“Conquer the Fear”

Sir Jim Rose thinks that children should be taught to “recognise when to use formal language.” Damn right, they should, says Rowan Pelling.

ere’s nothing like drying up mid-sentence while on a public podium for shriving the soul. I was on stage at the Cambridge Wordfest this weekend introducing the psychotherapist Susie Orbach to a packed house, when a black mist descended on my brain. I trailed off somewhere around the point of saying, “The renowned author of Fat is a Feminist Issue, one of the most influential books of…” My unruly mind swam with half-formed options: “… my life, your life, the past century, the entire cosmos as we know it.” Seconds passed like hours and I wanted to run screaming for the exit. But Susie, who is, thank God, more than used to handling acute mental distress, beamed encouragingly and the mist began to clear. I told the audience that I had been following BBC Two’s The Speaker and had on several occasions found myself shouting at the teenage orators: “You’re crap!” Suddenly I knew the full meaning of hubris.

One of the key tricks in public speaking, as The Speaker’s mentors constantly tell their young charges, is to turn an error to your advantage by exploiting its humorous potential. The mentors also rightly lecture the would-be polemicists about the perils of learning speeches by rote: all the best speakers orate in naturalistic speech rhythms, as if their thoughts were freshly minted. Easier said than done, of course. The trouble is, most people don’t have to attempt any public speaking until adult life, by which time they’d rather eat their own foot than address a room of strangers.

his week Sir Jim Rose, the former head of Ofsted, has stated in a report that children should be able to “recognise when to use formal language.” Damn right, they should. Nothing is more likely to jet-propel a child from a modest background to great heights than eloquence, not even good grades. Many people have pointed out that Barack Obama does not possess the most outstanding intellect of his generation, but he is one of its finest orators. And that has made all the difference.

I am forever grateful to my drama teacher, Mrs Vaughan, who told me bluntly, aged 16, that I would never be any great shakes as an actor, but might have some potential as a speaker. She coached me rigorously as part of the school public-speaking team and when in 1997, as the editor of a desperately obscure publication, I was unexpectedly called to make a live broadcast on Radio Four, I had the tools to do it. My career, such as it is, is founded on that moment.

* The second day of the Wordfest found me talking to Jill Dawson about her seductive new novel, The Great Lover. Admirers of Rupert Brooke will recognise the title as being borrowed from one of his most famous poems, and the novel contains pulse-quickening scenes of Brooke plunging naked into Byron’s pool in Grantchester. Indeed, naked swimming has a noble tradition in these isles, so it’s dispiriting to learn that Waveney district council is “de-designating” Britain’s longest-serving nudist beach at Corton near Lowestoft. Their reasoning is that coastal erosion means the beach has become very narrow, meaning the greater-clothed British Public have to thread their way among the basking naturists. I belong to the wonderful Newnham Riverbank Club, where naked bathers happily coexist with costumed ones and the child members are raised blissfully flesh-blind. The only thing we Cambridge swimmers may balk at is a lurex thong.

* But then Fenland folk are an un-biddable lot. Just look at Oliver Cromwell. Only in Cambridge would some unflinching soul say to poor Libby Purves, after her spirited talk, “How do you cope with being overweight?” Purves replied briskly, “When I wake up in the morning, I look down and check it’s all still there.” Elsewhere, a member of the Wordfest team heard an audience member ruminating after a session with the philosopher AC Grayling, “Ah, I know who he reminds me of – the prince in Shrek.”

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Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening.

“Six Steps to Preparing for the Big Speech”

Step five - Public Speaking

.
Be familiar with the place in which you will speak.
Arrive early, walk around the speaking area and practice using the microphone and any visual aids.

Know the audience.
Greet some of the audience as they arrive.
It’s easier to speak to a group of friends than to a group of strangers.

Know your material.
Practice your speech and revise it if necessary.
If you’re not familiar with your material or are uncomfortable with it, your nervousness will increase.

Relax.
Ease tension by doing exercises.

Work from your personal brand (exercise)
Visualize yourself giving your speech.
Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear, and assured.
When you visualize yourself as successful, you will be successful.

Realize that people want you to succeed.
They don’t want you to fail.
Audiences want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative, and entertaining.

Don’t apologize.
If you mention your nervousness or apologize for any problems you think you have with your speech, you may be calling the audience’s attention to something they hadn’t noticed. Keep silent.

Concentrate on the message — not the medium.
Focus your attention away from your own anxieties, and outwardly toward your message and your audience.
Your nervousness will dissipate.

Turn nervousness into positive energy.
Harness your nervous energy and transform it into vitality and enthusiasm.

Gain experience.
Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking.
A Toastmasters club can provide the experience you need.

