Do you want to be an exceptional speaker? My friends Alan Stevens and Paul Du Toit, from the U.K. have just published a book that shows you how. I saw them at the National Speakers Association convention in July in Philadelphia, and Alan recently interviewed me for his podcast program.
You might be wondering why I'm promoting their book if we're competitors. Well, it seems we all have the same mission. We want to stamp out fear of public speaking and help people to reach the heights of presentation success. There are so many people who need help with their presentations, thus the need for more books about public speaking. Here are some tips from The Exceptional Speaker:
- If you’d like to conquer the fear of speaking to an audience you need to understand the source of this fear, specifically where it relates to you.
- Nervousness is natural, but it can also be dealt with.
- A good technique is to find a friendly face in your audience and imagine you’re speaking just to that person.
- It is just as easy to speak to a large audience as it is to a small one. There is no difference. An audience is an audience.
- People who occupy high positions are just as human as the rest of us and therefore do not need to be feared more than anyone else.
- Channel your excess energy towards the centre of your body – specifically your diaphragm. This will help you with voice control, keep you calmer and remove the fidgeting from your fingers and toes.
- Speaking from notes will help you to keep track of your order. Use cue cards rather than an A4 notepad.
These tips, and hundreds of others are from a new book called "The Exceptional Speaker" by Alan Stevens and Paul du Toit. It is the definitive book on speaking, and is now available from Amazon in Kindle and hardback format, as well as from exceptionalspeaker.com as a PDF.