Being an effective public speaker can make a huge impact
on your life. People who are able to reach out and influence crowds of people
have real power to affect positive change. While being an effective
communicator one on one is a great skill to have, being able to reach many
people at the same time whether that is a few dozen, hundreds or even thousands
will multiple the impact that you can have. Unfortunately many if not most
people are terrified of speaking in public. It consistently ranks as one of the
most common fears that people have. That’s sad, not just because it limits
these people ability to have an impact, but it also means they can’t partake it
what can be a really fun activity. Luckily NLP has the tools to help you become
an effective public even if you are deathly afraid of public speaking at the
moment. Even if you are confident in your public speaking at the moment, NLP
will show you how you can improve your skills so that you are better able to
influence your audience.
Probably the first thing I would say about public
speaking is that, like most things it comes down to practice. If you look at
the effective public speakers they usually have one thing in common and that is
that they speak a lot. If you want to be a better public speaker you really
just need to start making more speeches. Very few people start out as great
speakers, but almost anyone can become one if they are willing to practice.
One of the principles that NLP teaches is to start
with the outcome in mind. This is also true of public speaking. Thinking about
what the purpose of your speech is. What do you want your audience to take away
from the speech? How do you want them to respond at the speech? What is the
message that you are trying to get across?
The next step is working on the content of your
speech. Remember people all have different dominant senses. These are Visual,
Auditory or Kinaesthetic. When you are trying to reach you audience there will
be people with different dominant sense. It is important that you reach all
these people. Of course there is no way of knowing what dominant senses a crowd
of strangers has. That’s why you want to mix up your presentation. You want to
include visual imagery such as pictures and slide shows to reach the visual
orientated people. You should vary your pitch for the auditory oriented
listeners and have some element of touch for the kinaesthetic people.
Before you give your speech you will want to put
yourself in the correct state. This is where Anchors can be very useful. Think
about the way you want to come across on stage. For some speeches a more
humorous approach will be best. At others you will want to be more serious and
dignified. Think about the state that most matches your speech. In order to put
yourself in this state before you go onstage to speak you will need to think about
a time in your past when you were in that state.
Think carefully about that time, visualising it
carefully, hold your body now as you did then, and think about your breathing,
how did you breathe? If you want to appear confident and energetic, were you
standing up right? How you were head tilted? Visualise exactly what it was like
to be in this state. If you haven’t been in that state, look at someone else,
on TV who is in the state you want to be, and then replicate that state.
Now you want to be able to recall that state just
before you need it. In order to do this you will want to drop an anchor. When
you are in the peak of the state, do something with your hands. Squeeze them
into a fist. Or make a ring with the thumb and first finger. Now relax. See if
you can recall the state by doing the same hand motion. See if it puts you back
in that state. If not repeat the exercise until it is firmly imbedded. Remember
with speaking as in all things practice makes perfect.
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