Learning to Enjoy Public Speaking – My Thoughts on the Good Life
Update: I’ve posted the entire Facebook Live event below. It was recorded on Wednesday, April 18th, 2018, several days after I published the following article. It was an amazing public speaking experience, and I truly enjoyed myself, which was the goal. My “Fresh New Mindset” tips helped big time, and you can find them below. I’m absolutely thrilled that we had a good attendance and more than 70 comments. You can watch here:
Mass Communication
Do you enjoy speaking in public? You probably have strong opinions about this subject. Most people do. Just the thought of public speaking both thrills me to the core and chills me to the bone.
I have always wanted to be a great public speaker. I love the thought of connecting to a large number of people, all at once. The first time I spoke in front of my elementary school, I was flooded with endorphins, and I wanted more. Since then, I’ve gained a good amount of public speaking experience, in journalism school, as a TV reporter, professionally for other jobs, and in other parts of life. I’ve always dealt with some stage fright, but pushing through anyway is part of the buzz.
In my experiences speaking to large audiences of people, I’ve had fabulous successes as well as some disappointing performances. My lifetime experience has been mixed. Then, about ten years ago, I developed a voice disorder called spasmodic dysphonia, which made me extra shy and hesitant about public speaking for a long time.
Lately though, I’ve become increasingly interested in public speaking again. I’d like to do more of it. I’d like to get to a place where I truly enjoy speaking to large audiences of people. I’d like to get so comfortable with public speaking, that I could address everyone in the entire world, all at once, and feel okay with it, and even happy about it. Yes, that comfortable.
This time, I want to approach public speaking differently. I want to learn to really love it. I want to view it like any other skill in my toolbox, such as writing, photography, or sales. Over recent years and months, I’ve been taking small speaking opportunities as they come, as a bridesmaid, at work, and as a guest at a Toastmasters public speaking club meeting. These talks have gone well.
A Lucky Opportunity
Another fun public speaking opportunity recently came into my life. My friend Dr. Teralyn Sell asked me to do a Facebook Live event with her, after she saw my blog article on The Luck Factor book by Dr. Richard Wiseman, which is about research-proven ways to increase your luck. This will be my first Facebook Live event. Dr. Terri is a PhD and licensed professional counselor, who specializes in holistic treatment. She does monthly Facebook live conversations with various women who are interested in living their best lives and helping others do the same. So our Facebook Live event will be a book club style conversation about our experiences with this life-changing book. I’ve been anticipating this hour-long live conversation that will be visible to the public. I really want it to go well.
I’ve been thinking about what I can do differently to increase my true enjoyment of public speaking for this event and moving forward into the future. The following is what I’ve come up with. Hopefully you can gain some benefit from these ideas as well.
Fresh New Mindset
- Be Prepared: I carefully scheduled this speaking event, promoted it online, wrote up the topics of discussion, tested my computer equipment, and set up a nice-looking backdrop for the live event. I’ll carefully read through my notes several times, before we go live, so I feel thoroughly prepared.
- Courage is More Important than Confidence: I think it’s important to take action in the direction of my dreams despite hesitation.
- Reframe Fear as Excitement: Both of these heightened emotions are similar in a way. When I have stage fright, it’s not likely I’ll calm down. But I am able to rechannel my nervousness into genuine enthusiasm. Also, I’m truly excited about the lucky opportunities public speaking could lead to.
- Focus on the Message: I have valuable information to share, and I’ll focus on communicating it clearly and expressively.
- Speak to Individuals: I generally feel comfortable during one-on-one conversations, so when I’m speaking to a large group, it calms me when I imagine I’m speaking to individuals within the group. I’ll keep it comfortably conversational.
- Have Presence: I’ll use good posture, as well as relaxed, comfortable body language. I’ll remind myself it’s okay to take up time and space with my voice and physical presence.
- Convey Warmth: I’ll remind myself that kindness, warmth, and trustworthiness are more important than perfection.
- Trust Myself: I’ll remember that I’m a competent person with important things to say that can help and entertain people. I’ll trust that I have the necessary tools and skills to handle myself well and succeed as a public speaker.
- Be Kind to Myself: No matter the outcome.
- Enjoy Myself: I’ll think back to my roots, in elementary school, when I was so excited to be able to stand in the gymnasium in front of the whole school, and connect with everyone at the same time. That thought made me happy then, and it makes me happy now. I want to tap into that kind of pure enjoyment moving forward.
Hopefully you like these tips and can use them in your own life! If you have any public speaking tips for me, please share.
With a little luck, I’ll enjoy this forthcoming public speaking opportunity, help you increase your luckiness, and I’ll become even luckier myself.
