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I recently wrote a blog post for The Student Budget on public speaking and ways to reduce the nerves and anxiety associated with it. The guide was written with the idea that people would be willing to experiment a little to ease their knee-knocking giddiness, but I realise there are many people who will disregard these tips. I'm guesstimating that these people might be on the more extreme ends of anxiety scales. Being told to not over think it? Or step closer to your audience AND make eye contact? I should have just told you to bungee jump over crocodile-infested waters. That's a link by the way.It would be pretty tricky to convince someone to mellow out if they believed they were alone in experiencing those feelings and sensations. Those that give advice on how to be a successful public speaker are usually professionals or have had many years of practice. They're probably in a different mind frame now and struggle to empathise with those newer to the scene. One of the most important things to remember is that every single person that has done public speaking has had countless embarrassing moments. Even those that smoothly strut to the microphone.
I'm no smooth strutter, but I've had some amount of experience with public speaking. For the slightest chance of easing a little of your nerves, I'll relay some of my more red-faced experiences.
A few years after finishing high school, I got a job at a theme park. I thought it was so stupid how lucky I was. Until I had to learn scripts for some of the roles. I wasn't shy, but I hated, HATED!, public speaking. Within the first month of getting the job, I was handed a 4 page script and given a couple of days to learn it. The spiel was to be delivered to approximately 50 visitors at a time. I sounded like a robot the first few, until I became comfortable enough to add my own flavour. That's when things went south. I did more embarrassing things over the next 2 years at this attraction than any other for the following 4 years.
Hand Farts
Accidentally spitting on visitors, falling from the podium, forgetting my lines (and being corrected by the regular visitors) and letting my fly hang open were the more manageable situations. To hide my shaking hands, I would usually hold them clasped together. Regardless of nerves or temperature, my hands are sweaty 90% of the time. Since, like, forever. The amount of times I've un-clasped my hands to release an indiscreet hand-fart... man. You see a change in the audiences eyes. "Knowing" looks are exchanged and nostrils start flaring.
Voice Breaks
The hand farts were pretty bad, but they couldn't compete with my voice gymnastics: it was like you'd just caught a choir boy hitting puberty. My voice is always breaking, especially when my pitch elevates. And sometimes it's bad. Really bad. The worst it got was when I bellowed an announcement about a delayed show - my voice broke - nay, cracked - like a thunderclap. Hard. Sharp. And loud. The lady standing right in front of me plugged her ear as if a firework just went off. Hell, even my ears felt a little violated.
I worked as a liaison officer at uni for an organistion that provided study abroad programs. My job was to seek out the support of academics throughout the whole university and sell the programs to their students. I had to present to up to 300 students at a time, and convince them to fork over thousands of dollars for a trip they probably didn't need. It was difficult, I had to meet quotas, impress impatient professors, and actively promote an external organisation that was competing with the university's own study abroad programs. Some academics were deceptively nice, until I turned up for my presentations. They'd ask tough questions and compare the overseas programs to their own, all in front of beady little eyes drinking up the entertainment. Sometimes my mouth would get so dry every time I breathed in it sounded like a hiccough. My hand sweat doubled from nerves, flyers that were meant to exchange hands were sticking to my fingers, and I left my DNA all over the computer mouse (you know, readying it for the lecturer's use).
Despite all that, I did end up killing my quota and recruiting more students than recorded for previous years. That just goes to show that how you perceive your performance isn't how others do. Eventually, so many experiences pile up that you get used to the stink, and serially forget the majority of it. I don't know if any of this helped you, distracted you, or discouraged you, but at least you'll know you're not alone.
Got your own embarrassing experience you'd like to share?
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