This isn’t a “how to” post.
After a successful days tv presenting last Tuesday, I received an e-mail from the producer. He mentioned this in his e-mail which arrived the following day:
Thanks Jeremy,
and many thanks for your stamina and professionalism yesterday.
Was at a Fun Run earlier. The race organiser had to really shout to get himself heard. He was at the front of about 100 runners (including me) who were eager to get away for either their 10K or 5k run for charity.
He should have used a megaphone!
Yesterday evening, I attended a gathering of around 100 people, at the RSA (Royal Society of Arts).Their marathon-running Chief Executive, Matthew Taylor, gave an interesting welcoming speech. He pointed out the magnificent work done by the RSA and encouraged us to get involved. My friend and I were then taken on a tour of the building (just off the Strand) before returning to those wonderful canapes!
To my surprise, Matthew then turned up on BBC television much later on. Firstly, he did a piece to camera about education policy, before being grilled by Andrew Neil, Diane Abbott and Michael Portillo on the Daily Politics show.
So in the space of a just three hours, I was able to view someone in three different guises. The way one handles the media, is of course, quite different from giving a speech. Matthew showed his versatility in all three areas.
Over at my other site, James Higham and Crushed by Ingsoc have both written interesting comments on the fear of public speaking.
Of course they can!
Just seen this posted by Beerli in Adelaide. It’s the Australian Memory test
Only this afternoon I was trying to think of that English cricketer who lost an eye in a car accident. Colin “somethingoranother”. It took me a full four hours to remember Colin Milburn who sadly died at the tender age of 48.
Keeping one’s brain active everyday is the way to maintain great memory recall.
I really had to laugh yesterday. On the way back from Kent, I was listening to BBC Radio 4. The current Minister for Public Health, Caroline Flint (next to the sign below) was being interviewed about a recent advertising campaign on smoking. Apparently, the images were so shocking (see above) that many complaints were received by the Advertising Standards Authority who took the Department of Health to task over the affair.
That though wasn’t the point. I couldn’t believe I was listening on live radio to a Minister of the Crown. She was awful. I think I counted about 27 urm’s and at least 12 “you knows”. She must have been educated at the *Bryan King School of English.
I have one question. Who trains these people in media and communication skills?
* Bryan King used to play in goal for Coventry City. He was best known for a TV interview which consisted of urm’s and “you know’s” in the early 1970’s.
When was the last time you spoke in public? Was it to give a business presentation or after-dinner speech. Either way it can be nerve-wracking, right!
Here are some reasons why we dry up according to the authors of Impact Factory, a training organization located in Islington.
Fight or flight
Our bodies are geared to fight or flight from ancient time - fight that mastodon or get the hell out of the way. We don’t have too many mastodons around these days, but the body still reacts as though we do. So, if we have to get up and speak in public, all that adrenalin and noradrenalin goes coursing through our bodies - way more than we need.
We can’t run away (well, we could, but we’d be out of job pretty quick if we did it too often), so our only option is to fight. But in terms of speaking in public, it can be hard to define just what we’re fighting.
Why does public speaking do this to us?
Good question. You’d think that for most people, being given the opportunity to impress their audience would be a fantastic one. There you are in front of a group of people, the spotlight is on you and for the length of time you’ve been give, the world is yours.
Or is it?
The very fact that the spotlight is you is enough to trigger every fear, anxiety and phobia you’ve ever had about public speaking.
Here’s why
Image courtesy of www.1st-public-speaking.info
Geoff Burch. A speaker I’ve always admired. Have you seen him?