Don’t Wing It. Be Prepared
Athletes have warm-up routines. They just don’t start playing the game. And as a public speaker you need to warm-up before your presentation. It’s important to have a routine.
Walking in cold to an event can be nerve-wracking. The success formula for public speaking is 90% preparation and 10% delivery. You don’t want to wing it. Here are three areas to consider that will help you get ready, calm your nerves, and ensure a successful outcome.
Mental - First get ready mentally. What is your self talk? Do you think “I can’t wait ‘til this is over”, “I hope I don’t lose my place,” “I’m not a good speaker"? Any variation of negative thinking will affect your performance because there’s always a mind-body connection. Reprogram your mind by saying out loud, “I can do this,” “My message is important,” “I know my topic”.
Next, change the picture. Do you see a scowling audience in your mind’s eye? You get to change the image. Be creative and visualize the presentation from the moment you walk in the room. Imagine smiling faces. Hear the confidence in your voice. Hear the thunderous applause. The subconscious mind doesn’t know fantasy from reality. So create the perfect presentation fantasy.
Physical - Some presenters like to run before a presentation. That’s not always practical but if you’re in a large venue you can burn nervous energy by power walking up and down the corridors. Practice power poses by putting your hands on your hips for two minutes to increase testosterone, the courage hormone. Hold it for two minutes. Practice your speech in this position.
After moving the body, get grounded with some deep breathing exercises. One quick exercise is the Ha breath or square breathing.
Then move on to warm up the articulators. Start with lip trills. Say brrrrrr making your lips vibrate. Next, loosen the mouth and jaws. Say /puh/ /tuh/ /kuh/ /puh/ /tuh/ /kuh/ /puh/ /tuh/ /kuh/ in rapid succession. You can also try some tongue twisters: She sells seashells by the seashore. Rubber baby buggy bumpers.
Behavioral - Once you’ve prepped mentally and physically consider behavioral warm-ups. The first behavior is to arrive early. Arriving early will give you time to get your bearings and will reduce the stress of a late arrival due to traffic.
If you’re one hour early you’ll have time to visit the room. Get a feel for the set-up. If you don’t like the seating arrangement, request a change. You can rope off the last few rows so that attendees are required to sit closer to the front. If the room is set up for classroom style, and you want interaction, you may prefer team style.
The most powerful behavioral readiness tip is to rehearse in the room. That’s right. There is something about rehearsing in the empty room that increases success. Just make sure the door is closed so passersby don’t think you’re talking to yourself.
Finally, you’ll be able to greet people because you’re already there. Shake hands and say hello to the early arrivals. It will make you feel like you have a few friends in the audience. They’ll perceive you as professional and prepared and you may learn something about them that you can reference in your talk. People love hearing the sound of their own name.
Public speakers can take a page from athletes and create a warm-up routine before every speech or presentation. Prepare mentally, physically, and behaviorally and you’ll increase your success every time.