3 Myths About Public Speaking

During my coaching sessions or conversations with other people, three concerns about public speaking came up:

1) I'm not trained to be a public speaker.
2) Look above the eyes or at the forehead of the audience.
3) Stand in one place on stage

However, these three things are just myths.  Let's address each of those:

1. I'm not trained to be a public speaker
In actual fact:   We all speak in public - IT could be speaking one-on-one with another person, speaking in a meeting, or on stage in front of a large group of people.  We are contantly speaking and we present all the time.  The only dofference is, we contextualise our delivery to suit the setting; You don't use the mic when speaking to one person, as compared to a large of people, do you?

2. Look above the eyes or at the forehead of the audience
In actual fact:  We need to look directly at the audience; at least to key individuals. We connect with each other through our eyes because it shows sincerity.  By being sincere, it creates a relationship between you as a speaker and the audiende.  It will less scary.

3. Stand in one place on stage
In actual fact: You do not need to stand in one place during your presentation.  You are free to move, roam and be dynamic.  In public speaking, we call this "movement with a purpose' or purposeful movement.  Purposeful movement can be dynamic and increase energy in the audience; which translate you engaging presentation.

Towards your speaking success,

Hazriq Idrus
Speaking & Creativity Strategist
Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!

~ Hazriq Idrus is a Business Creativity and Speaking Strategist.  He founded The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd with a mission to empower operational and middle-management leaders in achieving professional and organisational excellence through his signature high-energy, transformational theatre-based & experiential corporate training programmes.