The Art of Mindfulness Based Public Speaking
The Art of Mindfulness Based Public Speaking
“You
do public speaking, as if you're talking to one person in a room.”
-
Ralph Smedley, Founder of Toastmasters International
Written
by, Nafije Prishtina &
I am
grateful to be a fluent speaker of two languages. Having mastered English and
becoming a successful leader in a very different culture, makes me especially
grateful. When it comes to public speaking I still struggle. One reason is that
I get uncomfortable when the right words do not come to me. For example, if I
want to say something fast, I feel like people do not understand what I say,
and when I speak soft, to ensure the words are
clear I bore people to death. For these reasons
and more I decided to set a goal to improve my public speaking skills. I found
and joined the best club in town, South Beach Toastmasters, where I currently
serve as the club President.
Becoming a member of the
Toastmasters International was one of my best decisions. Recognized as one of
the best public speaking and leadership training programs, the tools they
provide encouraged me to step up and speak as much as I want. The built in
evaluation process is phenomenal; helping me learn a great amount in a short
time. I feel much more comfortable speaking in public now.
Today
I'd like to share with you
some Mindfulness Based skills for public
speaking that I have learned over the years. The first is that you are not the
only one who is nervous about public speaking. People from school and work
often were heard complaining about public speaking, but what I did not know is
that 89% of the population fears public
speaking. Research also shows that public speaking is one of the most dreaded
experiences. This gave me some relief and motivated me even more to continue my
research on the topic and I cannot wait to share my findings.
The
great news is that you actually don’t have
to live life in fear, what you can do instead is learn and adopt mindfulness based ways to practice speaking in front
of an audience. You can also overcome the anxiety of public speaking by
just changing your perception about public speaking altogether.
According
to the philosophy of language, Public speaking is explained as a cognitive
ability to communicate in public (people around you). You all do it, all the
time. (Babies start public speaking as early as one year old.) Public speaking
does not have to be so scary; you all do public speaking when YOU TALK TO OTHER
PEOPLE AND ANIMALS. My recommendation is, you need to stop fighting the fear
and remember THE GOAL FOR US as leaders IS TO ENHANCE THE PUBLIC SPEAKING
SKILLS to be able to influence the audience with our words.
I would
like to explain three important skills in a more detailed –a more mindfulness
based way. Those three skills are basic, and you all learned them at some point
in your life and my goal is to give you some mindfulness based ways to improve
those three skills.
1st. WRITING YOUR SPEECH
1st. WRITING YOUR SPEECH
Let’s
start by how you go about writing a speech. For you to do a good job writing a
speech, you must pick a subject that is close to your heart; a topic you really
care about so you can own it. You start thinking about topics that
interest you such as: things that you want to learn more about and that you
would like to share with others so other people can benefit from your
knowledge. Write down your speech, and actually it is preferred to HANDWRITE
the first draft instead of typing, because handwriting helps you make special
mind/body connections. Organize your speech into three main parts: Introduction
(Intro), Body, and Conclusion. According to Toastmasters Pathway training, the
goal of the Intro is to tell the audience “What you are going to tell them,”
the body paragraph should include the main points “the meat and potatoes of
what you are sharing”, and the conclusion should sum up everything , “remind
them what you’ve told them.”
2nd REHEARSING THE SPEECH
2nd REHEARSING THE SPEECH
Once
the speech is written, the next step is rehearsing the speech. Rehearsing helps
us to prepare for vocalization and memorization for effectively communicating
your subject. You prepare speaking by verbally reading, I guess, just like with
any other skill, practice is what helps you improve your skills so you can
perform at your best of your abilities. Now the best way to practice your
presentation is by incorporating as many senses as possible. We talked about
writing the speech by hand to make the brain and body connection by touching
the pen and paper. Now, you start reading your speech, using your verbalizing
and language abilities. Read the speech out loud as many times as you need to,
until you start memorizing the main parts of the speech and it becomes more
natural for you.
- You can rehearse your presentations by recording
yourself and listening to your voice. This way you can critique your own
speech,
- You can rehearse in front of the mirror, and this will
help you see your favorite facial expressions, your voice, variety and
just the body language
- Overall, rehearse your speech by using your imagination.
Imagine that you are in front of the public by creating a mental picture
of the best version of yourselves, standing calm and confident in front of
the audience, and visualize your audience smiling and enjoying your
amazing speech.
3rd
PREPARING AND GIVING YOUR SPEECH
Mindfulness
will truly make the difference in your public speaking. When preparing to give
the speech, you can re-frame your
nervousness as excitement. The more emotion you give to your preparation, the better it
will get. Something that helps you with putting more emotion to your rehearsal is by saying positive affirmations.
Such as I love myself, I love that my brain always supports me, I
do my best in everything that I do. You prepare your body by eating healthy
protein based diet and possibly doing some light exercising. Distressing your
body with good food and exercise will help you manage yourself better. With
basic necessities out of the way, your brain will be working at an optimum
level.
During
the speech, do your best to present your prepared speech. Keep good posture,
relaxed knees and you breathe through your nose, one moment at a time. Focus on giving….and sharing. Your voice is a
gift of its own. And
most importantly, remember Ralph Smedley’s words of wisdom; “do public
speaking, as if you're talking to one person in a room.”
Career Coach Kathy
Shabotynskyj’s Insight
I love public speaking
and Toastmasters International. Nafije’s tips on mindfulness practices will
really improve anyone’s public speaking skills.
In your career, you are
always judged by your communication skills. Participating in a Toastmasters
club will build your public speaking, leadership and networking skills. When I
am recruiting and see Toastmasters as an activity on a resume, I assume this
person went the extra mile to improve their communications. It is one way to
distinguish yourself from the competition.
Toastmasters also has a
Leadership Development track. I am a proud Toastmaster who earned the Competent
Communicator and Competent Leader designations. Looking back when I was an
active Toastmaster, nearly twenty years ago, I remember my efforts, my public
speaking growth and most importantly, the wonderful people who participated in
my club. We had a special club, started by the father of public speaking, Bill
Gove (RIP) and his partner, Steve Siebold, an international professional
speaker and author. The club still exists in Boynton Beach, it is the eponymous
Bill Gove Golden Gavel Toastmasters and many of my fellow charter members
remain active today. If I did not move 50 miles away, I’m sure I would still be
attending.
If you want to find a
new initiative to advance your career or to ace every interview, explore
Toastmasters International for public speaking and leadership training. I
guaranty you will find an assortment of like-minded individuals who will
support your growth and ask you to do the same for them. You’ll find a link
below to find a local Toastmaster club. If your area does not have a club that
meets at a convenient time, Toastmasters also offers online-only clubs.
Our blogs help you shine from the inside out –
this blog on the art The Art of Mindfulness Based Public Speaking will help you
prepare and excel at public speaking. We all have gifts to share and light to
shed in this world. We hope you will use this blog as inspiration and will be
shining fully from the inside out.
Please share this blog with your friends and
relatives and be sure to let us know how you are shining from the inside out.
If you want to see the vault of earlier blogs: https://www.shiningstarsconnect.com/blogger
If you
would like to explore how a Career or Life Coach can help you achieve greater
success, please call or email:
Life
Coach Nafije Prishtina: 616-304-1936; npristina@gmail.com
Career
Coach Kathy Shabotynskyj: 772-486-7781; kathy@mycareerteam.com
Other Resources:
See this great article
on the Benefits of Public Speaking☺
Find a Toastmasters
Club near you.
Read Steve Siebold, case
study in a successful public speaker
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