My Throwback Thursday picture is with the AMAZING Mark Miller during our tour of Home Office.
As a Director with Thirty One, you would think that I enjoy public speaking – WRONG! I have always said “I’m not good at speaking in front of groups” or “I don’t like to talk in front of people”. Guess what – the Universe heard “good at speaking in front of groups” and “like talking in front of people”. So, I am asked to speak to groups a lot. PLUS, I am in the home party business which means I talk in front of people all of the time. Crazy, right? I learned that from the amazing book The Secret. If you haven’t read it – you need to.
So, I have been working on my speaker voice because I am in the party plan business and guess what, we need to talk in front of people. So, here are some tips that I picked up along with way that helped me:
1. Build your confidence.
I know you are thinking, if I was confident I wouldn’t mind speaking in front of people, right? So, the question is do believe that you are good in what you do? Do you believe in your product and/or your company’s mission statement? If so, share your passion. It may not look like someone else’s presentation. It may not have games. It is YOU being YOU and sharing with your heart. I have an outline that I follow so that I don’t forget things because I can easily squirrel but it depends on the group how things flow. I love the products. I LOVE the company. I love the change that it made in my life. So, the only thing I needed to do to gain more confidence was practice.
2. Look at yourself on the mirror.
This is a tough one for me. I think video taping is better so that you can watch what you are doing at the end. Professional speakers will tell you that if you want to improve your speaking skills, then you should practice in front of the mirror. Whether it is in front of a mirror or in a video, you want to see how you look while doing your talk. Then you can see whether you need to improve your stance, the way you open your mouth, and the expression of your eyes.
3. Listen to yourself.
“Practice makes perfect”, right? Well, we don’t need perfection but you want your your audience to have a pleasant experience listening and watching you, right? You should also listen to your voice. Is it too loud? Is it too soft? Do you sound confident in your product and your company? Practicing your speech countless times can help. Record your voice, and then listen to it, so that you can really hear how your voice sounds to your audience. This is why I like a video so that you can capture both the visual and the verbal.
The most important thing is to be yourself and let YOUR light shine. People can tell when we are not being try to ourselves. “Fake it till you make it” is a great way to play a “part” while you are gaining that confidence. It doesn’t mean not being true to yourself, it just means playing the role of confident presenter until you feel the confidence.
Keep bringing your special voice to your customers and the people around you.
Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!
Hope Wissel 