Would the real you, please, stand up?

5 strategies for becoming our best natural selves while presenting

Something strange happens to many people the moment they stand up to speak in front of an audience.

Quick as a flash - kapow, kazazz - a switch is flicked and there's somebody else on stage. That someone has a weird voice - strained and artificial. The language they're using isn't their own. It sounds alien coming out their mouths, and the face? It's stiff.

We're suddenly watching and listening to a life-sized puppet version of the real person. It's odd, surreal and, ultimately, unreal. Because it's not who they are.

When we speak in front of others, we don't have to be someone else. We don't have to assume a persona - a mask. Our voice doesn't have to be unnaturally 'posh' and our facial expression and movement constrained. We just have to be us - our best selves.

That's the naturally easy self - the state in which we feel good about being who we genuinely are. It's us, accepting and owning our strengths, as well as our challenges, and allowing others to see them.

Some people call this being 'naked' on stage. I call it being real, being natural. The word 'naked' pulls up alarming images! I'm not so sure I want to bare all and, quite frankly, neither would my audience. But natural, at ease, being myself - yes. That's good.

So how do we stop this puppet person taking over and allow our best self to stand in front of others?

Being natural on stage takes courage and practice.

5 great strategies for becoming our best natural selves in front of others

To achieve a state of ease, try:

1. taking ourselves out the equation.
   It's not about US. It's about the message - our speech. If we've aligned our speech purpose and content with the audience's needs, we're giving them something of value - something they want. Their focus isn't on our tie, the color of our hair, whether we are short, tall, female, male, have a lisp or anything else. It's on what we are delivering.

2. talking as if to a friend.
   This will give us natural language and phrasing. We'll stop trying to be someone else and sound more like ourselves - authentic, real.

3. giving up trying to please everybody.
   We can't. It's unrealistic and very, very stressful to go around attempting to meet everyone's expectations of what a perfect presentation should be.

   Some want formality. Some want humor. Some want more stories and others want none. Accept we are who we are.

   Some people will like/love what we do, others won't and still more will be indifferent. That's life!

4. giving up trying to control people or things you can't.
   If we've done our preparation, covering all aspects we reasonably can - room set-up, audio-visual material, speech..., the rest is not ours to worry about. We cannot control someone who suddenly has a sneezing fit in the front row, or the person called away urgently etc., etc. What we can work on though is developing the flexibility to take stuff like that in our stride!

5. revealing ourselves.
   Allowing our humor, our humility, our individuality to shine through in personal stories or comments pertinent to our speeches.

The bottom line?

It's more than OK to be ourselves. It’s actually imperative.

Strive to be the best of you and the more you can achieve that, the easier it will be to deliver your message well.

If it's fear holding you back, try any of these 14 suggestions to manage public speaking anxiety effectively.

Have a great week!
Happy speaking, happy teaching,
Susan

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