The Aussie Speaking Guy

If you’re a CEO, a director, a manager or a team leader, it’s likely you have your own staff that you assign tasks to do throughout their workday. By assigning tasks, you of course create leverage that enables you to get more done throughout your day.

However, when creating, outlining and practicing your presentation and talks, you do not have the luxury of assigning this to anyone but yourself. Nobody knows your subject like you…but you. Nobody knows your style…but you.  And nobody can practice your presentation…but you! Yes, practice is the absolute essential element to whether you will ultimately succeed or fail.  I know; strong words…but here’s the point I want to make.

All the way through ‘Step Up & Speak’ I teach you: how to prepare your material, develop your voice, speak with feeling, use gestures, influence with words and a host of other techniques and strategies, but all this is meaningless without a critical element…practice!

Yes, practice is where the rubber meets the road. It’s the difference between feeling confident on the day of your presentation and your knee’s knocking together with total fear.

Throughout my time of giving talks and presentations, I know within myself that there has been times when I was more prepared than other times. To a great extent that preparation was not so much the material itself, (the outline was great) but it’s not practicing enough before delivering it.

And as a result, I felt like my audience could tell that I felt awkward and self-conscious. If you’ve delivered presentations in the past, you’d be able to relate to this. If you haven’t done any presenting and public speaking…then take the warning seriously to practice well, so you never have to experience that horrible feeling. And there’s a few ways to practice correctly so you’ll feel the most equipped and confident for delivering your presentation.

What’s another reason for practicing correctly before your presentation?

Well, as you well know, public speaking is supposed to be people’s number one fear…even exceeding death as a fear. Crazy isn’t it? However when you know how to practice correctly; to the point where you know your material inside and out, then much of this fear will be manageable. (I’ve also provide you with a whole session on fear and stage fright for you to go through which has ways to control your fear and redirect it’s affect into something positive.

Working with speakers, I’ve found they make some mistakes when it comes to practicing their presentation. I have known speakers in the past who prepared their information in a logical flow, but who then practice the talk in their mind and never utter a single word out loud until they actually give the speech itself. I don’t know why or how they do it!

Let me tell you that it you do this or were planning to do this. Don’t do it! It’s an extremely dangerous way to practice. Why? Because the connection between the our mouth and our brain is often a lose one, and what we say in our heads can be different to what comes out of our mouth.

Just one suggestion for practice is to use what is known as N.E.T time. This stands for ‘No Extra Time’. Think of the time you spend, getting ready for work, shaving, showing, driving in the car. This is all time that should be used for practice. In Step Up and Speak, I teach you exactly how to do this.

Remember to practice, practice, practice. Your audience will thank you for it!