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Public Speaking Skills Training
The Art of Public
Speaking
Our Public Speaking training
seminars are designed for both the
inexperienced presenter or as a refresher for more experienced members
of your company or organization. Our training workshops are offered in
most major cities across the United States and Canada. All public
speaking skills training classes are small which will give you all the face to face time
you need with our training team.
Our public speaking training courses (presentation training) will eliminate your fear or inexperience in public speaking and dramatically improve your speaking skills whether you are persuading, educating, or informing. Our highly interactive courses focus on professional business communication including preparation, structure, delivery, and strategy, 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 Skills Training: Finding Composure in Public Speaking Training
How many times have you watched someone walk up to the lectern and immediately begin their public speaking speech or presentation, their eyes glued to their notes or their script without so much as a glance at their audience?
Establishing composure, in public speaking, is something rarely, if ever, discussed because most people are so overwhelmed by nervousness and fear that their primary goal is just to get it over with as quickly as possible.
Instead of dwelling on your public speaking fear, why not dwell on the positive and allow your nervousness to work for you?
As you approach that lectern, stand up straight, hold your head up high, and walk with confidence. Upon reaching the lectern, lay your notes or your script down and look at your public speaking audience, scanning the room from one side to the other as you smile at those in attendance. This is referred to as acknowledging your audience.
Remember, once at that lectern, you are the ‘top-dog;’ you are the maestro; you are the chief; you’re the boss. And, because you’re the boss, you start when you are ready. They will wait. If you have ever attended a classical concert, the conductor will not begin until his orchestra is ready and the hall is quiet. He may stand there for a full minute, waiting. He is the maestro. He will start when he is ready; and, you have the same right. Taking just a few seconds to compose yourself and, at the same time, to acknowledge your audience, will help you gain control when public speaking. [Please note that there are limitations to this right. Standing there for 5 minutes is not an option.]
What I haven’t mentioned, however, is the most important thing you can do before you even begin your walk to the lectern. And, that is simply to breathe. Oddly enough, it is the one thing we never think to do in public speaking and yet it is the one thing we never have enough of in public speaking! Breath. Air. Oxygen. It is a necessity!
The first thing I teach in working with my public speaking clients is diaphragmatic breathing, the normal, natural means of supported breathing that the majority of the population is unaware of. All mammals do it; it’s just the most intelligent of the mammals that don’t do it!
We were born breathing properly so it is not as if this is foreign or alien to our body. Sometime during our childhood development, however, we stop this practice and revert to shallow, unsupported breathing. This type of breathing, which is symptomatic of about 99% of the population, is not natural, nor is it normal; and, it is a medical fact that shallow or lazy breathing increases our stress because it does not allow for the elimination of the toxins in our body. Deep supported breathing does. Breathing with the support of the diaphragm is normal and natural.
Therefore, if you truly want to establish your composure in public speaking, you must not only breathe, but you must learn to breathe properly. It is absolutely the best means of controlling nervousness in any form of public speaking. In fact, I’ll take that one step further. Breathing with the support of your diaphragm is the best means of controlling the stress in your life. It doesn’t get any better than that. Yes, you can prioritize. Yes, you can cut down on your workload; but, learning to breathe with support is the single most important thing you can do because it physically relaxes your body.
Remember those toxins? Supported breathing eliminates them. Shallow breathing increases them. Think about it this way. If you are overwhelmed by stress, your shallow or lazy breathing is increasing that stress. Likewise, if you are nervous in public speaking, your shallow or lazy breathing is increasing your nervousness.
Once you learn to breathe properly and allow that physical process to control your nervousness, you will not have to ‘search’ for composure, you will already have it; and, being composed at the lectern means that you are in control of your nervousness, not the other way around. It’s a wonderful feeling!
Nancy Daniels: link
Subject: Public Speaking Skills Training