Overcoming Anxiety
Expect to feel some anxiety. Excellent speakers accept this as a natural response to stress and even welcome nervousness because it enhances their awareness of the surroundings and audience, and focuses their concentration.
- Preparation is the best way to reduce anxiety. Know your material and believe in yourself. Others do – or they wouldn’t have asked you to speak.
- Breathe deeply (from your diaphragm).
- Put your talk into proper perspective. Be realistic with your expectations.
- Remember that your audience wants you to succeed.
- Think of your presentation as a formal conversation with your audience.
- Focus upon sharing your message rather than your own symptoms.
- Think positively. Use imagery and/or visualization before your talk.
Rehearse! Run through your presentation, out loud, preferably more than once. If you feel self conscious doing this alone by yourself, imagine how you will feel in front of 50 people! Hearing yourself speak the words out loud will reduce self-consciousness at the actual event.
- Memorize your first few sentences. This will allow you to concentrate on connecting with your audience in a confident, easy way.
For tips on what to do if your mind goes blank, see the article Pulling It Out of Thin Air.
Take a self-scoring test on public speaking anxiety. Go to Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety and see how you rate.
Dealing with Difficult Audiences
As speaker, you have control – don’t give it up. Audience members don’t want to listen to difficult people either. It makes them uncomfortable and wastes their time.
Avoid the “eye contact war.” Do not spend too much time trying to win over an audience member who looks skeptical, dismissive or angry. You are unlikely to succeed, it gives the person too much power and will probably rattle you. It also undermines your efforts to connect to more receptive members of the audience. One or two attempts to engage an individual using eye contact is enough – if that doesn’t do it, move on to someone else.
For more tips on dealing with difficult questions read the article Dealing with Difficult Audiences, by Kirstin Carey.
Handling Q&A Sessions
- Consider your audience’s level of knowledge, interest and possible biases about your topic.
- Make a list of all possible questions and rehearse answers.
- Listen to and be sure you understand the question before responding.
- Do not interrupt the questioner.
- Make your answers concise and to the point.
If you don’t know the answer, say so. Offer to get the information and provide it to the questioner later. Alternatively, ask the audience if someone can shed light on the topic but don’t let the person who answers take control. (Say “that’s very helpful. Perhaps you should talk in more detail offline. Now, who has another question?”)
- Correct a questioner who misrepresents your point of view
- Quickly answer questions that indicate the questioner was not listening, but don’t embarrass him/her. Others may have missed the point too.
- If no one has questions, be prepared with 2-3 of your own to ask to get the discussion rolling, including questions for the audience
For more tips on how to answer audience questions with ease, see:
Effective Meetings: Quality Q&A Sessions
The Total Communicator: Questions, Anyone?
Working with Room Layouts
- Arrive early to check the room setup and equipment.
- Adjust chairs, microphones, flipcharts or other features if they are inconvenient. At a minimum, ask the meeting coordinator if this can be done. You don’t have to passively accept the space as it has been arranged.
Tips for overcoming challenging spaces
- Narrow “bowling alley” shaped rooms make building rapport more challenging. Walk around the room and introduce yourself to people as they enter to help bridge the gap created by the space.
- Make eye contact with people at the far end of the room early in your presentation.
- Bring people in the back of the room verbally into your presentation by asking if they can see/hear and directing other comments to them throughout your talk.
- If using PowerPoint, adjust the lighting in the room to be sure people can actually see the screen; ask them if you are unsure. Avoid having everyone sitting in the dark if possible.
- Use the space as much as possible. Move from side to side at the front of the space, walk down the sides of the room or into the aisles a short way if equipped with mobile microphones or you do not have a microphone.
