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“I don’t
know why. But all of a sudden, I’ve started getting nervous
when I speak. I’ve been speaking for 20 years and I’ve
always done fine. Suddenly, however, nerves have taken over
and it is scaring me.”
Those are
the words of a senior executive at a Fortune 100 company,
who recently asked Speechworks for help in getting over
stage fright.
Our
coach’s response? “Do you ever rehearse your
presentations?”
When this
executive said “No” it was immediately clear what had to be
done. He needed to begin rehearsing his presentations like
crazy. By that we mean 10 to 15 times. Nothing is more
consistently effective in helping people deal with stage
fright than rehearsing a presentation until you know it so
well that you could do it if a bomb went off.
The
rehearsal won’t necessarily eliminate all the butterflies.
But it will build your confidence so that will come across
as confident and poised.
To be
sure, the coach could have dealt with this executive by
analyzing what has changed recently in his business (and
several things had changed) and how that might have impacted
how he sees himself as a presenter. But we’re not shrinks.
All we know is that if you practice your presentations like
hell, you’ll reduce your anxiety.
The story
has a happy ending. This executive had a big presentation
the next week before about 200 employees. This is the exact
type of situation that suddenly started making him nervous.
He rehearsed his 15-minute presentation about 10 times.
Our coach
sent him an e-mail asking him how the presentation went.
His terse response?
“I nailed
it.”
At
Speechworks we help our clients learn how to communicate in
a way that connects and persuades. If you’re interested in
becoming a great communicator give us a call at 404-266-0888
or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net |
