KEY PRESENTATION SKILLS TRAINING
Developing the Confidence to Give presentations: Our Guide

Why Do we Fear Public Speaking or Giving Presentations?

Many of us already have the skills for making presentations; we just need to recognise them and know how to apply them.

Presentations and public speaking are all about communication, something we do every day, without thinking about it. But if we were asked to give a presentation to colleagues or even friends many of us would prefer to die (as supported by several different surveys, including one by Time Magazine, that rank people's 'Fear of Death' as low as 7th place compared to the Number 1 spot which is held by 'Fear of public Speaking').

But is it that difficult?  Clearly for some it is!

Actually giving talks and presentations is NOT that difficult but the associated anticipation, anxiety and fears can be totally overwhelming. Most of these arise from two sources:

a. Fear of failure
b. Lack of confidence

Fear of failure can be paralysing! We don't want to look stupid in front of colleagues or friends.  we don't want to dry-up part way through our talk, or lose track, or for our voice to crack, or for us to pour with sweat, .. or ... or ...

Because when these things happen (and we're convinced they surely will!) everyone will be ready to point the finger and judge us.

But what if we're wrong? What if we could refocus to see that they're wanting to listen to us, to learn from our experience and knowledge, that they are actually with us rather than against us?

Fear often comes from ignorance:  it has as much to do with what we don't know as what we do know. Fear results in lack of confidence to deliver: we focus on our lack of ability, lack of knowledge, lack of skills ... and the result can be crippling.

The good news is that many of us are further down the road to successful speaking than we realise! Each of us has a set of skills and qualities that are unique to us: no-one else has them. For example, we communicate naturally with those around us on a daily basis, expressing our feelings, beliefs, likes, dislikes, opinions etc without a second thought. If we're face-to-face with friends, family or colleagues there are few problems with using our voice, hands, eyes, body language, spoken language and knowledge to get across exactly what we mean. This is a great start and when we realise that, we realise that we have a foundation to build on. We can add new techniques, new understanding, new realisation that we CAN do it and that we can grow and develop. Talk to us

Increased confidence comes from greater experience, greater personal awareness and a feeling of knowing how. A lot of our success in public speaking is rooted in confidence: confidence in our ability and confidence in our knowledge of the subject. The first step in gaining more confidence is down to us: we must want it. We are the only person who can make that decision and it can be scary! That's why we need others to draw alongside us to help: others who can share their skills, their knowledge and their good (and bad) experiences so that we can develop and improve. Most of the skills we need relate to WHO WE ARE rather than what we present!

Notice we used the term 'draw alongside and share' rather than 'teach'.

Our next, psychologically more difficult step is be as confident speaking to a group of people in a room: at a local meeting or perhaps a larger gathering. The same basic skills apply here and this is where we can really put our personal and interpersonal skills to good effect. The key is 'Think Bigger'. When we speak to a group, like if we were acting on a stage, we have to project what we mean into a bigger space. There will be people sat further away who need to see and experience our presentation.  We'll need to think about voice projection, eye contact, body language, visibility and a whole host of other things that will allow us to engage with them and them to engage with us.

Learning these skills is not difficult providing we can find the right person to help us learn. There are plenty who teach their way of doing things, which is fine: to a point. The problem is, not everything that works for them will work for us. It's about connecting skills and techniques with our personality AND the skills we already use effectively day-to-day.

We all learn in different ways and we all have personal preferences how we like to be trained. Learning involves two parties:

a. Deliverer
b. Recipient

BOTH must be in-tune with each other for the passage, assimilation and application of information to be effective. So, it's important we choose people with whom we can connect and work: people who deliver what we need in a way that we can enjoy it and which suits our learning style.

We can then combine our skills and qualities, with a knowledge of how to use these effectively, to confidently give interesting presentations that really engage our audience ... with our own flair!

AND these skills overflow into all areas of our life; inside and outside of work.

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HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?

Key Presentation Skills is administered by Waywood Training.

Dr Stuart Wood
c/o Waywood Training
PO Box 202
Loughborough
Leics
LE11 1WH

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