Everybody gets nervous with public speaking,
I still get some of that public speaking nervousness.
I get those sweaty palms. Yes,
in today's Confident English video,
we're talking all about public speaking and how to do it in English calmly and
with confidence. Now, when I say public speaking,
that definitely includes giving a presentation in front of a large audience of
people, whether it's 50 people, a hundred or 5,000 people,
or it might be giving a lecture at a university.
But public speaking is more than that.
Do you ever get nervous and kind of awkward or uncomfortable when you're talking
to someone else at work and you know other people are listening?
That's a kind of public speaking. You're talking in front of other people.
So public speaking might be chatting with people at the office,
sharing your idea at a business meeting when you have to talk in front of
everyone and you're so worried about what are they going to think?
How are you going to sound? Are they going to understand you clearly?
And what if someone asks you a question that you don't understand or you didn't
expect?
There's no doubt that public speaking is scary and difficult,
but today I want to share with you five strategies that you can use to control
that nervousness so that when you're speaking,
you appear calm and confident in English,
and those five strategies are going to include some really fun things like power
poses and smelling fresh bread. Now,
if you're not sure what those two things have to do with public speaking,
be sure to keep watching
Strategy number one is really simple practice.
You already know that practice is essential.
If you want to be comfortable doing something,
there is nothing that can replace practice and that's why it is strategy number
one,
but there are some mistakes I see a lot of people make when they say that
they're practicing and then they still feel nervous. Number one,
simply reading your note cards or reading your draft isn't practice,
or let's say that you're thinking about your presentation that you have to give
or you're thinking about an idea that you want to share in a business meeting
and you're just
silently thinking about it in your mind that isn't practice.
One of the reasons you get so nervous when you speak English,
especially in public,
is you're not sure about your voice.
It sounds strange to you to use all these English and sounds.
It's uncomfortable, so it makes you feel nervous.
You're not comfortable with how you sound in English and sometimes you're not
sure if you're saying words correctly.
The only way to overcome that is to practice out loud,
to hear yourself get comfortable with it and make changes that you want to make.
If you've been following me for awhile, you know my favorite, favorite,
favorite strategy for this is recording yourself. Yes,
it's super painful at the beginning. It's awkward and weird,
but honestly it is the best way to get that practice,
to get comfortable with your voice and to fix the things that you're not sure
about or that you don't like. Now,
what about all those physical signs of fear,
like sweaty palms,
a pounding or racing heartbeat and maybe a flushed or a red face that feels a
little bit warm or maybe you're nervous that you're going to die of stage
fright? I've got two solutions for you. Number one,
breathe. Yes, your breath is extremely powerful.
Of course it helps keep you alive,
but your breath can calm your mind and your body,
and when I talk about breathing,
I don't mean just the normal breathing that I'm doing right now while I'm
talking. Instead,
I want to teach you something that I always share with my students in Fluency
School. When you get nervous,
I want you to take a moment to think about your favorite smell.
For example, I love the smell of fresh bread,
or maybe it's something that your grandmother cooks and now how do you breathe?
When you walk into a room with that smell,
you take a really deep breath and you enjoy that scent.
That is how I want you to breathe. When you're feeling nervous,
I want you to just sit for a moment, close your eyes. If you want to end up,
imagine that favorite smell of yours and take a really deep breath.
It's going to calm your heart.
It's going to calm your nerves and help release all of that tension and those
physical signs of fear and all of that allows your mind to think more clearly so
you can be focused on what you want to say.
The second solution to all those physical signs of fear is power poses.
Now,
if you haven't heard Amy Cuddy's Ted Talk on power poses like the way super
woman stands, you definitely need to watch it and I'll share a link to her.
Ted Talk just below this video.
Just like breathing can control how you feel and calm your nerves,
your body language can do the same.
Here's what I mean when my students are nervous in classes with me,
I know immediately because their body language says everything.
They often rounded shoulders, they're slouching,
they're not sitting tall and straight.
They might be looking down or they're not looking at me in the camera.
