What can you do to alleviate the stress of
public speaking?
Begin by identifying your personal brand or
personal attributes, and use it to strengthen
your confidence level. Everyone has a Personal
Brand, they just need to discover, create and
maintain it over time.
Personal Branding
Defined:
How you identify your personal qualities and
how they are viewed by your audience.
The concept is broken into four elements:
When these elements are integrated they become
your core message.
Your core message is unique to only you and is
valued by members of your audience.
-
Personality:
Your behavior, interpersonal communication
skills and attitudes toward your audience.
-
Appearance:
Your body language, clothing attire and
overall posture.
-
Competencies:
The technical skills that fulfill job
requirements.
-
Differentiation:
What separates you from others and can leaves a
lasting memory in the minds of the audience.
The personality element is most prominent
when you are speaking publicly to either a small
group or large audience. When speaking in front
of an audience, your credibility is at stake and
you will be judged based on members from your
audience. The only way to truly linger in the
minds of your audience is through personality
and in this way you need to use the
differentiation element to stand out from the
hundreds of other voices they hear each day.
This is a great opportunity to use your core
message, with emphasis on personality and
captivating your audience through creativity,
real life examples or quotes. There are many
great and talented public speakers out there,
all having exceptional Personal Brands.
A former colleague: “People generally
retain or remember 4% of the content of any
presentation, speech or talk, but they always
remember 100% of how they felt about it.”
How can you have a similar affect on your
audience regardless if it is five or five
hundred people? Prepare, relax, be yourself and
then just do it. Some of the greatest football
coaches will tell you that most games are won
before the ball is even snapped and it is mainly
a result of solid practice (preparation) and
scouting (knowledge). If public speaking is
either a new experience or not a currently a
comfort zone, treat it like running or skiing.
You do not want to start with a marathon or a
black diamond, you want to ease your way in and
soon you will be ready for anything.
Tips to remember
-
Tell your audience a story
that they can relate to and follow and do not be
afraid to use yourself as an example when you
can. Stories are not just for children as we
all love a good book or movie especially when it
grabs us early as we never want it to end. But
it always does and then you are left with the
memory of how you felt about it.
-
If you are not speaking about an
experience or topic that you know flawlessly, be
sure you have done your homework.
-
Be careful when quoting
statistics unless you are absolutely sure
about them or have the source as there could
always be that one person that will try to
challenge them during your talk.
-
Tell your story, your
way, how you feel about it.
-
If you are not a data person
then do not go up there with pie charts and
graphs. It is not who you are and you
cannot be something you are not either.
-
If you do not like reading from
a script you can use cards. Cards are
great for many people as it lets them keep their
topics in good order and drive home key points.
You must decide what works best for you and
then go out and do it.
Prepare, know the path, enjoy it and be
yourself.
* Adapted with permission from
Dan Schawbel and
Lou Longo:
Personal Branding Comes to the Rescue when
Speaking Publicly
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