Almost 10 years ago, I stepped onto the stage for the first time. I was always an introvert, and I hated the spotlight. But I had challenged myself to get over my fear.
It was an inter school competition, and I was representing my house. It was a big deal for me then!
I had memorized every word and every pause. I had practiced a hundred times. I went through every simulation in my mind. I even tried to picture the audience naked.
Try the last one at your own risk. It’ll either be very funny or very traumatic!
But it was finally time - and I stepped onto the stage.
As I stood, a euphoric feeling started which ended with a nervous breakdown. I stammered through the whole thing .As I finished, I rushed down the stage, to sparse cheers and jeers. I promised myself that day, that I will learn public speaking and give a TEDx talk in 5 years.
It took me around 9 years to achieve that dream.
In this article, we’ll go through seven things I learned along the way.
I’m not a great public speaker by any stretch, but what I know is how to start. And that’s what I hope you takeaway from here.
Fix your mindset and perspective towards public speaking.
We all have these invisible limiting beliefs hidden away underneath our consciousness.
These hold us back, whenever we want to do something out of the ordinary.
Our job is to be aware of these limiting beliefs and slowly get rid of them by replacing them with positive beliefs
Remember, you’re speaking because you have a voice. People want to hear you.
Enjoy the process, and try to bring as much value as you can for the audience because you have their attention.
I’d recommend starting with a book - something like “The Art of Public Speaking” by Dale Carnegie.
He wrote it with Berg Esenwein before his world-famous “How to win friends and influence people”, which is something that I also recommend.
Don't be afraid of messing up
Do you know what people fear more than drowning?
Speaking to the public. No Joke, there was a study done on this.
But why are we so afraid?
Mainly because of two reasons -
What happens if I mess up? (Fear of Failure)
How will people perceive me? (Fear of Rejection)
We’ll discuss the second one later. As for the first one.
People have incredibly short memories.
Let me demonstrate.What did you have for lunch 4 days ago?
You’re probably trying to think quickly and counting back the meals. But it’s not as easy as it seems. Similarly, no one cares if you mess up. People have very short memory and overexposure to information. So, unless you’re spectacular or can leave a “wow” factor audience.
People Forget.
And your job is to be so good that they remember!
Make your message move the crowd.
Focus on the message you want to deliver. Not on the performance, or the pauses. Your message needs to resonate with the crowd for them to be interested in it. So, make sure you’re bringing some value to the table for them to trade in their attention.
A great way to move the crowd is by telling personal stories of vulnerable moments. It humanises you to the audience not just as another voice, but as another person,
Instead of thinking about the audience judging you, look at it as if the audience is there to learn from you. Psychologically, this puts you at an advantage and lowers the fear of judgment.
Another thing to keep in mind is – Your speech should be beneficial to the audience.
The crowd is not there to judge you, they’re there to benefit from your speech. Once you start shifting your perspective from a direction of judgement to a direction of value, the pressure of the situation magically lowers.
Go out and seek opportunities to speak
The best way to get over the fear of public speaking is to go out there and start speaking.
Always, be on the lookout for opportunities. Join an organisation like Toastmasters.
And remember, the more you speak, the better you’ll be!
Finding and creating opportunities to speak gives you the chance to practice what you have learned and get better at it. It also helps you learn how to use your own experiences to continue improving your presentation skills. And the more often you speak, the more you realize that what makes a good speaker is a combination of the noble intention to inform or inspire an audience, a positive mindset, and a lot of prep work.
Practice Practice Practice
Once you have your gig ready. Start preparing your speech. Research the audience, and figure out the message you want to deliver. Once you have the presentation ready, start practicing more and more and more. Practice doesn’t make you perfect, but it gets you damn close.
Don’t focus on just memorising the lines, but also the emotion and the core message you want to deliver.
BONUS: Understand your Why!
Speaking in front of an audience is not easy - so why do it at all?
Understanding why you want to speak is one of the core hurdles you have to cross in your journey.
It might be to educate the audience or to make them laugh or both.
Or maybe it’s to share a story or poetry.
Before you set out to conquer the world, figure out why you want to do it. What’s your purpose?
I have made a lot of mistakes in my life. My purpose is to learn and share my experiences along the way so that other people going through the same journey has it a little easier!
Once you have your "why" in mind, it’ll be so much easy for you to "wow" audiences across the spectrum. Because you inherently know what you want to share and why you want to share it. You know that it’s valuable and by extension, your passion will make it evident to the crowd of the value in your speech.
So believe in yourself and what you have to say. The rest, as they say, is easy.
It took me countless hours of speaking in schools and colleges, to get my cadence right, and countless more get over stage fright. You’re not alone, we all have it. In fact, it’s pretty evident how nervous I was on the stage during my TEDx Talk. But I believed in what I had to say - and I think it went over pretty well.
If you want to have a glimpse of my talk, you can head over here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYFQW5Vm57M
If you liked this article, or the TEDx talk do share it with your circles that might find this informative and interesting.
If you have any comments on the video, do leave it and I’ll reply back!
If anything resonated with you, or you feel I can help you in any way, feel free to reach out!
You can connect with me on Linkedin here (https://www.linkedin.com/in/baidurya/)
Here’s to your success with Public Speaking!
Chat
Comments