Help with public speaking

looking4advice

Hi all

I am just wondering if anyone would have any helpful suggestions with public speaking. I am a Solicitor and have being going to Court a lot recently. I was told recently that I need to slow down the pace and pronounce my words properly - essentially be clearer (I wasn't told this by a Judge - a colleague said it to me!). A lot of this is down to my country upbringing and this is exacerbated by nervousness.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips or places I could go? I am a fairly nervous about speaking in public(I hide it well enough) but I don't find Court too bad as generally the crowd is to your back and basically you are only "talking" to one person i.e. the Judge.

I have considered Toastmasters and somewhere like Carr Communications. Would anyone suggest hypnotising? anything else?

TheDollyParton

Public speaking is something that has always come easily to me (primarily because I'm an attention whore), so giving tips is actually difficult.

On the slowing down front though, that's something I struggle with too, and my job requires me to be easily understood. I have two tips...first, try practising speaking at home with a pen or pencil in your mouth (accross your mouth rather than the way you would have it if you were sucking on it). Sounds odd, but the focus and concentration you need to speak with it in there will slow you down and make you think about what you are saying. If you practise this way you can change the rhythm of your speech. Secondly, while speaking, imagine that you're speaking to someone whose first language is not English. For a normal speaker this might sound odd but because your natural speech is fast it should just sound normal and clear.

These things have helped me - hopefully they'll do the same for you!

Otis Driftwood

Maybe take up some amateur dramatics?An ex of mine did it and she reckoned that half the people there were doing it for exactly that reason.

star-pants

nedtheshed wrote: »

Maybe take up some amateur dramatics?An ex of mine did it and she reckoned that half the people there were doing it for exactly that reason.

+1 or see if there's any public speaking courses.
Even the amateur dramatics (I did a course before) makes you more confident in front of people, and even if you're nervous it helps you control your nerves a bit more.

username123

TheDollyParton wrote: »

Secondly, while speaking, imagine that you're speaking to someone whose first language is not English.

Top tip.

Record yourself if you can as well so you can listen to see how you sound and slow down as necessary.

Seraphicblue

take up debating?
usually its only college societys that have the weekly meetings AFAIK
but if you ask them i'd guess they'd be happy enough to accomodate you.
they do something called speaker development which is to turn you into a better speaker and since you are (usually) speaking weekly and being critiqued each time, both nerves and speed should come with time
practice makes perfect

Stheno

TheDollyParton wrote: »

On the slowing down front though, that's something I struggle with too, and my job requires me to be easily understood. I have two tips...first, try practising speaking at home with a pen or pencil in your mouth (accross your mouth rather than the way you would have it if you were sucking on it). Sounds odd, but the focus and concentration you need to speak with it in there will slow you down and make you think about what you are saying. If you practise this way you can change the rhythm of your speech. Secondly, while speaking, imagine that you're speaking to someone whose first language is not English. For a normal speaker this might sound odd but because your natural speech is fast it should just sound normal and clear.

These things have helped me - hopefully they'll do the same for you!

+1, when I first started having to speak publicly for work, I rushed through what I said at top speed, stammered, and panicked if I forgot what was next, as I was speaking so fast my brain would be behind my mouth if that makes sense?

I used something similiar, and it was to imagine that I was speaking to someone who was deaf and needed to lipread, so that I had to enuciate each syllable of each word properly, which naturally slows down your speech, e.g. you'd say def-in-ite-ly in instead of def-nit-ly. If you are in a position to have prepared what you are saying in advance, memorising it as much as possible will help too.

I used watch the part of the news where they had people doing sign and talking at the same time, watching how they enuciated words.

Also talking in a mirror helps, and if you can bear it, taping yourself and listening back to how you sound, as you will identify areas that you need to maybe improve on.

Finally on the debating front, if you have a local Toastmasters, you could join, they are a debating club for adults

Very best of luck!

Feathers

nouggatti wrote: »

If you are in a position to have prepared what you are saying in advance, memorising it as much as possible will help too.

Not sure I'd agree with this bit - I find that if you memorise what you're going to say it becomes more difficult - you spend you're time trying to remember exactly what you had prepped, even though a variation of it would be fine. This can become a stress all of its own.

I'd write down the keywords of the points that you need to raise on flash cards (presumably you're speaking from notes anyway.) Then you can say, "I've covered point A. What was point B again? *checks card* Talk about point B, etc...."

I think the 'talking to a foreign person' one is good alright, essentially it's that clarity that you're looking to capture.

I think also though, as well as the actual speed, your words per minute, you (probably) also need to slow down over your points in general - the gaps between sentences, etc. - remember, you've probably prepared this information - gone over it with a client umpteen times, but others are hearing it for the first time - you have to give people time to process what you are telling them. Take the time to stress the important points.

