Your heart starts racing. Your hands get clammy. Youcan't remember your name. Your knees are weak with everyone across theroom staring at you. You're about to give a presentation and if you arelike many others, you can't think of anything worse. In fact, all youcan envision is completely humiliating yourself in front of an audiencethat matters to you.
It doesn't matter who that audience is. Infact, I know a salesperson who is perfectly comfortable giving apresentation to the company's senior management team but often quakesin his shoes at the idea of making a thoughtful toast at his parent'sanniversary party. One of my daughter's teachers once told me hergreatest fear was public speaking. Yet she gets up in front of a classof 20 often-harsh critics five days a week! At the same time, I have afriend who can make a complete fool of herself if she's acting a parton stage. But ask her to say something serious in a business meetingand she runs away. Over the many decades Dale Carnegie Traininghas been working to help people communicate, we've become very wellknown for teaching people how to speak in public. Yet, I must admit,there's very little teaching involved. It really is just a matter ofgaining the self-confidence to do what comes naturally. To gain the confidence to overcome the fear of speaking to any group, consider these three things: You have earned the right to speak on this subject Chancesare, you wouldn't have been asked to talk about the subject is somebodydidn't think you were an expert. If you really aren't the best personto talk about the subject, give someone else the opportunity. You'll behelping the audience as well as yourself. I mentioned this to thesalesperson before his parents' party and he thanked me profusely. Heagreed that no one else knew his parents as well as he did. In fact,after our conversation, he was adamant that no one else could have thisimportant role at the party. Get excited about the subject Ifyou've earned the right to talk about something, chances are you havesomething pretty exciting to say to people. Is it a new work processthat you helped develop? Is it the fact that your parents' marriagesurvived 50 years of hardship? Is it your devotion to a politicalcause? It doesn't matter how mundane the subject, you ‘can’ getexcited about it. A few years ago, one of our trainingsessions had a nurse who was asked to speak about washing hands at anupcoming convention. "Everybody learns this in nursing school," shelamented. "What could I possibly tell them that's new?" By the sessionbefore the convention, she was truly excited. She realised that withall the attention being given to contagious diseases such as AIDS andhepatitis, it didn't matter if she had anything new to say. She couldsave lives just by giving the audience a refresher course. Be eager to project the value to your listener Thenurse had found the value in her message. You can do the same. Simplydecide what the one thing is you'd like to say about this subject andhow it could change someone's life or their view of a situation. Forexample, after the anniversary party, my friend said a cousin came upto him and told him his toast to his parents was so moving that herealized his own marriage was worth working on. With these threethoughts, you can conquer any fear of talking in public. Yourexcitement and eagerness will overcome any lapses in speaking style.And your audience will know that you were the right person for that job. Group Moderator for [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Connect your World with Us join Now - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dimpill_gang/join Affiliated group from dimpill_gang for Only Adult Mails - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fantazies/join Affiliated group from dimpill_gang for Only Health and Food Mails - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Health_and_Gourmet/join Explore your hobbies and interests. Go to http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/
