Community Speaking

"With public speaking, your audience will know if you didn't rehearse." Colleen Kettenhofen

All of us recognize that public speaking ranks among one of the greatest fears for most people. Whether speaking at a meeting or before a group of 400, many people get nervous just anticipating giving a presentation. A comment I frequently hear in my public speaking seminars is, "What's the best way to overcome nervousness and gain confidence with public speaking?" Here are some proven secrets many great public speakers practice:

1. Your audience will know if you're not prepared. They'll pick up on subtle clues in your body language. 95% of your success is determined before the presentation. Rehearsing minimizes 75% of your nervousness. No one likes to rehearse. Instead, see if you can have a friend or colleague videotape you. Yes, I realize no one likes seeing themselves on video either! Still, the camera will be your most objective ally.

2. Once you've fine-tuned your presentation, rehearse and practice in front of family members, colleagues, friends, or a public speaking coach. Ask for honest feedback. What did they like most? What did they think of your energy level, passion and commitment to what you're saying? What do they think could be improved? Also practice in front of a mirror. This will help you rehearse standing up and let you see what needs to be improved. The more you rehearse standing up, and the more familiar you become with your material, the more comfortable you will be with your public speaking. This one tip alone can dramatically improve public speaking skills.

3. Put your presentation as a "rough draft" on a micro cassette recorder. Listen to it while you're driving to and from work, picking up the kids, or driving to the supermarket. I know what you're thinking. "I don't like how I sound on audio tape!" I realize that. But this is a convenient way to learn material quickly. Again, where do you sound convincing, passionate and interesting? What parts of your presentation do you think need work? The audio cassette recorder is another objective ally.

4. Visualize yourself giving a successful presentation. Better yet, if you know the exact room you'll be speaking in visualize that, too. Olympic athletes practice visualization. It works for public speaking as well.

5. To improve public speaking skills, do a dress rehearsal. Before I conduct a keynote speech or breakout session at a conference, I take a peek inside the ballroom. If the room's empty, I'll go in and practice a "dry run." This is something I try to do in full dress rehearsal mode. If the ballroom is being used until morning, I go in that morning.

Rehearsing in the exact room will give you an edge in feeling more comfortable and conquering fear of public speaking. This is one of the biggest public speaking secrets of many great public speakers. Guaranteed! If you're usually presenting in small meetings or groups these same techniques work.

6. Are your notes and visual aids large enough print that you can see them standing up? Your notes should be "fast food for the eyes." Never read your presentation. You're the presenter. Your audience expects you to be the expert. You want that connection with them. A secret to effective public speaking is bonding with your audience through stories, activities, appropriate humor and understanding their needs ahead of time.

7. Stand up when speaking in public. Even if only three people attend, it sends a signal that says, "You're so important that I'm going to stand even for the three of you." According to a University of Minnesota study, when you stand in presenting your ideas, you are more believable, credible and persuasive.

8. Stand "center stage" when presenting your most important point. It grabs the audience's attention. The rest of the time you can move around as long as you aren't nervously pacing like a lion. Again, that's where the videotaping helps!

Visual Aids and Public Speaking: Less is More

9. With public speaking and visual aids, less is more. Don't use more than three or four colors per slide. Otherwise, people start focusing more on color and less on content. Use graphs for sales figures or sets of numbers showing a trend over a period of time. Graphs are pictures that increase retention and comprehension. No more than two or three lines on a graph. Use pie charts for market share, budgets, expenses analysis, income sources and the like.

10. Avoid slides with yellow, pink or orange print. They don't show up well. Dark blue, black or any other dark color is better. White is okay with a darker background. Red stands for negatives like "danger," or "warning." Only use red to indicate problems, your competition, stopping or something similar.

11. Public speaking and eye contact: Approximately three to five seconds of eye contact per person with a small or medium sized group. Many public speakers make the mistake of using their visual aids AS their presentation. A key point in persuading your audience is establishing connection and credibility.

12. What if someone in your audience doesn't like what you have to say because they don't like the product or service you're selling? Or what if you fear public speaking because you often have to deliver bad news? Know and research your audience ahead of time. What will be their biggest objections? THINK AHEAD when planning your presentation how you're going to handle those issues.

13. Never lose emotional control. Often, these difficult people are trying to rattle your cage. They want control. And they want it in front of others. What if they continuously discount what you're saying? Tactfully respond to them at first. After a while, say something like, "You bring up a good point, and yet, due to time constraints see me at the break and we'll discuss that privately." Your audience will be looking to see how you handle the situation.

