks there has to be a balance between information and entertainment, even a business talk.
Delivering a talk with dull facts is what happens in school and it does not excite our brains limbic system to get an emotional response.
If you are looking to improve your business presenting skills to sell you ideas or simply command confidence and respect from your peers then we can work on that and help with the way a slide presentation should be put together. This is a very useful skill even if you are simply doing a monthly update or project status report. Take a look at the Speaking and Presentation Skills booklet and download it below or get in touch if you would like me to help you.