Effectively Speaking

Posts Tagged ‘Humor’

Find Out How Easy it is to Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking

June 6th, 2009 | Public Speaking

Dear Future Public Speaker

Are you ready to take that first step - that first step that will move you towards
conquering your phobia?

Like you, thousands of others have come to Effectively Speaking to overcome
their fear of public speaking. The good news is that they have found what they
are looking for - you can too.

EffectivelySpeaking.Com has numerous articles on giving effective presentations. There are articles on various speech techniques including voice inflection and gestures, strategies such as rhetorical questions and using humor, along with skills such as captivating your audience and creating an appropriate structure. All of these articles can help you become a more effective public speaker.

BUT WAIT…

If you’re like most people, you just want to get started on overcoming your fear - I understand.

That’s why I’ve put together my personal secrets to overcoming fear into 5 key articles. Simply join my membership area so that you can start downloading them - it’s absolutely free.

The articles are:

• Overcoming Fear to Deliver Excellence in Public Speaking

• Are We Choosing To Fear Public Speaking?

• Dealing With Stumbling Blocks

• How to Handle a Mind that Goes Blank

• Sweat and Blushing and a Quivering Voice, Oh My

(sign me up now)

These articles will get you started in conquering your phobia fast. I will also provide you with a short course on speaking skills. Each day you will get a short (approximately 5 minutes long) audio segment. As you develop a greater understanding of how to construct a speech you will find that your anxiety subsides.

I can’t tell you any more about it here - it’s sort of an “unadvertised bonus” that I snuck in.

Finally, I will send you my newsletter. It will have articles that will further
help you to:

• Overcome your fear

• Learn new speaking skills

• Start realizing the many benefits that so many individuals who can speak in
public have.

• Keep up to date with what’s happening at EffectivelySpeaking.Com

(sign me up now)

A Powerful Example To Get You Started

Now you may be thinking to yourself – my fear is much worse than anyone else’s. It can never improve.

Well that may be true, but I have had numerous people tell me that only to be shocked when we started to work together. They would let me know that they never
realized how quickly and easily they could start overcoming their phobia of speaking in public.

For instance, one area that we often talk about is
paradigms. Now “paradigm” is a fancy word used to describe your outlook or your perception of your situation. The problem is, we are extremely subjective. When reacting to a situation we don’t think of whether we are perceiving it accurately, we just accept our interpretation as reality and move on.

Now I know… You’re the most objective person around –
especially when it comes to your fear of public speaking. I understand.

But what If I could share with you a paradigm that might be wrong? Would you be willing to truly examine it and change your viewpoint? If so, then you could be well on your way to conquering your fear.

One area that speakers often misinterpret is the attitude of their audience. They consider the audience to be judging them – watching for every little slip up and
mistake. Speakers’ imaginations often run wild with thoughts of the audience running through a mental score card – oh, the audience member thinks, “s/he stumbled over three words and had to gather her/his thoughts for ten seconds. Obviously I’m not going to pay attention to her/him.”

However when the same speakers are asked to think about their own attitudes as audience members they realize that there is a disconnect. As audience members they weren’t keeping a mental score card - they were simply trying to learn the information that the speaker had to share. In fact, rather than judging the speaker they were more likely to try to assist if s/he stumbled or forgot her/his place.

Is that the way it is with you? Are you expecting your audience to judge you? In fact, do you know that
they are judging you? Chances are they’re not (silently) criticizing nearly as much as you perceive them to be.

Starting to change your paradigm about your audience and some others common misperceived areas has provided immediate relief to countless people who have visited http://www.EffectivelySpeaking.Com.

You might be thinking, “Okay, I have a misperception about my audience.” I’m not sure that I can change it. Just how much effort does it take? Do I even want to change it?”

I understand – and that’s why this site is here. I want to share with you just how easy it is to start changing your paradigms as well as some other ways of dealing with
your fear. I have carefully created five reports that will help you start conquering your phobia of public speaking. Please join my free membership area so that you can start downloading them right away.

(sign me up now)

Are you ready to conquer the phobia of speeches? Why not start where so many
others have (and had success)?

Here are just a few of the many testimonials that I have received from readers
just like you - readers who found help at EffectivelySpeaking.Com.

Since I received my first e-mail from you and reading the information on your website. I have seen improvement in my nervousness already. Public speaking is already improving.Thank you so much.

April (Markham)

I was anticipating a nervous evening for myself, as I would be speaking in front of 50 - 60 people in a church setting.I received David’s reflection on fear and felt encouraged
to read about the fact that the nervousness we feel as public speakers is often not noticed by the audience.

I was concerned that the rapid heart rate that sometimes accompanies public speaking would become a distraction from the experience I was trying to create for the congregation. Much to my surprise, I thought of his words as I began to speak and the initial nervousness just melted away. I was able to speak with boldness, clarity, and confidence.

