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Article Number: 1480
Speaking before an audience is difficult for some people; they are nervous and uncomfortable in a public forum. There are those who perform well before an audience, their oration is glib and their fluency is natural. Then there are those who are so fearful of the chore, so intimidated by audiences, they refuse all invitations and resist all coercion to take the podium.
The accomplished speaker, excluding the professional, will hold forth anywhere, before any audience, from a prepared speech or extemporaneously, and captivate the assembly. At the other end of the spectrum is the terrified talker, the artful dodger who meticulously avoids the podium, who falls mute at a family dinner with eight people present. This fellow is a lost cause; he’ll never address anything more than an envelope, maybe a golf ball.
The third group is salvageable and might be used at industry functions, like conventions and meetings. These people are ill at ease in front of an audience; they are worried about being embarrassed in public and disdained by listeners. Through the years, I have heard many industry speakers—mill, distributor, retail, association and press executives—who are in this category. Through a completely unscientific study, I found there are several reasons the worried speaker is nervous and the nervous speaker is worried.
It’s a little weird when you’re introduced by someone you never met. The introduction is read, hesitatingly, stumbling over names, often sounding like a eulogy. And by the end, you wish you were dead. Another thing that rattles your cage, when the introducer tries to be funny. If the audience laughs, I figure his jokes are better than mine, so I get rid of mine. If the audience doesn’t laugh, I figure they’re a tough group, so I tear up my jokes.
Speaking at a dinner is stressful, especially if you’re seated at the dais. It’s like eating in a fish bowl, everybody watching you chew and sip and swallow. You eat guardedly and leave most of the meal on the plate, out of guilt. Another thing, the dais is the loneliest place in the world, there are only two people at the table you can converse with during the interminable time until you speak, one on each side. On your right is the dinner chairman and he’s all over the place, checking on things, leaving you to converse with his yawning chair. On your left is the wife of the president or the honoree and you have to spill some of your charm on her, not too much, the audience still awaits. Suddenly you become aware of the mounting pressure and begin to panic when you realize you’re not Billy Graham.
It’s more nerve-wracking speaking in a large room or auditorium than at a banquet. In a meeting room or auditorium you know the audience came specifically to hear what you have to say, and you had better be good. At a banquet, if you bomb it’s not that critical; people talk more about bad food than a bad speaker.
It’s less stressful speaking at an awards dinner if you go on before they hand out the trophies. When the presentations are over, the evening is over. A plaque is forever, you’re only worth 20 minutes.
If you are in category (a), the polished, confident, speaker, you need no help, all you need is invitations. Category (b), the frightened, paranoid speaker who won’t talk in a McDonald’s booth, you need a ventriloquist. And, category (c), the speaker who worries but gets it done, you need a dose of self-confidence and Worry-Free carpet.
Date: 11/8/2006 9:22:01 AM
Written By; FloorCoveringNews
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