I have performed public talks about The Cycle Diaries adventures for a range of companies including Innocent Drinks and Just Giving. Each time I have felt the flutter of fear in my belly. I discovered, however, that I enjoy public speaking but would never had found that out if I hadn't taken that first step, don't let fear rob you of an incredibly rewarding experience.
The Telegraph invited to tell my cycling story at The Outdoor and Adventure Outdoor Travel show 2013. I arrived early and was almost not let in due to some ticketing snafu that did little to ease my frayed nerves.
Running to the National Geographic Traveller stage I made it with 2 minutes to get sorted. I quickly set-up my slides, was connected to a mic and...nothing. Exactly zero people sat on the sterile, white benches in front of me. The crowds walked on by, looking at the many travel stalls. Nobody knew who I was, nobody cared!
I began my presentation, regardless. Eventually I attracted a crowd of about 20. Some even managed to stay awake through my faltering patois. None of them laughed about my cautionary tale of defecating in fields, my best gag!
Ten months later I performed a talk in front of 80 ladies, members of The Women's Institute. It went very well with laughter happening in the right places. My only disappointment was the lack of baked goodies for which the WI is famed.
Here are a few tips I developed to crush those butterflies:
- Watch stand-up comedy before your talk. This will release Oxytocin and help relax you. You can learn timing and how to construct jokes from great comedians. Avoid stealing jokes, especially if you're a fan of lewd comedy.
- Know your audience and what you're going to tell them. Know how long you have to speak for and allow enough time for a Q&A at the end.
- Record yourself rehearsing and fix any noticeable problems. Even better get your other half to listen to it and give you pointers, your jokes might not be that appropriate and they can help erase the precious knob gags that you were sure were going to go down a treat.
- Pick one or two people in the audience to look at during your talk, don't stare but it sometimes helps to treat the presentation as a chat between you and that person. You can picture them naked if it helps, but in my experience, it doesn't!
- Eradicate 'umms' and 'ahhhs.' Silence sounds better, even after a joke (though try and avoid too many of those awkward post knob gag silences). When you're not sure what to say next, pause, take a breath, glimpse at your slides or notes, relax.
- Screw the script. I never script anything! Why add the pressure of trying to remember what you're going to say, besides you're there because you're talking about something you know intimately. while you should have some structure to sow things together nicely, avoid having a script, reading from one sounds fake and very dull.
- Smile, you'll feel better for it.
- Don't have too many slides. between you and the slides and video and text, lighting and pyrotechnics there may be too much going on, so keep it simple and strip it down to just the essentials. A good presentation doesn't reveal all!
Utilise these tips and let me know how you get on, or send me an email if you need feedback on your presentation I'd be happy to help.