"When speaking in public, you are your own best visual aid." Colleen Kettenhofen

Let's imagine your parents are farmworkers and speak only Spanish. All you hear at home is Spanish. Your friend's parents are farmworkers too so they all speak Spanish. And with your friends you speak Spanish. At church the padre or minister conducts the service in Spanish. You go to any store in 'Mexicano' downtown Watsonville or East Salinas and they all speak Spanish too. But as a parent you don't worry about your kid speaking English.

As a parent you 'know' and feel it's the public school's responsibility to teach kids English. That is what you are led to believe. In fact, there is a law in California that prohibits schools from teaching in Spanish. Well, most of the time. If the parents petition the school they can get a waiver that allows the student to attend classes half of the time in English and half in Spanish.

If the average student is actively participating in English class only 10% of that half time, then that means the average Spanish speaking student is actively involved in learning English from 15 to 20 minutes a day. No Saturdays, Sundays, Fourth of July, Cinco de Mayo or summer vacation. What results can we expect from such a shortsighted strategy?

When a child enters public schools they are given an English proficiency test. Those that pass go on to regular classes conducted in English. Those that don't pass go into a class with other Spanish speakers. Students in this class will stay there until their English becomes proficient enough to enter regular class or 'mainstream' or they drop out.

At the Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Central Coast California this English proficiency process can take from four to six years. That means that if a non-English speaking student enters the first grade they will not be mainstreaming until sometime after the fourth grade. Maybe until Junior High or Middle School. By the time the child is that far behind they get frustrated and often give up. What happened to No Child Left Behind? Many drop out and their prime cause of failure is lack of English. They are not mentally handicapped as the current system implies.

It seems everyone involved has a stake in maintaining this Twilight Zone status quo. The students like it because learning English is very hard. The parents like it because they can reassure themselves that it is the school's responsibility and it's doing a good job. The teachers like it because it's easier. The administrators like it because they can demonstrate everyone is doing the best they can and the standardized test scores somehow show it. The school boards like it as long as they get compliance and continued funding. The Latino politicians and community leaders don't have to take a stand and show their record on English.

While English is mandated in No Child Left Behind it is not regulated. There are no guidelines. That's because it is a State regulated issue. In California, with billions in State Education funds, all those bright folks in the California Department of Education and all those six figure PhDs can't figure out what English proficiency is so they push the decision down to school districts like the Pajaro Valley Unified School District.

Clearly the PVUSD is struggling. The school board, a group of well meaning citizens, had to hire a newspaper reporter to give bimonthly reports on board activities. It's not that the Board is collectively stupid. One of the members is an executive in a large corporation. They are all bright and caring folks. They just endlessly bicker, have other agendas and some are clueless. They either do not understand the gravity of the situation or are simply not willing to stand up and defend the very kids they were elected to represent.

They buy all the excuses. They buy the argument that culture and diversity and self esteem are more important than getting down and dirty and learning English the way non-English speakers always have. They agree with many of the politicians, intellectuals, advocates and teachers that Spanish speaking kids have bruised egos and shouldn't be overstressed by being forced to learn English. The result is Spanish speaking kids are put in special 'English Proficiency' programs and treated as if they were disabled or handicapped.

Stress? Self-esteem? On what planet are these well meaning folks coming from?

Stress is going to a job or college interview and being told come back when you have improved your English. Stress is having a co-worker get the promotion you wanted because you couldn't speak English well enough. Stress is not being able to go to Junior College until you learn English. Stress is having to disappoint your parents by following them to work in the fields.

The emperor is wearing no clothes. The system is flawed, broken and cannot be fixed by changing 'standards' or inventing more tests. Or more focus groups. No committees or online discussion groups can fix it. No need in throwing more money at this black hole or fooling ourselves that everything remains 'muy bueno.' From Governor Arnold on down everybody passes the buck until there is no accountability. The buck is passed down and down until it stops with a school board that can't even write its own reports let alone understand that English is the showstopper.

These are the facts: a moderately intelligent Spanish speaking student can learn a basic conversational English of about 2500 words in six months and be conversationally fluent in one year.

English? To paraphrase Mexican author B. Traven and Latino American playwright Luis Valdez: English? We don't need no stinking English!

