Speaking Info » public speaking tip

Question #1: How to Reduce Fear of Public Speaking

Arlen Busenitz — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:56:37 +0000

Reduce public speaking fear

Do you get nervous at the thought of public speaking? Statistically, public speaking is one of the last activities most people want to do.

Here are three tips that have helped me reduce my fear of public speaking.

Tip #1: Understand why you fear public speaking

Ask yourself, “Why do I fear public speaking?”

Initially, I was nervous about speaking in public because of lack of experience and lack of training. How about you?

Write down the answers. Your list may look something like this:

New to public speaking
Bad past experience
Lack of training
Fear of failure

All of these can be easily overcome with some training and practice.

Tip #2: Spend time speaking

Were you nervous the first few times you drove a car? Are you still nervous? Practice and experience will help you overcome public speaking jitters and nervous. Take opportunities, join Toastmasters, and spend time speaking.

You’ll gain new confidence and overcome your fear of public speaking.

Tip #3:Research and learn how the pro’s overcame their public speaking fear.

96%+ of speakers have had to learn how to overcome their public speaking fear. By learning public speaking fear conquering techniques you can slash your learning curve and gain confidence quickly.

One powerful technique is to simply act confident. When you act confident, you will look and feel confident. Every great speaker does this. As they act confident new confidence will replace the nervousness.

Don’t let public speaking fear handcuff you, use these tips and become a confident speaker.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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Tip #5: How to Make Your Presentations Have More Punch

Arlen Busenitz — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:14:31 +0000

Three days ago, I heard the great speech coach Patricia Fripp share a speaking tip to make our presentations deliver more punch.

Presentation Tip #5: Put the most important word or phrase at the end of the sentence.

Compare these two sentences.

Persistence is the secret to reaching your goals.

The secret to reaching your goals is persistence.

The second sentence puts persistence, the power word, at the end. This gives more punch to the sentence. Subtle but effective.

For your next speech consider Patricia Fripp’s advice. Skim through your speech, rearrange sentences, and put the most important word or phrase last.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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Best Public Speaking Tips for Beginner Speakers (& Experienced) – Part 2

Arlen Busenitz — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 08:18:16 +0000

In part one I showed you how Joe should prepare as if only one person was in the room. This same concept should apply when speaking.

Speak to one person at a time.

Craig Valentine says, “Speak to one, but look to all.”

You and I should be having 5-10 second conversations with people in the room. We’ll deliver a couple sentences or one thought to the dark haired individual in the front row. Then we deliver the next few lines to the individual in the back row. We keep to doing this with audience members around the room.

What will happen? Members of the audience will feel like we are speaking right to them. Every speaking book and course hammers home the idea of making eye contact for around 5 seconds.

This tip goes well beyond that. You are not just making eye contact, you are having a conversation with that individual.

Do this and you and I will connect with the audience and stand out from most speakers. A lot of speakers will just talk to the room. Have you seen it? They speak to one side of the room and then the other, but their eyes never lock on an individual.

You can be different. Speak to one person at a time and you will connect and create a positive audience experience.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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Pizza & Preparing Your Presentation

Arlen Busenitz — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:14:52 +0000

Recently we brought home a fresh made pizza. All we had to do was bake it in the oven, slice it, and delight our taste buds. I tossed the pizza in the preheated oven, set the timer for the recommended minutes, and waited till the buzzer rang.

Five minutes later the pizza was sliced and we took our first bite. Ugh. Instead of fluffy crust, we bit into raw dough. The perimeter was cooked, but the middle doughy.

Two public speaking lessons stand out:

1. Just as there is no exact cooking minutes for pizza that work on every oven, every speech takes different preparation time. A 30 minute presentation on a topic I’m familiar with may take less prep time than a 7 minute speech on an unknown topic.

2. Don’t underestimate the value of extra cooking time. Just 5 more minutes would have turned pizza headed for the garbage into a delicious meal. The difference between an average presentation and a great presentation is often just a little more prep time.

I was able to cook the pizza for another 6 minutes and salvage the meal. We can’t prepare for a presentation after the fact. Put the time in ahead of time and you will serve an excellent presentation.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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Prevent Public Speaking Embarrassment: Check your Wardrobe

Arlen Busenitz — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:31:14 +0000

I was suffering from public speaking embarrassment. For 20 minutes I had walked around the room greeting people. I smiled, made small talk, and burned off some nervous energy.

Seven minutes before Showtime, I was slammed with an embarrassing realization.

My zipper was wide open. Have you been there? My mind raced back to the ten plus people I had talked to. How many had noticed? Why had no one said anything? Friends don’t let friends walk around with unknown wardrobe malfunctions!

If I had gone on stage with the blinds open, that could have been embarrassing. Thankfully, I caught it before I went up on stage. However, as speakers it’s very important to check our zippers, our buttons, and anything else that could be a distraction.

Not only will a wardrobe malfunction distract the audience but it can throw us off once we realize it. Every speaker has to recover from this, so don’t feel too bad.

What’s the solution? Do a full body mirror check before you walk into the room. Is your hair fine? Food on the face?

Next, as you are waiting your turn to speak make sure your zipper and buttons are OK. Tuck the shirt in. Consciously do this, so you don’t have to do this on stage. It is hard to speak and be checking your wardrobe at the same time.

What if you are speaking and notice something is wrong? If you can discreetly fix it, do so. If the audience is well aware of it, make a joke out and keep on going. You could say, “My worst nightmare has come true. (pause for laughter)” Fix the problem and try and work it into your content.

Don’t be caught with your zipper down. Check your wardrobe before you go on stage and you’ll prevent public speaking embarrassment.

Arlen Busenitz

Arlen Busenitz is an experienced speaker with over 650 presentations. He is Author of several books, CD's,and creator of Become a Better Speaker in One Evening™

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