Their eyes are all over the place.
If I did all of my Confident English videos like this where I'm just sitting,
slouched, my eyes are all over the place.
I'm not focused on you and my face looks scared and nervous.
Would you keep watching these videos? Of course not.
When I see my students doing that, I tell them to stop, sit up straight,
put their chin up,
look at me directly in the classroom and smile while they're speaking to me.
When they do that, after a few seconds, everything changes.
Their body language is different.
Their body language looks confident and calm and after the first few seconds or
minute of speaking,
they begin to feel more confident and calm and all we did was change that body
language into a more powerful position.
So when you have those physical signs of fear,
I want you to do those two things.
I want you to breathe deeply and use a power pose to help you calm down,
focus your energy and get the confidence you need to keep going.
Strategy number three for being calm and confident when you're speaking in
public is to anticipate questions.
When people ask unexpected questions or challenge our idea,
it definitely increases our anxiety.
I have a full lesson coming in the future on this topic of how to handle
unexpected questions in a presentation, but for now,
here are my two quick answers on how to be calm and confident even with those
unexpected questions. Number one,
review your presentation or the idea or story that you want to tell and then
write down possible questions people will ask you or different ways that they
might challenge or oppose your idea.
Here's an example I just talked about power poses and I know some people will
watch this video and say, Annemarie, that sounds really weird.
How do you know that power poses can really work?
Because I've anticipated that question or challenge,
I already have an answer prepared and I know it works because this is a strategy
I use for myself and with all of my students in both situations.
I always see an immediate improvement in confidence and a reduction in anxiety.
Boom, there's my answer because I've already anticipated that question.
It was easy for me to respond in the moment.
The second strategy for handling unexpected questions.
When you don't know the answer is to simply say, I don't know,
or to give yourself more time to think,
and I've got a full lesson on that topic with better ways to say,
I don't know. I definitely recommend that you watch it after this video.
Strategy number four, for how to become a calm,
confident public speaker in English is to stop telling yourself that you can't.
The more that you say things like,
I can't speak English or I can't do a presentation in English,
I can't share my idea in a business meeting.
I can't tell a story with my friends. The more you say it,
the more you believe it and it becomes true.
The truth is if you're giving a presentation,
it's because you are an expert in your topic.
You are a professional, you have years of education and experience.
No one can take that away from you so you can share your ideas.
You can tell a story, you can present to an audience.
I know that doing it in English is more difficult,
but it's doable.
If you follow these strategies and you believe that you can,
you will be able to do it. So instead of saying I can't,
which immediately shuts down a possibility and it increases your anxiety when
you have to do it. If you start to say, I can,
you're going to find the strategies, the methods,
and everything that you need to help you do it in the best way possible.
And if you don't believe me on this, I want you to try it.
I want you to take one of your,
I can'ts change it to an I can and tell yourself that again and again and again,
try it for a week and let me know what happens. And finally,
strategy number five.
If public speaking is something you need to do a lot in English or something
that's going to help you build your career, then invest in it,
practice it regularly and get help doing it professionally.
I did a lesson a few months ago on five of my favorite ways to get speaking
practice in English.
Your goals and your career are worth investing in.
So if this is something that's really important to you,
invest in it and use some of the ideas in that lesson that I talked about to
help you. Now this week's challenge question is a little different than usual.
I want you to think about one limiting belief that you have.
One of those I can't statements.
I want you to change that negative statement into something positive and
powerful and tell me what it is you can share with me in the comments below so
that I can cheer you on and help you stay focused on that more positive mindset
so that you can move forward in building the confidence that you want for public
speaking in English. Now, if you loved this video and found it helpful,
please let me know and you can do that in a few simple ways. Number one,
give this lesson a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to channel so you never
miss a Confident English lesson.
You can also share it on Facebook or email it to friends and colleagues who also
need to improve their public speaking skills in English.
Thank you so much for joining me.
Have a fantastic week and I'll see you next time for your Confident English
lesson.