Well, maybe the politicos and community leaders and Latino intellectuals don't need any stinking English. But for Spanish speaking Latino kids in California, English is their opportunity showstopper. It's time Latino leaders stand up, acknowledge this fact and fix it. It's time English becomes the priority. California's Latino Spanish speaking school children deserve better from their own 'raza'. And California deserves better...

Basta!

James E. Clingman , former editor of the Cincinnati Herald Newspaper, will appear once again on this Thursday’s The Real Deal Show, to discuss his new book, entitled: “Black Empowerment with an attitude you got a problem with that.” A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Clingman has dedicated his focus on uplifting and empowering the community by educating and speaking on such topics as economics and community involvement . His editorials and economic columns have been featured in hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and newsletters across the United State.
Each show segment is on Thursday’s at 8PM and runs sixty seconds, with guest speakers and a chance for listeners to phone in to append their experiences or just for questions, Strickland keeps the debates respectful and appealing drawing on open ended concerns. Previous show topics have touched on Gastric Bypass Surgery, Black Leadership, Malcolm X and the ever so alighting ‘Black Poetry Café’.
Strickland’s goal is to help educate a community on issues that pertain solely to Black people, in hopes that they can gain an understanding on even the hardest hitting issues.
The Real Deal Show is an environment where African-Americans can express their growing concerns on such topics as single parenting to politics. Derrick ‘Doughboi’ Strickland offers a couch atmosphere with his Blog Talk Radio Show, as if you were sitting in the confines of his living-room. In short, ‘Doughboi’ wants his listeners to be ‘comfy’ and discuss each segments topics as if each and every listener were part of an extended family. “I got the idea after being on another Blog Radio show involving the battle of the sexes” stated Strickland. Once Strickland realized that putting together his own show, with the help of BlogTalkRadio, was simple, Strickland then created ‘The Real Deal Show’.
BlogTalkRadio is a platform that extends the blog, allowing any individual to host a live Blog show online. Our service is free to all users, whether you host a blog show or listen in. Previous achieves of previous show appearances can be found on The Real Deal Show Blog Radio home page

Many parents want to make sure that their children begin speaking to God early in life. They will set up a routine for the children that will allow them to get into the habit of speaking to God every night before they go to bed. The conversations with God will be fairly brief, but they will focus on making the child familiar that they have a soul and that the soul can be taken if they pass away.

This nightly routine will instill in the child that speaking to God at bedtime is the best, but that there is no particular time that is not suitable for speaking to God. From the nightly prayers, children will learn that by speaking to God they can also help others to be blessed. Speaking to children about God can be a fun experience for parent and child and sharing the nightly prayer ritual together will help bond them to one another for the remainder of their life.

Children learn that they are able to make the nightly ritual more personal when they are able to pick and choose the names of the people that they want to be included in their nightly prayers for a blessing from the Lord. This one nightly ritual of praying can also teach children humility because they learn to get on their knees before the Lord when they are speaking to Him.

When speaking to children about speaking to God, many Sunday school teachers will offer pictures as proof that Jesus walked on the Earth, and the children will also learn that Jesus had compassion for people, and a love for many different types of animals. Children enjoy the sheep in the pictures and the parents use those animals to confer on their children that the hand of God is soft and can touch the heart of every man in one way or the other and all of the ways will feel extremely comforting.

When speaking about God, parents will usually start at the beginning and teach their children how we all came into being. From the teachings in the Book of Genesis, the children will learn all about how God entrusted a long lineage of people to one man and one woman. By speaking in this manner, children are spared all of the talk about evil but are made aware that evil has a way of changing things in peoples life and not for the good.

The nightly conversations with God will become longer as the children discover more about what God's plan are for their life. Through speaking to God, children will learn the path that they should take but it make take several conversations to understand the entire conversation. Evil has a way of interrupting the conversations with God, and some people are strong enough to ignore the evil and continue speaking to God as if nothing had happened.

There are 4 key skills when you learn a language:

* listening
* speaking
* reading
* writing

Which one of these is the "Odd-Man-Out"? Which one of these is different from the other three? The answer is speaking. The other three you can do alone, on your own, without anyone else. You can listen to the radio alone. You can read a book alone. You can write a letter alone. But you can't really speak alone! Speaking to yourself can be 'dangerous' because men in white coats may come and take you away!!!

That is why you should make every effort possible to find somebody to speak with. Where can you find people who can speak English with you? And how can you practise speaking when you are alone?