Reproduced with permission from Toastmasters International
“Ten Tips for Successful Public Speaking” as found at http://www.toastmasters.org/tips.htm (10/2002)

If you haven’t yet attended a Toastmasters International Convention, you are missing an important part of the Toastmasters adventure! And if you are a veteran Convention delegate, you know the benefits of registering early for this popular event. This year’s program promises to be one of the best, so be sure to register now for a room at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Nearly 1,500 Toastmasters are waiting to meet you and share your interest in self-improvement through educational sessions, entertainment and speech contests. Everything you need to know about the program, registration and travel can be found here.

Know the needs of your audience and match your contents to their needs. Know your material thoroughly. Put what you have to say in a logical sequence. Ensure your speech will be captivating to your audience as well as worth their time and attention. Practice and rehearse your speech at home or where you can be at ease and comfortable, in front of a mirror, your family, friends or colleagues. Use a tape-recorder and listen to yourself. Videotape your presentation and analyze it. Know what your strong and weak points are. Emphasize your strong points during your presentation.

When you are presenting in front of an audience, you are performing as an actor is on stage. How you are being perceived is very important. Dress appropriately for the occasion. Be solemn if your topic is serious. Present the desired image to your audience. Look pleasant, enthusiastic, confident, proud, but not arrogant. Remain calm. Appear relaxed, even if you feel nervous. Speak slowly, enunciate clearly, and show appropriate emotion and feeling relating to your topic. Establish rapport with your audience. Speak to the person farthest away from you to ensure your voice is loud enough to project to the back of the room. Vary the tone of your voice and dramatize if necessary. If a microphone is available, adjust and adapt your voice accordingly.

Body language is important. Standing, walking or moving about with appropriate hand gesture or facial expression is preferred to sitting down or standing still with head down and reading from a prepared speech. Use audio-visual aids or props for enhancement if appropriate and necessary. Master the use of presentation software such as PowerPoint well before your presentation. Do not over-dazzle your audience with excessive use of animation, sound clips, or gaudy colors which are inappropriate for your topic. Do not torture your audience by putting a lengthy document in tiny print on an overhead and reading it out to them.

Speak with conviction as if you really believe in what you are saying. Persuade your audience effectively. The material you present orally should have the same ingredients as that which are required for a written research paper, i.e. a logical progression from INTRODUCTION (Thesis statement) to BODY (strong supporting arguments, accurate and up-to-date information) to CONCLUSION (re-state thesis, summary, and logical conclusion).

Do not read from notes for any extended length of time although it is quite acceptable to glance at your notes infrequently. Speak loudly and clearly. Sound confident. Do not mumble. If you made an error, correct it, and continue. No need to make excuses or apologize profusely.

Maintain sincere eye contact with your audience. Use the 3-second method, e.g. look straight into the eyes of a person in the audience for 3 seconds at a time. Have direct eye contact with a number of people in the audience, and every now and then glance at the whole audience while speaking. Use your eye contact to make everyone in your audience feel involved.

Speak to your audience, listen to their questions, respond to their reactions, adjust and adapt. If what you have prepared is obviously not getting across to your audience, change your strategy mid-stream if you are well prepared to do so. Remember that communication is the key to a successful presentation. If you are short of time, know what can be safely left out. If you have extra time, know what could be effectively added. Always be prepared for the unexpected.

Pause. Allow yourself and your audience a little time to reflect and think. Don’t race through your presentation and leave your audience, as well as yourself, feeling out of breath.

Add humor whenever appropriate and possible. Keep audience interested throughout your entire presentation. Remember that an interesting speech makes time fly, but a boring speech is always too long to endure even if the presentation time is the same.

When using audio-visual aids to enhance your presentation, be sure all necessary equipment is set up and in good working order prior to the presentation. If possible, have an emergency backup system readily available.  Check out the location ahead of time to ensure seating arrangements for audience, whiteboard, blackboard, lighting, location of projection screen, sound system, etc. are suitable for your presentation.

Have handouts ready and give them out at the appropriate time. Tell audience ahead of time that you will be giving out an outline of your presentation so that they will not waste time taking unnecessary notes during your presentation.

Know when to STOP talking. Use a timer or the microwave oven clock to time your presentation when preparing it at home. Just as you don’t use unnecessary words in your written paper, you don’t bore your audience with repetitious or unnecessary words in your oral presentation. To end your presentation, summarize your main points in the same way as you normally do in the CONCLUSION of a written paper.

Remember, however, that there is a difference between spoken words appropriate for the ear and formally written words intended for reading. Terminate your presentation with an interesting remark or an appropriate punch line. Leave your listeners with a positive impression and a sense of completion. Do not belabor your closing remarks. Thank your audience and sit down.

dr-susan_give them all your passion, the rest will take care of itself.