Association of Female Executives of Trinidad and Tobago

Q: I am a mid-level manager in a rapidly growing company. My new portfolio involves delivery of speeches as well as product demos to a wide range of audiences at local and regional fora. How can I get over my fear of what often seems like a simple but daunting task?

Shy Sharon

A: Dear Sharon,
Don’t despair! Fear of public speaking is widespread among many executives who seemingly appear self confident and comfortable at a podium. Their secret – Confidence ; Preparation ; Knowledge.

Here are some tips for becoming a more confident and effective speaker:

Exude Confidence – giving a talk to a room of strangers is challenging enough whether you’re presenting a dynamic proposal or delivering a feature speech. The key is to avoid self conscious gestures and body language that reveal your nervousness. If you look calm, self assured, and confident, your audience will pick up on these signals and be more open to your message.

Dress Comfortably – Keep in mind that you may be seated at an elevated podium or sitting at a head table (under a hot tent!) for a couple of hours. It may be wise to invest in a separate wardrobe that can be modified to suit any type of weather or location. Avoid short skirt ensembles and too loud colours. A look that is cool, chic yet professional helps you to not only look but also feel confident.

Relax - I know this sounds easy, but just relax! Let the professionalism you practice in your office environment override your stage fright. Channel your nervous energy into positive internal emotions and thoughts that make you more comfortable with your task. Above all, NEVER let mistakes throw you off balance even if the audience draws attention to them, simply acknowledge and move right along in your speech.

Do Your Research – Conduct background research on not only your topic but your prospective audience. Audiences vary from friendly to neutral to indifferent to downright hostile. If you are unveiling a new product to a skeptical audience or giving a talk to a neighbourhood community about a new but potentially dangerous industrial plant, your task will be very challenging. Your approach – friendly, confident, open, yet firm and businesslike- may be the key to defusing a potentially disruptive meeting.

Knowledge is vital – Above all, you must be armed with facts, figures, illustrations etc. to effectively and credibly deliver a speech to any audience whether it’s a mall demo to a group of rowdy teenagers or the feature address for a mature crowd at the Country Club dinner. Structure your speech so that it is clear, concise, logical and will inform, motivate or even entertain your audience. Cue cards with bullet points can aid in speech delivery so that you avoid reading verbatim from a long prepared speech (which does not always endear you to a restless audience!) For that advertising proposal, make use of visual aids such as multimedia presentations, short videos, pictures etc. Make it interesting for your audience to absorb your message! (And you will enjoy it more too!)

Maintain eye contact ! - Eye Contact is critical to keeping an audience interested in what you, Sharon, have to say and keeping you in touch with the varying and changing mood of your audience. If you sense they are getting bored or confused, change your tack or start throwing questions out to them to stimulate interest.

Be flexible – Be prepared to respond to a range of questions on your topic that you may not have considered in your initial approach. You also need to be flexible so that at the last minute you can change the angle of your talk if necessary. Think for instance, that you arrived at the press conference to talk about your company’s sponsorship of an upcoming charitable event only to be barraged by reporters for your company’s response to an unfavourable comment made in that morning’s newspaper. It may be unwise to press on with your original agenda without dealing firmly and directly with the current issue in question.

Sharon, I do hope that you feel more at ease with your speaking assignments and that you can conquer those pesky butterflies. Enjoy!

By Colleen Cameron
Colleen Cameron has been involved in various aspects of the Communications, Marketing and Public Relations industry for several years.