Written and published by Rachel Green.
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In this edition:
- Developing your confidence in front of an audience - get the skills first.
- Latest news: Your stories on confidence please.
- Top tips on: How not to give boring speeches and presentations.
- Laugh your socks off.
1. Developing your confidence in front of an audience - get the skills first.
Many people are nervous presenting in front of a group. One thing that is particularly disconcerting is feeling that you are boring or that the audience is bored by your presentation. It does nothing to boost your confidence if you see people fidgeting, glazing over or nodding off, does it?
No matter how dry, detailed or technical your speech or presentation is there are some fundamental principles and strategies you can follow to make your presentations interesting.
If you know in advance that your presentation is interesting then your confidence is likely to grow. Also, once you can deliver an interesting presentation your audience is going to learn the material more easily and give you positive feedback which will in turn help you become a more confident public speaker. Once you have the skills the confidence will follow. Don't expect to be full of confidence before you know what to do. Confidence often follows skills and experience, rather than vice versa.
How can you make your presentations interesting? Read on to the tips section to find out.
2. Latest news: Your stories on confidence wanted.
Welcome to all our new readers of Confidence 4 U from around the world including Hungary, USA, Canada, Australia, and more.
I am now working on a new E-book to be a companion to the new Confidence CD series and I invite you to be involved. I have had a number of women ask to be a part of the recordings and have not been able to fit everyone in, and also of course, those of you outside Australia have missed out so far. This is now your chance. I would like to include your stories and tips on confidence in the book. I am keen to hear from you, both men and women, with your stories about any of these:
- How you lost your confidence but regained it.
- How a lack of confidence affects you.
- How you have developed your confidence in a particular area e.g. public speaking, networking, speaking out at meetings, making new friends, travelling, managing people, etc.
- What helps you maintain your confidence.
- Why you think you lack confidence.
If your stories or tips are included in the E-book, you will get a free copy of it.
If you would like to be kept up-to-date with the launch of the
new CDs just send an e-mail to: and we will add you to our new products e-mail list.
3. How not to give boring speeches and presentations.
Tip 1: Vary what you do.
VARIETY is what makes the difference between an interesting and a boring speech. Vary what you do - do not just show power-points, do not just talk, do not just show pictures, do not just give details. Vary what you do so the audience remains stimulated.
Tip 2: Be different and memorable, (for the right reasons!).
When you present in the same way that everyone else presents - it can bore people more quickly than if you present your message in a different and memorable way. As an example, I thought you might like to hear about one of our readers in South Africa. Veronica Kemp sent me a description of a speech she gave at an International Women's Day Event. She said, "I used candles to represent women. On the tables there were bowls of fruit salad. This represented the world, with the fruit representing the different nations and colourful women across the globe. My message was: Do not snuff out a smouldering wick. Let us unite our hearts and enjoy the flavour of our lives. We are Women of Worth." What can you do to get your message across but in a way that will have a big impact on your audience? Find a way that is different.
Tip 3: Tell anecdotes and personal stories.
It is so tempting to use jokes to add humour into a speech. You do not have to. Jokes can be a big let down: they can offend, they can fail to raise a laugh and they are seldom original, so you always run the risk that the audience has heard them before. In contrast, anecdotes and personal stories, related to your topic and your audience, are far more likely to be met with laughter. Collect stories and anecdotes on your topics as they occur, so by the time you have to give a speech on that topic you already have a notebook with some relevant stories in. They can be quite simple, such as an amusing comment a child or client made about one of your products or services, a misunderstanding that arose when you were describing something to a colleague, the day you said the wrong thing in front of the boss and how you recovered, a memory of your first ever contact with a database, computer, financial statement ... whatever it is that is relevant to your audience.
Tip 4: Intellectually engage the audience.
A passive audience gets bored far more quickly than an engaged and involved one. You might intellectually engage them in your topic by asking rhetorical questions, saying out-loud what you think they are thinking or feeling, or getting them to anticipate an answer in advance of your presenting it. It doesn't have to be complicated but it needs to be done. Do not just talk at the audience. Do not just give information. Encourage the audience to INTERACT with the information.
Tip 5: Avoid death by power-point.
If you are going to use power-points PLEASE do not make them all the same. Also, do not use them as your speech notes - use them as an interesting way of getting your message across to the audience with visual impact. Do not have slide after slide of dot points on the same background. Instead vary them, e.g. you might have an easy-to-read graph on one slide, followed by a key message written out word for word on a second one, followed by a photograph fully filling the slide on the third one, then five dot points on the fourth; and so on. Make your power points interesting for the audience.
4. Laugh your socks off.
Thanks to one of our Rachel's Reflections readers, Angelee Deodhar, in India, for this fortnight's joke.
The Airline Attendant
An award should go to the Airline Attendant in Denver for being smart and funny, and making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded flight was cancelled due to a mechanical problem. As luck would have it, the airline left a single Airline Attendant with the monumental task of re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travellers.
Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way past everyone else in line to the front of the counter. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said "I HAVE TO BE ON THIS FLIGHT AND IT HAS TO BE FIRST CLASS!"
The agent replied, "I'm sorry Sir. I'll be happy to help you but I've got to help these folks first, then I'm sure we'll be able to work something out."
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the other passengers behind him could hear, "Do you have any idea who I am?"
Without hesitating, the Airline Attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone and made the following announcement "May I have your attention please," she began, her voice echoing throughout the terminal.
"We have a passenger here at the gate WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 17."
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the Airline Attendant, gritted his teeth and swore. "F#&*! YOU..!!!"
Without flinching, she smiled and said, "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to stand in line for that, too."
The man retreated as the people in the terminal applauded loudly. Although the flight was cancelled and people were late, they were no longer angry at the airline.
If you have some clean jokes we can use, please send your contributions to
May you find strength and confidence to be brilliant in front of an audience.
Until next fortnight,
With kindness,
Rachel.
Further information for you
If you'd like me to speak at your function or seminar on happiness, emotional intelligence, confidence, presentation skills, staying calm with negative people, emotionally intelligent customer service, or a similar topic; or provide you with 1-1 coaching; e-mail or call +61 8 9390 1188.
Learn in your own time.
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Disclaimer: The information in this newsletter is of a general nature and may not suit everyone or every situation. While every care has been taken to ensure it is useful and appropriate, no responsibility can be taken for the results gained from its implementation.
Please seek individual professional guidance for any difficulties you may have with your confidence, communication, self-esteem, presentation skills, inter-personal relationships, emotional management, or psychological well-being. Thank you.
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