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From: Bouldin Hill
Press
Post Office Box 60521
Pasadena, CA 91116-6521
Phone: (626) 792-8075
Fax: (626) 577-7157
E-mail: bouldinhill@aol.com
, barbarabcs@aol.com
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Barbara Rocha (626) 792-8075
Jay Bell (925) 943-5316
"TAKING THE PAIN OUT OF PUBLIC SPEAKING"
People would rather die than speak in public. Polls back that
up. Yet most of us are required to face an audience and communicate
our ideas effectively. We're called on to perform an act that
sends us into panic and self-flagellation.
Good news! You can overcome all that anxiety. It begins
with an attitude adjustment. If you expect to have trouble remembering
your material, or making your body work right, or if you expect
to be ridiculed, you just might get all those problems. If you
expect to do a good job, have a good time and get a great response
from your audience, that's what you'll get.
Good public speaking is seven parts attitude and three parts mechanics
Too often, we're taught to rely on "tricks" and easy-to-learn
devices to make a speech work. Technique alone will not enable
you to connect with your audience - and you must connect to communicate.
There is no speaking situation where this is not true.
The next time you have to speak, consider this question: "Is this
about me?" If the reason you're getting this assignment isn't
just to torment you, what is the purpose? What possible reason
could there be to give information to this audience or motivate
them to take some kind of action?
When you focus on sharing your message with your audience, instead
of focusing on yourself, they'll focus on your message
too. When they're focused on your message, they're not thinking
about you and voila! You're practically invisible. Invisible!
Free to communicate your ideas instead of your fears. Free to
make eye contact and not rely on notes or slides. You'll be free
to roam and not be anchored to a podium. You'll be able to manage
your mind and "get out of your own way."
Barbara Rocha is the Director of Barbara Rocha & Associates,
based in Pasadena. Her organization has conducted over 600 communications
training seminars for well over 8000 business executives and professionals.
This article is based on her book "Getting Over Yourself - A Guide
to Painless Public Speaking" which is also available in video
and as an audio book-on-tape. Toll free number:1-888-253-2330
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