From Stage Fright to Spotlight

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Do you get woozy
staring out over a sea of eyes and freeze up when it’s time to speak? I do, or
at least I used to.

Oh, I could stand before a bunch of people and read a
prepared speech. But I always felt awkward. And I know I sounded stilted. I
envied people who sounded great on stage: They always seemed to enjoy themselves.
And they did a great job of representing their companies.

But public speaking is a skill that not all of us are born
with. Fortunately, it can be learned. So a few months ago, I decided it was
time to vanquish my fears. I began attending a weekly Toastmasters meeting. I’m
sure you’ve heard of the organization. It’s been around for 80 years. But
unless you’ve attended a meeting, it’s hard to understand how effective it is
at its job: making people better public speakers.

To help boost confidence—the key to good speaking—virtually
every member has a speaking role at every meeting. There is the time keeper,
who keeps time, and the grammarian, who introduces a new word other speakers
are encouraged to use and counts every speaker’s  “ums” and “ahs.” There is a brief “inspirational” talk and
sometimes a joke. Every meeting also features three speeches, each shorter than
seven minutes, followed by assessments of three evaluators who are instructed
to be positive and constructive. It’s a safe, nurturing environment in which to
learn.

The program was great, and I could feel my fear dissolving
with each talk. But I knew it would take months to make progress under this
program, and I had a speech coming up in only a few weeks.

For a quick primer, I asked Candace BelAir, a public
speaking coach, for a quick lesson. BelAir began by offering this critical
insight: 55 percent of how an audience rates a speaker, she says, is based on
nonverbal communication, such as facial expressions, eye contact, hand gestures
and posture. She shows a video of the famous Nixon-Kennedy debates with the
sound turned off. Compare Kennedy’s relaxed demeanor and his confident smile to
Nixon’s tense, sweating face and hunched-over posture and you know who won that
debate without listening to a word of it. Another 38 percent of an audience’s
response is based on the speaker’s voice: its volume, variation in tone and
quality. This was a shocking revelation for me as a writer: Only 7 percent of
an audience’s evaluation of the speaker is based on the actual content of the
speech!

Fortunately, BelAir had some simple advice: To “open”
yourself to the audience, walk out from behind the podium. Don’t cross your
arms on your chest or hold your hands behind your back.

With some of the basics done, BelAir had me give a practice
speech, which she videoed. Watching myself for the first time, my weaknesses
were apparent. I looked restless, shifting my weight and fidgeting with my
hands. My eyes tended to sweep across the audience, as if I were looking for
someone.

BelAir had me touch my thumb to my forefinger, yoga style,
and hold my arms at my side in “home” position. She forced me to make eye
contact with her, looking down at my notes only after I had finished making a
point. She made me speak from a simple outline with just three bullet points.
She underscored the importance of being authentic, confident and enthusiastic.
Don’t lecture people, she warned. Talk to them.

My first speech, thanks to my new lessons, was far less
traumatic. But I was still stiff. That’s where my continued attendance at
Toastmasters kicked in. I progressed through the lesson plan giving one speech
that focused on using hand gestures and yet another moving and changing the
pitch and volume at which I spoke.

I have yet to do a “table topic.” That’s where you are given
a topic and required to present a two-minute speech with no preparation. The
best speakers can pick up any theme and have a great time with it. That’s where
I want to be, and it’s where anyone can be.

Leslie Helm is the editor of Seattle Business magazine.

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