Putting the Fun Back Into Public Speaking
Let's play a word association game? If I say public speaking, what is the first word that pops into your head?
Fear
Anxiety
Ugh
Work
Serious
Profesional
Terrifying
Humiliating
Please don't make me do it….
Table of Contents
How about FUN?
I know only freaky people like me who blog about public speaking and seek out opportunities to do it see speaking as fun. I know I am a total weirdo when it comes to this, but what if we could put the FUN back into presenting. How would that change your mindset toward speaking?
Ash Ambridge over at The Middle Finger Project wrote a post Let the Serious Folk Go Seriously Broke. Go read it now. Unless you are at work, then read it later – Ash is known for swearing more than my truck driving step-dad.
The whole point is that businesses (small or large) need to stop being so serious and have fun.
The same goes for speakers – speaking is serious business but you don't need to take yourself so seriously.
Smile
The easiest and most contagious thing to do when you are speaking is to smile. Start by smiling at your audience. Guess what? They will smile back. It sets the tone, let's you connect with the audience, and communicates your personality. It might have the unintended side effect of making you a bit less nervous.
Laugh
If you screw up, laugh at yourself. If your humor shines through during your presentation, laugh with your audience. If you get heckled (in a good way), laugh. It's good to laugh. Heck, it's even good to laugh at your screw-ups.
Play
As I start prepping a presentation, I like to play. It can be fun to find images for my slides. I like to play with the sound and rhythm of words as I write the script. I like to come up with creative and fun examples. Adding whimsy to your presentation prep leads to presentation success. It's ok to play from start to finish.
My goal is to making speaking fun for you. From my blog, to my free ebook, 7 Quirky Questions for Savvier Presentations to coaching clients. If it is not fun, why do it?
My challenge to you is to your change your mindset from presentation ugh to presentation fun. It can transform your speaking.
Let me know you make presentations fun. Leave me a comment or hit me up on Facebook.
That was fun, Michelle! Thanks
[…] Putting the Fun Back Into Public Speaking | Dr. Michelle Mazur From http://www.drmichellemazur.com – Today, 1:51 PM Public speaking is usually met with ugh, but what if we changed our mindset and made presentations fun. 3 ways to have more fun when speaking! Via Bobby Dillard, Janice Tomich […]