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Every time I get up in front of an audience, I feel the fear. But I keep getting up there, anyway.
I’ve taught 8-hour writing classes to PhD economists and culinary professors and executives of major pharmaceutical companies. I’ve also appeared in more than 35 plays, starring in roles such as the Engineer (Miss Saigon), Red (The Shawshank Redemption), and Scrooge (A Christmas Carol).
My time on stage has helped me overcome my fear, connect with audiences, and get my point across.
How can I overcome my fear?
Fear is a natural psychological response to perceived threat, and for many of us, being judged by a group is a big threat. You can overcome fear by understanding this response.
Recognize that fear is inevitable.
Shaky hands, sweaty palms, butterflies in the stomach, hyperventilation, racing thoughts . . . Those symptoms arise from adrenaline–your body prepping to face danger. What if I say something stupid? What if I forget what I’m doing? You can't prevent the adrenaline response, but you can manage it.
Manage your fear.
Your body has three uses for adrenaline:
- Flight: You get the heck out of there! Since you can’t actually escape a presentation, you make yourself small and quiet and hope no one notices you . . . standing there . . . at the podium . . . mumbling into a microphone. . . .
- Freeze: You stop moving, like a deer as the Mac truck barrels down. You can’t get a word out. Your hands go numb. You can’t breathe. This is even worse than flight, because you don’t do anything at all.
- Fight: You get big and loud and go all in. You grab the fear by the horns and wrestle it to the ground and dare the audience not to like you.
The fight response puts you in charge of your adrenaline and gives you the courage to take whatever comes.
How can I connect with my audience?
Remember that the point of public speaking is to communicate. To do so, you must connect.
Acknowledge them.
Don’t look over their heads and pretend no one is in the room. That’s still in the flight mode. No, look them in the eyes and greet them. You might even mention one or two of them by name, which suddenly shifts the dynamic from “them-versus-me” to “we-together.”
Think of them as friends. Audiences want you to succeed. It’s excruciating to watch a presenter fail. They want you to lead them out of the valley of the shadow of death and into the land of milk and honey.
Answer two basic questions.
Audiences have two questions that you must answer within the first three minutes of your presentation.
- Do you know what you’re doing? You have about 30-60 seconds to get the audience to say, “Yes, this presenter is capable.”
- Do I like what you’re doing? You have another two minutes to convince the audience that your presentation is worth paying attention to.
If the answer to both questions is “Yes,” you’ve got them. They’ll follow you wherever you want to go. If the answer is “No,” the rest of the presentation will be an uphill battle.
How can I get my point across?
Stepping up to a podium can feel like walking to the edge of a high dive. Make sure you are ready.
Prepare.
A 15-minute presentation requires at least a couple hours of preparation. An 8-hour presentation requires at least a month or more. You can’t just “wing it.”
- Gather your materials. Find the information you need, including facts, figures, and graphics.
- Focus your thoughts. What’s the main point? State it clearly. A main point is like the handle on luggage–listeners can grab hold of it to take along everything packed inside.
- Organize your ideas. Put information in an order that makes sense, building on what listeners already know and providing them what they need to know.
- Write it down. Create an outline, or write a manuscript, or create a slideshow that walks through your ideas.
- Don’t just tell—show. If you’re going to have a slideshow, use it for images and graphics, not just words. If you aren’t going to have a slideshow, consider other visual aids, such as a graph on a poster board or even a drawing on a whiteboard. When we hear something, we consider it someone else’s idea. When we see it for ourselves, it becomes our idea. We believe it.
- Practice. Present first to an empty room, testing out what you will say and how you will say it. Then try your presentation in front of some trusted friends or family members. Refine as you go.
Don’t just read the slideshow.
Audiences can read your PowerPoint for themselves, and they already have by the time you are reading each bullet. Instead, add to the slide, providing depth and color.
Improvise as needed.
The better you prepare, the better you can roll with the punches. And there will be punches. Live theater teaches that anything can happen.
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Improv Among Inmates
In one performance of The Shawshank Redemption, we inmates were listening to “Twist and Shout” on a transistor radio in the library when one of us leaped from a bench to a table. Crack! Two of the bench’s legs were ripped away and lay shattered on the floor, and the table was about to lose two of its legs–all in front of a live audience!
I improvised, “That’s rock ‘n’ roll for you!” Another inmate shouted, “The warden’s going to kill us!” Just then, Brooksie the librarian barged in, yelling at us for making a mess in the library. I snatched up the broken bench and legs, and other inmates crowded in front of me so I could sneak them out the door without Brooksie noticing the extent of the damage.
The audience thought it was all part of the show.
I considered that improv to be our finest hour as a cast. All of us were so well prepared that when the unthinkable happened, we could respond in the moment and keep going.
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What if I have to give an impromptu speech?
You’re in a meeting, and the president calls on you to report on your department. Or you are at a retirement party, and someone calls on you to share something about the retiree. No time to prepare. Eek!
- Take a deep breath. It will help center you.
- Turn on the “fight” response. Get up boldly. Commit and use energy.
- Connect. Thank the person who called you up. Acknowledge the listeners.
- State your main point. “We have some exciting projects in Editorial,” or “Everybody loves Sara, and it’s not hard to see why.” Giving your main point helps you focus.
- Unpack your main point. “Our big push right now editorially is a new set of choose-your-own video adventures that teach grammar,” or “Sara works hard and helps anybody who needs it. In fact, when I first came and didn’t know anything, Sara was the one who . . .”
- Revisit your main point. “We’re finishing Grammar Adventures and hope to roll it out for next semester” or “Sara may be leaving the facility, but she won’t soon be leaving our hearts.”
Remember that the whole point of public speaking is to communicate what is in your brain to all of the other brains out there. You’re not just filling time. You are sharing ideas with real people. So, connect!
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