How Do You Feel About...

   Public speaking. You know the feeling you get? Your heart is racing as you walk to the podium, your throat becomes dry and scratchy even though you just had a sip of water, you stand behind the podium and look at the blank faces of your audience, some bored, some curious as to what you have to say. You look at your notes and feel the blood rushing to your face, you wonder, "Is it getting hot in here? Is it too late to go to the bathroom?" This is the moment you have prepared yourself for. You take one last look at your notes, fidget once more, look up, take a deep breath, and...

   This week's post is about, I hope you guessed it, **Public Speaking!**

   For many of us, public speaking, especially to a large crowd, is the equivalent to jumping out of a high speed plane into shark infested waters. Scary, right? The situation above applies to many of us, as it described me up until about last year. I was not a fan of public speaking. I know what some of you are thinking, "If you don't like public speaking, then why do you want to be a teacher?" It's a fair question, but I have always known that I needed to become comfortable with speaking if I wanted to become a teacher, so I conquered my  little fear of public speaking. I will admit, I still get jitters beforehand, but I walk to the podium with confidence and once I begin my speech, they disappear.

   I recently watched a video about public speaking. Its main idea to help you sound confident with public speaking, even though you're not. They have a method called the "Triple-P Method". The first P is to Prepare! You need to know whatever you are speaking about like it's the back of your hand. People will notice if you just worked on it the day/morning before. Know how you are going to present it. Certain topics work well with certain types of presentations (powerpoints, speeches, etc.) but others do not. Try to make a presentation that is appropriate to the topic. You need to hook your audience! Tell an interesting fact, tell an anecdote, capture the audience's attention. Finally, make your conclusion epic! You want to make yourself and the topic memorable! That's the whole point of making a speech or presentation! The next P is Posture and Physicality. You want to appear natural as possible, so don't slouch or look like you a steel rod strapped to your back. You will be uncomfortable and your audience will see that. Do not read off of your notes. It's okay to glance at them once in a while to remind you what is next, but I have noticed that reading off of notes will make you sound like a robot, monotone and boring. The final P is to Pander to your audience. Unless the situation calls for it, try not to be super serious. Again, do not read off your notes. Speak with a natural cadence and project your voice. You are in command of the room, so sound confident! Fake it till' you make it when it comes to sounding confident! Confidence is key! To help your nerves, make a joke. If that doesn't make anyone laugh, no worries! Make the fact that how your joke did not get any laughs a joke. Using these three P's will definitely help one's presentation sound amazing. I cannot stress how much sounding confident is important when presenting a topic. You want your voice to be heard and your topic to be remembered in a positive way, being confident will do that!


~Sarah



Here is a link to the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tShavGuo0_E