Is this mic on?
How many of you had to take Public Speaking in high school or college? How was that experience for you? If you say something like, “I’d rather have a root canal without the benefit of anesthesia than stand up and talk,” my non-scientific research would say that’s the reaction of a majority of people. What’s interesting to me is that folks you’d think would be nonchalant public speakers are petrified at the thought of standing up to give a toast. It turns out that not all extroverts seek the spotlight.
When I refer to speaking in public, I mean everything from giving a speech to a stadium full of people to answering a question in a classroom. Obviously, there are different comfort levels, as well as age and experience to factor in, but standing up in front of people, even your own people, can put the fear of snakes in a person.
If you’ve met us, you probably won’t be shocked to read that Julie Greer (esteemed CVC Project Coordinator and my sidekick) and I do not fear an opportunity to stand up and pontificate. I will speak only for myself, though, when I say that it’s an acquired skill, and one that I still need to improve upon.
For a very long time, I relied on my enthusiasm and charm (such as it is) to carry me through. Why would I prepare ahead of time for some little talk when I could just wing it? My sheer force of personality would carry me through! Erm, no. Not only did I meander, lack an obvious beginning or end, and leave out all sorts of pertinent information, but I wasn’t effective or entertaining either. Some might say this is still true, but it’s not because I’m not trying to improve.
Julie and I recently had the opportunity to give a presentation at the Ignite Conference and, the next day, serve as the morning keynote speakers at the Wyoming Nonprofit Network Conference. The former was an hour-long commitment, and the latter a full 75 minutes. We needed to structure our time methodically and even -gasp!- consider practicing our presentations to make sure they were within the timeframes and met our goals for content and interest. Though we may have been putting our PowerPoint presentation together a couple of days before our big debut, we knew our content backward and forward. This advance work made all the difference in our nerves and our delivery.
Getting up in front of people, no matter who or how many, isn’t for the faint of heart. But if you want to become more comfortable with the prospect, much less come to like it, here are a few completely unoriginal but useful suggestions. Prep – write, rewrite, and revise until you have the content you need and like. Talk about what you know – this isn’t mandatory, but it makes everything easier. Practice – in front of the mirror, to your dog/cat/horse/houseplant. They’re captive, nonjudgmental listeners (except the cat). Or push yourself and practice in front of a real person who might give you constructive feedback. This is scary, but it will give you extra confidence when you get in front of more real people. Finally, breathe. This is not life or death, and you can only get better, but not if you don’t try.
My son, Will, was married last weekend, and I gave the toast at his rehearsal dinner, waxing poetic about his youth and welcoming his (now) wife’s family into ours. Taking all the advice I just gave you (although I didn’t practice in front of Dave the Cat – he’s seriously judgy), it allowed me to say everything I wanted to in a cohesive and entertaining way, and I didn’t cry until the end.