Transcripts

Lyman MacInnes author of the book, The Elements of Great Public Speaking…

And because you're standing up in front of a group, and feeling that you have to be perfect, then you think of all of your faults - everything that's wrong with you is going to be known to that group. It's really nothing more than stage fright magnified.

You can manage that fear and improve your confidence if you remember…

That at least at the outset, unless you do something outrageous to really annoy the audience - they're on your side, and they want you to do well. And really all they want you to do is to be yourself, stand up there and be yourself and tell your story whatever it happens to be.

You'll also improve your speech making confidence by preparing and rehearsing.

Most speeches fail not at the lectern or on the podium but at the preparing stage. You should always, always prepare a speech - you have to think about your audience you have to think about the kind of speech that it's going to be and get all of your organization worked out. You cannot over-prepare and you cannot over- rehearse; which is another problem that people have is they think they don't have to rehearse a talk. You do.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.