At School

If you go to a language school, you should use the opportunity to speak to your teachers and other students. When you go home, you can still practise listening, reading and writing, but you probably can't practise speaking. If your teacher asks you a question, take the opportunity to answer. Try to say as much as possible. If your teacher asks you to speak in pairs or groups with other students, try to say as much as possible. Don't worry about your mistakes. Just speak!

Conversation Clubs

Many cities around the world have conversation clubs where people can exchange one language for another. Look in your local newspaper to find a conversation club near you. They are usually free although some may charge a small entrance fee.

Shopping

If you are living in an English-speaking country, you have a wonderful opportunity. Practise speaking to the local people such as shop assistants or taxi drivers. Even if you don't want to buy anything, you can ask questions about products that interest you in a shop. "How much does this cost?" "Can I pay by cheque?" "Which do you recommend?" Often you can start a real conversation - and it costs you nothing!

Anglo-Saxon Pubs and Bars

Even if you don't live in an English-speaking country, there are often American, British, Irish and Australian pubs in many large cities. If you can find one of these pubs, you'll probably meet many people speaking English as a first or second language.

Language is all around You

Everywhere you go you find language. Shop names, street names, advertisements, notices on buses and trains... Even if you are not in an English-speaking country, there are often a lot of English words you can see when walking in the street, especially in big cities. And there are always numbers. Car numbers, telephone numbers, house numbers... How can this help you? When you walk down the street, practise reading the words and numbers that you see. Say them to yourself. It's not exactly a conversation, but it will help you to "think" in English. For example, if you walk along aline of parked cars, say the number on each car quickly as you pass it. Test yourself, to see how fast you can walk and still say each number. But don't speak too loud!

Songs and Video

Listen to the words of an English-language song that you like. Then repeat them to yourself and try to sing with the music. Repeat the words as many times as possible until they become automatic. Soon you'll be singing the whole song. Or listen to one of your favourite actors on video and repeat one or two sentences that you like. Do it until it becomes automatic. It's good practice for your memory and for the mouth muscles that you need for English.

Above all, don't be afraid to speak. You must try to speak, even if you make mistakes. You cannot learn without mistakes. There is a saying: "The person who never made a mistake never made anything." So think of your mistakes as something positive and useful.

Speak as much as possible! Make as many mistakes as possible! When you know that you have made a mistake, you know that you have made Progress!

How do you speak naturally while all those people are watching you?

This document covers hints and tips on public speaking and presentation skill, dealing with public speaking nerves and anxiety, public speaking skills and public speaking techniques, public speaking training.

Common Fears of Public Speaking

What happens when you have to speak in public?

Did you know that public speaking tops the list of phobias for most people? Not spiders or heights - public speaking - speech in public!

Well, if you didn't know that, we bet your body does. It will do all kinds of unpleasant things to you when you have to stand up and face a sea of faces with the hope of getting your message across in a compelling and interesting way.

Your hands may sweat and your mouth goes dry. Your knees may shake and a quaver affects your voice. Your heart may race and those well known butterflies invade your stomach.

When all that happens most people don't think of getting their message across in a compelling and interesting way; they just think of getting off the 'stage' as quickly as possible!

Have we frightened you sufficiently yet?

It's normal

We don't really mean to frighten you, just remind you that your body reacts 'in extremis' when put under pressure, and for most people, public speaking is just about the worst pressure they can be put under.

It's normal to be nervous and have a lot of anxiety when speaking in public. In a way, it's less normal not to have nerves or anxiety; in fact, to feel you have a phobia about public speaking.

Why do we get Public Speaking anxiety?

Fight or flight

Our bodies are geared to fight or flight from ancient time - fight that mastodon or get the hell out of the way. We don't have too many mastodons around these days, but the body still reacts as though we do. So, if we have to get up and speak in public, all that adrenalin and noradrenalin goes coursing through our bodies - way more than we need.

We can't run away (well, we could, but we'd be out of job pretty quick if we did it too often), so our only option is to fight. But in terms of speaking in public, it can be hard to define just what we're fighting.

Why does public speaking do this to us?

Good question. You'd think that for most people, being given the opportunity to impress their audience would be a fantastic one. There you are in front of a group of people, the spotlight is on you and for the length of time you've been give, the world is yours.

Or is it?

The very fact that the spotlight is you is enough to trigger every fear, anxiety and phobia you've ever had about public speaking.

Here's why

You may be judged by all those people, and judged badly You may feel like a fool You might make mistakes and loose your way You'll be completely humiliated You'll never be as good as _________ (fill in the blank) 'They' won't like you 'They' won't 'get' what you're trying to say

How to overcome fear of Public Speaking What good are Nerves

Public speaking may not be comfortable, but take our word for it, nerves are good. Being 'centre stage' is not a good place to feel too comfortable.