Finally, it is something that gets easier over time! Good luck!

yellowcurl

As a student, i get to watch quite a bit of afternoon tv. The program Seoige that's on RTE1 recently had a woman on who needed help with public speaking as she had to address her golf club. They brought in someone to help her (Emma Ledden, i think she used to be in tv once upon a time too) I found that this episode actually made me rethink the way i thought about giving presentations in college. It was on only last week so i'm sure it'll still be on the RTE website if you wanted to have a look at it. I hope that helps even a little bit.

ladygrey

Hi.

I've always struggled with public speaking, it's a major part of my job..and I succeed with it, just a little bit better now, after many years of fear, but very much depending on the situation.

What helped me was something that I read which explained the fear as being a loss of a bridge between the divide between your private and your public self. The idea is to build the bridge between that private and public self in situ. That means going into the room where you are talking (courtroom) a little bit before everyone arrives and being there to get used to the room filling up. Maybe saying hello as people enter, having a little chat. This is so that divide is bridged, even minimally, in the time you have. I reckon though that the courtroom doesn't allow for this...

I don't think people understand how crippling this fear can be, and how debilitating it is. You feel as though you can't be who you are. It has certainly impeded my career progress. But I would say that practice does ease it. Although more than one person has said that I still rush through my talks...

(And I'm too nervous too do toastmasters). But good luck. It's a very human and common fear. Baby steps.

piby

I think a large part of it is confidence, or rather giving the impression of confidence when speaking. I know that is a lot easier said then done but no matter how much I'm freaking out on the inside whenever I give a talk if I appear confident on the outside that's all that matters.

Other than that try looking at how the great public speakers of today go about it, eg. Obama. Look at how he uses body language, how he engages the audience etc.

Good Luck

shakenbake

OP, I have the same issue with public speaking. I could imagine that it is far more important in your profession though and particularly to your clients

Personally, I decided to address the issue with drugs, namely beta blockers and benzo's. You should talk to your doctor about these. For me, these deal with the issue quite nicely, altough benzo's are addictive and if you're speaking alot this will not be an option for you. I have also found that the more you speak in 'public' the more immune to it you get.

Blangis

looking4advice wrote: »

Hi all

I am just wondering if anyone would have any helpful suggestions with public speaking. I am a Solicitor and have being going to Court a lot recently. I was told recently that I need to slow down the pace and pronounce my words properly - essentially be clearer (I wasn't told this by a Judge - a colleague said it to me!). A lot of this is down to my country upbringing and this is exacerbated by nervousness.

Just wondering if anyone has any tips or places I could go? I am a fairly nervous about speaking in public(I hide it well enough) but I don't find Court too bad as generally the crowd is to your back and basically you are only "talking" to one person i.e. the Judge.

I have considered Toastmasters and somewhere like Carr Communications. Would anyone suggest hypnotising? anything else?

Edit - above post said it

Cormb

I always found that I spoke quite fast (and quietly) - or so I'm told.

One way around this would be to imagine yourself explaining something of interest to someone you have just met. For some reason I find this helps me.

prinz

Best advice I got, was to buy a book of Shakespeare's best plays and practice reading aloud.In particular the speeches in the plays like King Henry, and the soliloquays (sp?) in almost all of them. His language was so tough to me at the time that I had no choice but to slow down and pronoune each word slowly and distinctly. The same person also gave me a tape-book by Peter Ustinov. Was really a big help. Now I can speak slower and clearer.

BroomBurner

Hey OP,

Used to have to do a lot public presentations in another life and the best advice I got was, during the presentation, if you start to feel a bit nervous, ball up your hands in to a fist and stab your palms with your nails. Not too hard obviously, don't bleed! This gets the adrenilin pumping in your system and can help you calm down and focus. I found it to really help.

tbh

If you are doing a prepared speech in court, have it clear in your head the points you want to put across, and force yourself to go slow. You only have to do it for a while and then you do it naturally. Take three deep breaths before you start - this will lower your heart rate and boost your oxygen levels. Take one deep breath between each sentence - very good for pacing yourself. Get a cheap metronome for a fiver and practice slowing down your speech rhythms - it's all learned behaviour.

If you are asked a question, don't be afraid to take a couple of seconds to think before you reply. Not too long, but a mental "beat" before you start will give your brain a headstart on your mouth, I find

chocgirl

I had a similar problem, complete fear of public speaking and couldn't slow speech down when under pressure. Did one of the courses at Carr, although I was a bit sceptical and it was expensive I'd really recommend it, was really helpful to watch recordings back and see the mistakes I was making. Suppose you could do the same with your own camera.

Oh would also second the digging nails into palm or pinching palm or back of wrist. Wouldn't recommend medication from my own experience, not a long term solution plus I needed so much that I was drowsy and couldn't drive when taking it which didn't solve anything.

Buzz Buzz

Check out...

http://www.toastmasters.ie/

CSC

It gets easier with practice and always ask for feedback from someone who is honest in order to get better. Toastmasters is good as you can practice as much as you want and it's a safe enviroment (i.e wont affect your career).