Transcript
Video Script: The Fear of Public Speaking! The WHAT IFS?
Fred Miller, “NO SWEAT Public Speaking!”
The premise of all these videos, and my mantra, is: “Speaking Opportunities are Business, Career, and Leadership Opportunities!”
People who take and make Speaking Opportunities: grow their Businesses, Advance their Careers, and Increase their Leadership Roles.
No one has ever challenged that!
Why would they!
This is the third in a series of videos about the Fear of Public Speaking!
The previous video delivered a number of answers to the question WHY people have a Fear of Public Speaking.
This video addresses the WHAT IFS?
What if the audience doesn’t like me?
What if the speaker they had last month was really, really, good and compared to them I stink!
What if I forget something? I gotta be perfect!
Then there is, perhaps, the BIGGEST WHAT IF? What if I’ve got nothing to talk about? What could I ever present to an audience that anyone would have any interest in hearing? (I often hear in the public speaking classes I teach.)
Here’s my response: EVERYONE has experiences and knowledge people would love to hear and could benefit from.
Here’s how I came to that realization. One day, a good friend emailed a question to me. I can’t remember the question, but I knew the answer, so I typed it into the email and hit the Reply Button.
Almost immediately I got a one word response – WOW!
I looked at that WOW and thought, What’s WOW?
I wrote that into the email, hit the Send Button, and went back to work.
About ten minutes later I received his response, and it’s relevant to this conversation.
He said, “Sometimes, you’re so close to your own knowledge base, that’s so wide, and so deep – You don’t know what you know!”
Think about that statement, “You don’t know what you know!”
Your everyday, could be somebody’s payday!
Your everyday, could be someone’s Ah Hah Moment.
Each and every one of you has experience and knowledge people would love to hear, and would benefit from.
Let me tell you a story. I teach a class on Public Speaking. It’s two nights, two hours per night. I speak the first night and students give mini-presentations the second night.
Last year I had a class of inner-city church ladies, and it was their night to give their presentations. They were great! I was really impressed.
One lady waited until everyone else had spoken. She stood up, started walking to the front of the room, then stopped and said, I’ve got nothing to talk about. She started to sit down.
“Wait a minute,” I said.
“Before we started class didn’t I hear you telling some of your classmates you speak to kids every day.”
“I do that,” she said.
“What do you tell them?” I asked.
She replied, “Well, I tell them to keep away from gangs, don’t do drugs, and work hard.”
“That’s good stuff!” I said.
“How many children do you have?
She said, “I have six.”
“Wow, big family!”
“What are those kids doing now?” I asked.
She paused for a moment, and said, “Well, four are in college. . .”
“Wait a minute. Stop right there! You have four kids in college! I’ve got a feeling there are children in your neighborhood that don’t go to high school.
“You have four kids in college and told this class you don’t have anything to talk about!
“We’ve got to hear how you did that!”
Everyone in class responded the way I did.
This story is not unique. It happens all the time with clients I coach.
One of the ways to find, What to talk about, is to work with at least one other person.
When coaching clients, I Listen and Ask Questions, so they hear themselves!
Ask questions like: What did you learn from that?
What happened next?
What will you do differently the next time that happens?
So what?
Why would anyone want to hear that story?
From now on. . . No more, Nothing to talk about, excuses for not giving a presentation.
Next video – I’ll start giving some Nuggets to Lessen the Fear of Public Speaking.
Till then, make YOUR next presentation – NO SWEAT!
For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you Two FREE Gifts:
An Elevator Speech Template and an Elevator Speech Worksheet. (Who hasn’t struggled with their Elevator Speech!)
Go to: https://nosweatpublicspeaking.com/elevator-speech-template to receive it! (You may be asked to update your profile even if it hasn’t changed. Please do!)
About the Author Fred E. Miller is a speaker, a coach, and the author of the book, “No Sweat Public Speaking!” Businesses and individuals hire him because they want to improve their Public Speaking and Presentation Skills. They do this because we perceive really great speakers to be Experts. Perception is reality, and we rather deal with Experts.
They also know: Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities. Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities. Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities.
He shows them how to: Develop, Practice, and Deliver ‘Knock Your Socks Off Presentations!’ with – NO SWEAT!
Fred E. Miller Fred@NoSweatPublicSpeaking.com nosweatpublicspeaking.com 314-517-8772
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