Many people feel very nervous when it comes time for them to present a speech or public performance. Quite frankly, it is amazing that this phenomenon is so prevalent. To overcome these fears, perhaps an examination of reality will help to gain a new perspective on the art. First, if you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak or perform before a large audience, you should remember that everyone sitting in the crowd has come to hear what YOU have to say. It does not matter at all what you will be telling them, good or bad, because someone has given you permission to express whatever is on your mind. If the audience does not like what you tell them, they can heckle or leave, but it is a pretty sure bet they will not demand to come up and bump you from your position to express their own opinion, because they are too afraid to do it themselves. You should remember that you have agreed to speak your mind, give your opinions, or share your expertise, and the worst thing that can happen for doing it is that the audience will not appreciate what you say. If you allow others to sway or change your mind about your own convictions, you probably should not have been invited to speak with authority in the first place. Here is a perfect example to illustrate my point. While working as a technical instructor for a well known software company, I was presenting information that I was being paid by the company to relate to the class. About half way through the first day of class, I discovered that there were a number of students who were so disappointed with the information they were receiving, they simply decided to leave the class. I was not given an opportunity to address their concerns or respond to any of their issues; they simply walked out during the break period. Before the class resumed, I was informed by someone that these people had left in a huff, and that I needed to take appropriate steps to regain control over the remaining students, because they were all buzzing about the incident. When the class resumed, I could tell the remaining participants had lost respect for my role as instructor, and were not prepared to show me appropriate courtesy when I regained the floor. I had truly lost their willingness to connect with what I had to say. To counter this situation, I told the class there were some changes that needed to be made before the next session resumed. I confessed that I was aware there were a number of students who had opted to leave the course for reasons they did not care to share with me, so we would be trying a different approach, in case there was anyone still present who did not appreciate the presentation format. For the next chapter of information, instead of presenting the information in lecture format, we would be playing a game I called Stump the Professor. I divided the room into two separate teams whose objective was to take some time for each team to study half the material assigned to them in the next chapter. At the end of the study period, each team would elect a spokesman from their group who would be responsible for presenting the information from the material to the opposing team. In this exercise, points would be awarded for skill in presentation by the apposing teams, and additional points added or subtracted from the presentation by me as the moderator for how accurately the information was presented. The class jumped at the chance to better me. The energy level of the room went up significantly as the teams competed with each other to best my style. Presentations were made, critiques given, points tallied, and one team was awarded overall best in delivery. When the laughter, applause, and excitement of this first round of Stump the Professor had ended, I called upon the class to make another decision. I told them we could go forward with the learning process using this game format, or return to allowing me to exclusively present the information to them. Calling this issue to a vote by show of hands, the class voted by a margin of everyone else to one that I continue to present the remaining information myself. For the students who stayed the course, my approval rating was very high in their evaluation of my presentation. I had regained their respect using the simple mechanism of putting them in my shoes and allowing them to go for it. This will hopefully show you that presentation is not a matter of how poorly or well you do at delivering your topic, it is merely a matter of how skillfully you capture the respect and attention of your audience. If you do fail, just pick up and move on to the next, because you are the one they paid to hear. |
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