7 habits of highly fearful speakers

7 Habits of Highly Fearful Speakers

Fearful speakers can be found in many different places – from the business club circuit through to client presentations and anything in-between ……consider also your websites, brochures and face-to-face encounters as these also constitute times when you’re required to ‘speak’ to your audience.

1. Power Point presentation is an on-screen prompt - this is the biggest clue to a fearful speaker …….especially when they read from the screen. A cardinal sin which is highly offensive to the audience. Keep your style conversational and edit your power point to a handful of amazing slides

2. Lecture Style - content rules with this speaker! They labour under the mistaken belief that what they say is the most important thing. It's not! Sure, content is important, but how you make people feel will have a far greater resonance. People often forget your words but they’ll always remember how you made them feel

3. We-ing over the audience - play a game of buzz word bingo - watch out for we, I, our …..nothing is worse than listening to someone drone on about themselves for an hour, especially when you’re presenting to a potential client. If your presentation contains anything relating to ‘we are based, we were founded, we employ, we pride ourselves on being professional/reliable/trustworthy’ then delete it – now! The first encounter should be like a first date – if all you ever talk about is you then you’re unlikely to get a second date!

4. "Can hardly wait for it to be over" - this thinking oozes from every pore - it's agony to listen to this type of presenter. Rarely confined to speaking in public – there are countless boardrooms and sales teams around the country enduring this type of presenter. It suggests you’re presentation is ill-prepared so you’re dreading the moment. Guess what? your audience dread it too

5. A script? Never leave home without it! - reading from a script fools no-one - it just adds to the pressure you put yourself under. Perfection isn’t connection and you’re aim must surely be to connect with the people you’re talking to? Prepare and be sure of the points you want to make. What MUST you say? What SHOULD you say? (if you have time) and what COULD you say? (if there’s still time)

6. One size fits all - giving the same presentation suggests you don't care and lulls you to believe you're doing OK. If you haven’t bothered to take the time to adapt what you’re going to talk about to fit the needs of the audience why on earth should they bother to listen to you? Understand who you’re audience is, what are their dreams, hopes, desires? What do they want you to solve for them? How can you do this better than anyone else? Why are you the answer to their dreams? Dare to be different – show off and flirt a little – it makes all the difference

7. Podium Power - you're just willing yourself to venture out from behind the podium but how on earth do you get back? When you move do it with purpose. Never rock back & forwards, jangle things in your pocket, or worse still, put your hands in your pocket, wander about aimlessly or anything else that is massively distracting for the ‘listener’. Standing still can add to your presence – providing you stand still with a purpose.

How many more agonised moments will we spend as highly fearful speakers? How much more business could you win by presenting more confidently? If you have adopted any of these habits then visit www.purevisionuk.com to discover more about our workshops and discover easy ways to break them. If you see a highly fearful speaker at a conference and would like to help them overcome their fears please feel free to give them our details