The One Incredibly Effective Public Speaking Tip You Need to Know
If you’ve ever had to speak in public - whether at a wedding, a funeral, an event or a gathering - there’s a good chance you felt some degree of nervousness.
Maybe your palms were sweaty, your heart was racing, or critical thoughts about your performance were threatening to derail your speech. This is completely normal, with many people finding public speaking a daunting or even downright terrifying experience.
As a certified public speaker with many years of experience, I wanted to share some of my insights on this topic, including one top-notch public speaking tip to help you overcome your nerves and deal with difficult situations without losing your composure.
The Power of One
As President Abraham Lincoln famously said, “you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” And while I’m not sure he was referring to the field of public speaking, this quote could easily be applied to giving a speech to a group of people.
No matter how fabulous your talk is, the diversity of human nature means that not everyone is going to be moved in the same way. Some people might be a little bored and fidgety, and some might be thinking about other important things they’ve got on their plate...but all you’ve got to focus on is making an impact on one single person in the audience.
You might not know who that person is. But if you can focus your attention on the fact that you only need to get your message across to one person rather than the entire audience, public speaking suddenly doesn’t seem like such a daunting task.
The One Incredibly Effective Public Speaking Tip You Need to Know
Ok, it’s time to reveal my big public speaking secret that I guarantee will help you overcome tricky on-stage situations and challenging mid-talk moments.
The reason this technique is so important is that one of our biggest fears around public speaking in a professional setting is “what if someone heckles me?”. Or, to go with a less extreme example, “what if someone asks a question I don’t know the answer to?”.
We fill our minds with awkward visions of ourselves up on stage, standing under the lights unable to utter a single word, and probably wanting the floor to open up and swallow us whole! While the situations I’m describing are very rare and most likely won’t ever happen, having a technique up your sleeve to whip out just in case can help put your mind at ease when those pre-speech jitters kick in.
So, here’s what to do if you ever find yourself in a tricky public speaking situation:
If somebody challenges you or heckles you, simply take a small step to your right.
If it happens again, take another small step to your right.
And if you can’t physically step to your right, make a subtle gesture with your right hand.
Before you question my sanity about how these strange movements can possibly have anything to do with public speaking, let me explain...
By moving or gesturing to the right, you’re creating an invisible ‘naughty corner’; a space to put any negativity or challenges without them taking up the whole stage.
You move to the right, mentally place the ‘bad stuff’ in your imaginary naughty corner, and then step back to where you were so you can continue your speech away from anything that threatens to derail it.
Similarly, if someone asks a question you genuinely don’t know the answer to, meet it with honesty and transparency. Tell them you’re not sure of the answer and will get back to them - do this from your righthand space, then move back to your original position.
You’ve now created a boundary. Anything negative goes to the right, so you can step back to centre stage and continue with your amazing speech.
It may sound incredibly simple - but all the best techniques are!