This last week I have been very busy, mainly because I was involved in two days of teaching where I had to present to nursing colleagues. Also on Good Friday I was involved in my local churches “Good Friday Workshop”, helping children to make hot crossed buns!
Presenting, any form of standing in front of a group of people and talking, is something I used to hate. Performing in front of others - yuk. As a child my introvert personality and low self esteem meant I was always petrified at the thought of having to stand in front of the class and say anything.
I’m no expert on the works of Shakespeare - but I will forever know the 15th March as the “Ides of March”. At school (aged around 10) our class did a performance of Julius Caesar in which I was given (I would have preferred to have done nothing) the role of “Soothsayer” with one line “Beware the Ides of March”. Despite the fact that everyone else had far more complex lines and parts, and we were only doing the play to ourselves, I had problems remembering this simple line. I can still recall, 40 years later, not being able to say that simple line in rehearsal and having to write it on a piece of card.
I’ve recently come across Robin Sharma, a very successful personal development and leadership coach/lecturer/leader - who travels the world giving top companies his wisdom. In the first podcast of his I listened to Robin explain how in the past he dreaded giving any sort of presentation. Even at University, he planned his law degree with modules that didn’t involve having to present! Yet now, after years of practice, he is paid megabucks for his presentations.
Going back to my teaching presentations last week, all the information was available in various documents. I could have said - “Just read this”. Interestingly many politicians now release their speeches in advance of delivering them - so why bother?
One good way to be more confident about giving a presentation is to breakdown the word - present-ation. You are there to give your audience a present - its going to be much easier for them to learn the topic by listening to you rather than just reading the material.
Taking that a stage further, if your presentation is going to help them, they are going to be on your side. They want to hear what you have to say - if for any reason you didn’t turn up they’d be disappointed.
Prior to giving a presentation its very easy to start thinking about everything that might go wrong, to picture yourself standing in front of a crowd of hostile people unable to utter a word. If you’re speaking on a familiar topic, like I was last week, you’ll probably have too much to say, rather than not enough. But counter the tendency to worry and think negatively by preparing some positive statements:-
“I have a lot of knowledge on this topic”
“I can help my audience learn how to ….”
“They really want to hear me speak”
“I have organized what I want to say, I have material in reserve”
“I was born with the ability to speak, I speak standing up everyday, I have a good, clear voice”
You get the idea - formulate your own according to the circumstances of your presentation. As illustrated above, preparing what you want to say will obviously help your confidence and ultimately help your presentation. Sometimes you need to give something word for word - my daughter has just returned home from giving a bible reading at church. You can’t really ad lib in such circumstances!
But usually its easier and better to communicate with your audience if you organize your presentation into headings, with perhaps the occasional quote or sentence you want to put across in full. This helps the flow and allows you to speak “normally”, to connect and interact with your audience. You will be able to converse with them, rather than lecture them.
Pay some attention to what I was saying last time about body language. If you are nervous it will pay dividends spending a few minutes getting your body “organized” - look like the expert you are. Since writing about “smiling with your eyes“, I have found another Shakespeare quote:-
“The eyes are the windows to the soul”
I have also written before on practicing speaking, and breathing, which will also help your confidence. If you are speaking to a large room of people, “connect” with people at the back of the room and project your voice to them. That doesn’t mean shouting, but raising your voice to a high enough level to be heard without losing your natural vocal tone.
The more you do it, the easier it becomes. I still felt slightly nervous last week, but reminded myself that was my body pumping some adrenaline into my bloodstream to ensure I was on top form!
译文:
怎么样做个演讲
上个星期我非常忙，主要是因为，我要准备两天的教学，并就大学生的培育发表演讲。在耶稣受难节我又要到当地的教堂去做“星期五礼拜”，还帮助孩子们做热乎乎的甜面包。
演讲，或者任何形式地站在一群人面前讲话，都是我曾经最讨厌做的事。在别人面前表演——恶心。小时候，我性格内向，又缺少自信，这意味着，一想到站在全班同学面前讲话，我就感到害怕。
我对莎士比亚的作品没有研究，但我却永远记得那个三月十五日。在我大概十岁的时候，我们班要演一个关于尤里西斯凯撒的戏，我被分配到演占卜者的角色，（其实我宁愿什么都不演的）我的台词只有一句：“小心三月十五日这一天。”尽管其他人的台词和角色都比我复杂的多，而且我们只是演给自己看，我仍然很难记住这简单的一句话。四十年后，我仍清晰的记得，在排练的时候，我没能说出这句话，最后我不得不把它写在一张小卡片上。
我最近碰到了罗伯特莎尔曼，他是位在个人发展和领导才能培养方面非常成功的教练，讲师，领导人。他在世界上各大公司传播他的智慧。在他的首个播客上我听他解释到，在以前，他是多么害怕做任何演讲。甚至在大学的时候，他的法律成绩平平，就是因为他不愿做演讲。然而现在，经过多年的磨炼，他的演讲可以为他赚一大笔钱。
回到我上星期的教学演讲，所有的信息都能在文件上找到。我本可以读一下。有趣的是，现在许多政客在做演讲之前就公开了他们的文稿。那我又是何苦呢？
最好的增强信心的方法就是把“presentation”这个词拆分。你正是在给观众一份礼物（present）。他们听你讲，比读那些资料，更容易学到知识。
进一步讲，如果你希望观众从你的演讲中获益，他们必须是站在你这边的。他们想听到你在讲什么，所以你如果不把声音放大店，他们会失望的。
在做演讲之前，我们很容易去想一些不好的情况，比如想象着自己站在一群不友好的人面前，一个字也说不出。如果你讲的是个自己熟悉的话题，就像我上周那样，你可能有很过要要说，而不会没话说。但不要去想那些令人担心的情景，不要太消极，应该多想一些乐观的话：
“这个话题我了解得很多。”
“我可以帮组我得观众学到怎样。。。”
“他们确实是想听我演讲的。”
“我已经组织好了自己想说什么，我准备了充分的资料。”
“我天生就有演讲才能，我每天都在进步，我有漂亮清晰的嗓音。”
记住，根据你演讲的实际情况来准备。如同我刚才说的，充分的准备能帮组你增强信心，最终能帮助到你的演讲。有时你必须一个字一个字得准备。（我的女儿在教堂做了个圣经朗读，现在才刚回家。）在有些情况下你不可能即兴发挥。
如果你的演讲有小标题，偶尔引用一些名言警句，能让你更快更好的于观众沟通。这能使你演讲更流利更自然，并能于观众产生互动。这样你才能和他们交流，而不仅仅只是向他们演讲。
最后请注意我所说的肢体语言。如果你很紧张，那就花几分钟“组织”一下你的肢体语言，尽量让自己看起来像个专家，这会是你受益匪浅。自从写下“用眼睛微笑”这句话后，我又找到了一句莎士比亚的名言：
“眼睛是心灵的窗户。”
我以前还写过关于练习演讲的文章，记得要深呼吸，这能让你更自信。如果你是给很大一群人演讲，你要与坐在后排的观众交流，让他们能听见你的声音。我并不是指吼叫，而是把你的音量提高到他们能听到的程度，又不丢失你最自然的语调。
练习越多，就会越容易。上个星期我还是有点小紧张，但我提醒自己，我要让这些紧张感充斥到我的血液里，让我保持最佳状态。