On-Site Public Speaking Training – Presentation Training: can be designed to the needs of your company or organization and can be delivered on-site at a time and location of your choice. If you have any questions please call or email us with any additional questions you may have. Contact us.
Public Speaking Classes
The Art of Public
Speaking
Our Public Speaking training
classes are designed for both the inexperienced presenter or as a refresher for more experienced members of your company or organization. Our
public speaking classes are offered in most major US cities and across Canada. Our
public speaking skills training classes are small which will give the Public Speaking Class Participants up to 10 Video Taped practice exercises as well as hours of instructor face to face interaction.
Our public speaking training classes (and our one day public speaking class) will eliminate any fear which is caused by lack of experience or nervousness due to inexperience in public speaking and will dramatically improve each participants speaking skills whether they are persuading, educating, or informing their audience. Our highly interactive classes focus on professional business communication including proper preparation, structure, delivery, and strategy, the correct use of visual aids, and handling questions & answers. Contact us today by phone at 713-627-7700 or via email: service@publicspeakingtraining.net
Public Speaking Classes: Speakers' Speed Bumps
"speed bump - noun. An artificial ridge set crosswise into the surface of a street, parking lot, or driveway to make the operators of vehicles decrease speed."- freedictionary.com
Speed bumps are annoying, aren't they? Sometimes they sneak up on you, and you're jolted out of your seat when you weren't expecting it. They do slow you down. They get your attention in an instant, and force you to hold tight to the steering wheel, so you won't get off course. On your speaking journey, you'll run into speed bumps, pot holes, and detours you weren't counting on. That's a guarantee, because no journey is without these occasionally, or sometimes frequently. What can you learn from them?
Wear your seatbelt. In my experience, as a Toastmaster since 1998, I've learned that nothing helps you weather speed bumps like preparation. Just like the restraints in your car or on an airplane, fastening the belt prevents disaster more often than not. Of course, the challenge of fitting enough preparation into an already busy day is significant. I work on speeches in small chunks of time, biting off a bit of outlining, writing, and actual practice whenever I can fit them in. If you think about it, and are honest, there are bits of time in your day, if you separate the urgent from the important. Commute time works well for me. I can practice speaking, voice projection, and the most important piece, visualizing a successful outcome, not wasting that precious time alone.
Brace yourself before and when you hit bumps. If you're lucky enough to see the bumps before you hit them, such as that distracted look in people's eyes, or that heckler who keeps interrupting you, remember, you're in charge. After years of facilitating meetings I learned how to handle these challenges. Most people look to you as the expert when you're speaking. Use that perception, that support that people want to give you, and build on it to increase your confidence. The majority will never realize if you've gotten off course. Change course as soon as you can. Perhaps it's time to up the energy level in your voice, move closer to people, change to a blank screen, or involve someone in the audience to keep things interesting.
Bumps keep you real. There is nothing like hitting a speed bump to get your attention. Something you weren't expecting knocks you over, or stuns you. Use that bump as valuable feedback. To a speaker, all feedback matters. How much is up to you to decide. If you get a critical 'review,' remember that every professional, in any field, experiences these. My favorite dancer, Fred Astaire, was labeled this way, "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances." Given his status today as a Hollywood and dance legend, I'm sure he used this feedback to propel him forward.
Unexpected feedback can actually be a wakeup call, helping you to see yourself as others see you. In some cases, it can even lead you in a new direction that stretches you as a speaker. Recently I was asked to lead a coaching group. The focus is an area of wellness I'm not a true expert about, so I'm hesitating. A colleague reminded me that sometimes we go where we are being called, and we need to let go of the need to be so comfortable. After all, if discomfort in front of groups were that serious, you would not be a speaker.
Bumps can last longer than a second or two. I recently flew home from a Florida vacation. The pilot cautioned us that we would be hitting a few air bumps, due to a rare (for New England) winter rainstorm. We did more than that. The last minutes of the flight were one huge speed bump. The turbulence went on for what seemed like a long time. Considering the obstacle our pilot had to face, the fact that we landed safely was amazing. You may think that you'll never improve your________(fill in whatever is a big speaking obstacle for you) when you speak, or get past a certain fee range. However, one action you take could make the difference. Key word-ACTION. Something as simple as contacting that speaker who does command the fee you want, could trigger your creative juices, and move you further ahead.
Did I mention....speed bumps cushion you against future bumps. Whenever things don't go as well as you'd hoped, how you deal with that, the frame you put around the experience, makes you better able to handle future challenges. When you enter a parking lot with a 'caution, speed bump' sign, you're watching things more closely, and slowing down to avoid hitting the bumps so hard. Feedback that used to make me cringe when I first started, would now make me ask more questions, and sharpen my approach. I know that audience perception is based on so many things I have no control over, and isn't a reflection of my value as a person.
After the bump, a smooth road. Yes, there are rewards after hitting a speed bump. My Toastmaster colleague, Tom Alvord, turned uncertainty into satisfaction when he said, "....the afterglow of having expended the mental and emotional energy of connecting all the thoughts - of creating something that goes beyond other daily activities." If you want to move ahead in your speaking life, create something MORE, like Tom does. Accept that obstacles, speed bumps, lie ahead. Prepare as best you can, work through the challenge, shift your approach, and learn from it. Use the speed bump in a future speech, as a life lesson for others. Stories about overcoming obstacles are what is called experience. Risk. Jump without a net sometimes. The next smooth road is right up ahead.
Marilyn Jess: link
Subject: Public Speaking Classes