STEP INTO IT!

What makes us avoid speaking opportunities?  

Why do we delegate presentations to others on our teams?  Dread?  High anxiety?

Professionals who embrace the opportunity to speak are quickly promoted and given many more opportunities than those who try to delegate others to do the speaking for them.

But if you regularly feel anxiety in the pit of your stomach, lose your place in the middle of a speech because you suddenly cannot remember that great phrase you were going to use - if you get that feeling when you are on your way to a presentation that you are a lamb going to slaughter - how about making the decision to STEP INTO IT, instead of shying away?

Instead of mistakenly thinking that you are the only one who tends to suffer from stage fright, realize that as herding animals our brains change function when separated from the group.  We lose full use of our neo-cortex and are left with our survival brain that sees the audience as predators.  Sound familiar?

However you need not shy away from speaking because there are techniques that will give you your wits back.  These will help you regain your balance and allow you to focus on your audience members and sharing your message with them.

Speaking well to groups is a practice and practice makes perfect.

If you change your habit and speak whenever the opportunity arises, if you look for speaking opportunities rather than practicing avoidance, your skill will increase and soon you will find yourself looking forward to the chance to engage your audiences, trying new speaking techniques, and much more at ease at the podium.

There are many opportunities to learn speaking skills: Toastmasters, in-house training programs, and through our Pivotal Presentations workshops, 1-1 coaching and our on-going program: Great Women Speakers.  

So, stop avoiding and STEP INTO IT!

New Summer Great Women Speakers program beginning on June 25th and Summer Workshop Series from July 16-18 !  check these out HERE

BREATHE . . .

The word “inspiration” means to inhale, to take in, to breathe.

Breathing fully, deeply and consciously is perhaps the most important habit we can cultivate for our health, happiness and effectiveness as speakers.

Our brains run on oxygen, supplied by blood from our lungs. The pattern of breathing, the in and out in a consistent rhythm, keeps us balanced, free of anxiety.

When we are tense, we hold our breath, breaking the pattern, and depriving our brains of fuel.

We go blank and cannot remember what we were thinking about. We panic, forgetting who we are, where we are, and what we wanted to say.

The only antidote is to take a deep breath.

Our audiences also need to breathe in order to understand, to fully integrate and to later accurately remember our conversation with them.

To be most effective, take a full breath before beginning to speak, pause and breathe between ideas to refresh your mind and theirs, and take a full breath at the end during the applause.

Breathe!

© 2008 Constance Miller All rights reserved.