I am grateful for David’s words around fear, for the fact
that I just happened to read them at the appropriate time, and for the reassurance they offered me as I went into a potentially scary situation that turned out to be a blessing instead.”

Andrea Bliss-Lerman (Andover, Ma)

I reviewed some of the material last night and I am very impressed with your writing style.

L.A.H. Jacksonville, FL

David,This is great stuff!!!! How can I get more.

Tom F.

After reading your newsletter and articles for the first time, I find it comforting to know that help is finally at hand. It makes it easier to prepare for a public speaking event if you have interesting material to share with the audience.Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts through EffectivelySpeaking.Com.

Michelle Cott (Sydney, Australia)

Just like you, each of these individuals feared public speaking and came to
EffectivelySpeaking.Com for help. Just like them, you too can start
receiving help - right now.

There’s absolutely no risk. You can quit at any time and I will never sell, trade, rent or in any other way release your email address to an unauthorized third party.

Now you can make the choice to leave this site and do nothing - but is that
what you really want to do? Do you really want to wait longer? Do you want to
continue with the paralyzing pain that occurs every time you have to give a
speech? A year from now do you still want to be overwhelmed with panic everytime you just think about speaking?

Make the choice that will get you help right now…

Get the information that you need and find out how much easier it is
to overcome your fear than you ever thought possible. Simply provide
me with your name and email so that I can send you this crucial information.

To your speaking success

– David Mudie.

Tired of the Paralyzing Fear
of Public Speaking?

Visit http://www.EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com
and find out How Overcome Your Fear with Less Effort Than You Ever Thought Possible.

Posted in Fear of Public Speaking, Public Speaking | Tags: Audience, Effective Presentations, Humor, Overcome Fear, Overcoming Fear, Phobia, Public Speaker, Public Speaking, Speech Anxiety, Speech Techniques, Sweat, Voice Inflection

One Way to Handle a Disinterested Audience

April 26th, 2009 | Public Speaking

A few years ago I was asked to give a motivational speech at a local community center. It was their annual general meeting and the director asked me if I would speak about the importance of community involvement. I eagerly accepted the engagement.

I composed and practiced the speech using the skills that I have shared with you. When it came to the presentation however, I ran right into a brick wall. During the actual presentation I discovered that no one in the audience was interested in my speech…

Well that’s not entirely true – there were some people who were interested, but a large portion weren’t. The director had combined the annual general meeting and the children’s Christmas party. A large number of the people there were “just tolerating” the meeting while they waited so that their children could visit with Santa.

Now you might expect such an audience to be at least polite and wait quietly even if they weren’t interested. Such was not the case. Many of the audience members took it as an opportunity to catch up with their neighbors. They made no effort to hide the fact that they were indifferent towards the meeting and especially me – they were totally wrapped up in their own conversations.

I will tell you right now, it’s extremely disconcerting to have this happen.

At first I tried to engage these people. I projected as much energy and enthusiasm as I could towards them. It didn’t take long to determine that wasn’t going to work.

I then realized that I was focusing on the wrong people. There was a group of people right in front who were hanging on every word (at least that’s what I told myself). They nodded in agreement with my points, they laughed at my humor – in short, they were an attentive audience. Here I was short changing them by directing all my attention to those who had no interest.

Once I had realized this the answer was obvious. Focus my attention on the people who were interested in what I had to say – don’t worry about those who weren’t. I decided that not only should I re-focus my attention, but that I should direct just as much energy and enthusiasm towards them as I had directed towards those who were not paying attention. After all, shouldn’t I put at least as much energy into my speech for those who were being courteous as I chose to for those who were being rude.

The result was fairly predictable. After the meeting those who ignored me continued to do so – after all they were there for Santa (and I could hardly compete with him, could I?).

Many of those who were paying attention came up to me after and gave my positive feedback. I certainly appreciated it – however the best feedback arrived recently. I was talking with a lady I had met and she mentioned being involved with this particular community center. I mentioned that I had spoken there three years earlier. She immediately said, “Oh, I remember you” and went on to describe the points that I had made.

Wow – after three years she remembered my speech. I guess in the end I made the right choice of whom to direct my enthusiasm towards.

As a speaker you can certainly be affected by your audience. Your audience’s response can boost you up just as much as it can bring you down. One strategy is to seek out those in your audience who will give your emotions a boost, and speak to them. As you engage them you will find others are being pulled in as well. Gradually you will reach more and more of your audience. In the end, if you are going to expend some energy on your audience, make sure you invest it in those who will give you the positive feedback you need in order to make it an interactive and dynamic presentation.

Posted in Presentations, Public Speaking | Tags: Annual General Meeting, Array, Attentive Audience, Audience, Audience Members, Brick Wall, Christmas, Christmas Party, Conversations, Group Of People, Humor, Importance Of Community Involvement, Large Portion, Local Community, Motivational Speech, Neighbors