Speakers Sin Series I - Do you lack this vital factor?

There are many things that can go wrong when speakers present. From technical failures to your audience being too hungry to pay attention. Some of these things are simply out of your control. But there are things you can control.

For example, there is little you can do about an audience member’s choice of having super-spicy beef and bean burrito for dinner the night before and it's (ahem) consequences.

However, for the potential pitfalls that are within your control, you really shouldn’t be leaving them up to chance.This will be a series of posts talking about common mistakes (called “sins”) speakers make and also shows you how to convert these potential pitfalls into platforms for your presentation success.

In coming up with these sins, I surveyed a wide range of professionals asking what, for them, were the most annoying things they have seen presenters do. I combined this with my experience and came up with the 5 sins of presentations – and how to avoid them.

So let’s begin with today's installment - lacking confidence.

Speakers Lacking Confidence

If you are not sure of yourself, then we definitely are sure we don’t want to listen to you- Voice of the audience

I have found that people generally understand how nerve-racking public speaking can be. As a result, they are often forgiving. Forgiving, but not impressed!So if you have something to say, the audience wants you to say it with confidence.

And while your content is very important, let me let you in on a secret… being confident is half the battle.

Speakers are leaders

It is important to realize that, as a speaker, you are a leader at the front of the room. You are leading the audience into new ways of thinking, doing and maybe even being. And people do not follow leaders who are not confident.

It doesn’t matter if you are the most junior or the most senior on the corporate pecking order of your company. For those few minutes you take centre-stage, you must own the space and speak with confidence and authority.

Not being confident about your subject is a definite way of ensuring that your audience won’t buy into your ideas. Believe it or not, they have to trust you first before they will listen to you. And if you project uncertainty or hesitation, they will instantly switch off. Think about it. Wouldn’t you?

The good news is the fact that you are the one giving the presentation means that someone felt you were the right person for the job. Even if you simply volunteered to do this, at least you believed you could (what were you thinking right?). Well, you were right! You do have value to share, and understanding that is an important part of the next section which is what to do when you feel your confidence is on the low side.

What you should do instead

Nothing beats adequate preparation and practice to shore up confidence.

However, even when you have done the work of intelligent preparation and rehearsal, and applied some magic numbers, your nerves can still act up before you step up to speak. Here is a 3-step process that helps to remedy this.

1. Positive Self-talk - Get Excited!

Spend a few minutes alone before the presentation in front of a mirror (perhaps in the washroom) reaffirming to yourself that you have something of value to share. Create a short affirmation that you can repeat over and over again as you look at yourself in the mirror to shore up your sense of power. It can be as simple as "I know I can do this". If it is convenient, do a few power poses.

In addition, excite yourself about the presentation. The body can't really distinguish between fear and excitement. All you have to do is tell yourself that this is excitement not fear and the nerves will reward you with more oxygen flow to the brain, more mental clarity and more pleasant emotions.

This replaces the feelings anxiety, paralysis and forgetfulness that fear can bring. All with a single deliberate reframe of the situation in your mind.

This technique is a very effective sleight of mind. You are welcome :) 

2. Positive Recall

Call to mind a memory of when you did something really well. Recreate the experience as vividly as you can and re-experience all the positive emotion.

It can be something as simple as when you followed a recipe and made the best pot of plain white rice you ever did make. Or it can be something bigger like the feeling you had when you graduated college and received your diploma.

What matters is that the memory contains a substantial positive emotional charge. Now simply tell yourself that if you could do that, you can do this too.This will cause your nerves to realign into a confident and resourceful state.

3. Positive Perspective

Lastly, think about the bigger picture. The world does not end in that room or with that presentation. This might seem counter-intuitive as you probably would think that you want to be reminding yourself how important this presentation is.

However, in my experience, dwelling on the gravity of the presentation can have the opposite effect of what you want.

Reminding yourself that the sun will rise tomorrow whether or not you bomb on stage can actually help calm you down and put you in a more serene state of mind. It will also bring just enough levity to the situation to help you relax, do a good job and enjoy yourself while doing it.

If you are a religious person, pray for divine help. I find prayer to be very powerful in calming nervousness and bringing balance to the emotions.

Should you fake it?

I believe that effective public-speaking should be an enhancement not a fabrication. What that means is that speakers should be magnifying their personalities and not acting like someone they are not.

For that reason, I have never really prescribed gestures or precise vocal patterns to my coaching clients. I will, however, help the client expand their current style of communication. And that can feel unnatural at first too. But I do not consider that to be "faking it".

The bottom-line is that "confident" is closely related to "natural" - at least from the audience's perspective. So unless you are a very good actor, I suggest you be yourself, but be an enhanced version of yourself.

The audience doesn't want me, they want ten times me - Chris Rock

Until the next article in the series,Speak with skill.