Nerves will keep you awake and ensure you don't get too complacent. Hard to feel complacent when your heart is beating so hard you're sure everyone watching you can hear it.

If channelled well, nerves can make the difference between giving a humdrum presentation and giving one that keeps people listening.

Get your attention off yourself

It's very tempting to keep focused on how you're feeling, especially if you're feeling really uncomfortable. You'll start to notice every bead of sweat.

To make your nerves work for you, you need to focus on just about anything other than yourself. You can distract yourself by paying attention to the environment in which you're speaking and seeing how you can make it work for you.

Once you're actually in front of your audience, pay attention to them. If you can, notice how people are dressed, who's wearing glasses, who has on bright colours. There will be dozens and dozens of things you can pay attention to help you trick your mind into not noticing what's going on with you.

Anything will do and you will find that the less you concentrate on how you are feeling and the more you concentrate on other things, the more confident you will feel.

How to build confidence in Public Speaking

Your audience can be your friend

Unless you know you're absolutely facing a hostile group of people, human nature is such that your audience wants you succeed. They're on your side!

Therefore, rather than assuming they don't like you, give them the benefit of the doubt that they do.

They aren't an anonymous sea of faces, but real people. So to help you gain more confidence when speaking in public, think of ways to engage your audience. Remember, even if they aren't speaking, you can still have a two-way conversation.

When you make an important point pay attention to the people who are nodding in agreement and the ones who are frowning in disagreement. As long as you are creating a reaction in your audience you are in charge.

Keep them awake

The one thing you don't want is for them to fall asleep! But make no mistake public speaking arenas are designed to do just that: dim lights, cushy chairs, not having to open their mouths - a perfect invitation to catch up on those zzzzs.

Ways to keep them away include

Ask rhetorical questions Maintain eye contact for a second or two with as many people as possible Be provocative Be challenging Change the pace of your delivery Change the volume of your voice

Public Speaking Training

Get a coach

Whatever the presentation public speaking is tough, so get help.

Since there are about a zillion companies out there all ready to offer you public speaking training and courses, here are some things to look for when deciding the training that's right for you.

Focus on positives not negatives

Any training you do to become more effective at public speaking should always focus on the positive aspects of what you already do well.

Nothing can undermine confidence more than telling someone what they aren't doing well.

You already do lots of things well good public speaking training should develop those instead of telling you what you shouldn't do.

Turn your back on too many rules

If you find a public speaking course that looks as though it's going to give you lots of dos and don'ts, walk away! Your brain is going to be so full of whatever it is you're going to be talking about that to try to cram it full of a whole bunch of rules will just be counterproductive.

As far as we're concerned, aside from physical violence or inappropriately taking off your clothes, there are no hard and fast rules about public speaking.

You are an individual not a clone

Most importantly, good public speaking training should treat you as a unique individual, with your own quirks and idiosyncrasies. You aren't like anybody else and your training course should help you bring out your individuality, not try to turn you into someone you're not.

Hints and Tips for Effective Public Speaking

Here are just a few hints, public speaking tips and techniques to help you develop your skills and become far more effective as a public speaker.

Mistakes

Mistakes are all right.

Recovering from mistakes makes you appear more human. Good recovery puts your audience at ease - they identify with you more.

Humour

Tell jokes if you're good at telling jokes. If you aren't good, best to leave the jokes behind. There's nothing worse than a punch line that has no punch. Gentle humour is good in place of jokes. Self-deprecation is good, but try not to lay it on too thick.

Tell stories

Stories make you a real person not just a deliverer of information. Use personal experiences to bring your material to life. No matter how dry your material is, you can always find a way to humanise it.

How to use the public speaking environment

Try not to get stuck in one place. Use all the space that's available to you. Move around. One way to do this is to leave your notes in one place and move to another. If your space is confined (say a meeting room or even presenting at a table) use stronger body language to convey your message.

Technology

Speak to your audience not your slides. Your slides are there to support you not the other way around. Ideally, slides should be graphics and not words (people read faster than they hear and will be impatient for you to get to the next point). If all the technology on offer fails, it's still you they've come to hear.

You can learn to enjoy public speaking and become far more effective at standing in front of a group of people and delivering a potent message.

When it comes to improving your public speaking skills we have three words:

practise, practise, practise!