If you ever have (or will have) the the opportunity to speak publicly, I know how you feel. As a former accountant (who went into Accounting primarily because I thought I would not have to deal with people), I have felt your pain. I want to take my next three posts to give you 10 tips that I learned by joining Toastmasters™ a couple of years ago.
TIP 1: Know Your Material
If you are like me, you probably have heard your fair share of speakers who just “winged it.” They obviously did NOT know their material – or at least sounded like they did not. When I have heard someone like this, I felt really bad for the speaker – at first. I somehow felt guilty for being there, watching and hearing them stumble along.
Then it would hit me: I would go from feeling bad for THEM to feeling bad for ME. I mean, I was the one who was taking the time out of my life to drive to an event, possibly pay for a hotel room, and pay for an event ticket, and here I was listening to someone who did not even take the time to know their stuff. If you are going to talk in front of anyone – regardless of the size of the audience – care enough for your listeners to learn your material.
TIP 2: Practice, Practice, Practice!
I have now given 20 talks in my Toastmasters™ career, including one today. Of all the tips I will be sharing, I would say that this one is the MOST IMPORTANT. When I have given a talk about which I did not feel good, it was ALWAYS because I had not practiced much. Without fail. It was never because traffic made me feel rushed on my way to the meeting or because I did not feel well. It was always because I had not practiced enough.
On the flip side, whenever I felt like I had done a great job, I realized that I had practiced a lot. Please do not shortchange yourself in this area. You will be glad that you took this Tip to heart.
TIP 3: Know the Audience
This one can be challenging. Let’s face it, if your audience is more than 10 or so people, you are NOT going to know all that you need to know about every person to whom you are speaking. I have some good news for you:
You do not have to.
When I am going to speak to a group about which I know little to nothing, I contact the host or hostess of the event. I ask him or her about the audience. How big will the audience be? Mainly men or women? Average age? What subjects, if any (other than the timeless landmines like Politics, Sex and Religion) would it be wise of me to avoid? You can learn a LOT from asking questions like these to someone who has experience with the group.
One more idea I want to pass along in this area: I always get to the venue EARLY, and start meeting people in the audience. I have even been known to ask one or two in a group if they would be okay with my speaking to them a little during the talk. I get a feel for some of the audience, but – more importantly – they get to know me somewhat before I take the stage
In my next post (next Tuesday, September 11) I will give you three more of these 10 Tips. Until then, work on these first three Tips. They have helped me a lot, and I believe they will help you, too..
