The Confident Presenter
A Handbook For Beginning Speakers
by
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“You have a speech due next Friday.” Those seven words, uttered by any speech instructor, in any classroom, in any part of the world can turn confident and proud individuals into nervous, and even angry, beings. Being a speech instructor for both a large university and a well-respected two-year college, I have seen the unfortunate consequences of uttering those seven words, or any variation thereof. I have seen the fear in the eyes of the students. I have felt the stifling tension within the air. I have heard the nervous laughter from the back of the room. I have seen students cry on speech day. I have had a student run out of the class, in the middle of her speech. And, not surprisingly, I have had students, with previous good health and attendance, mysteriously absent on the day their speech was due. This fear of public speaking limits people in terms of how they can influence others. In other words, influence is the intangible quality to relax an audience, encourage them to believe in you, and sometimes, get the audience to do what you want them to do.
The one surefire way to influence others is through your voice and actions. We, as human beings, have the ability to soothe hurt feelings, or crush fragile confidences. It’s our choice how we use our voice. Public speaking can help us practice our influential voice and appropriate nonverbal delivery for when we need to put it into action. The more practice we undertake in the public speaking setting the more comfortable we will be in diverse speaking situations; whether those situations are a salary negotiation with your employer or a sales presentation to a client.
Could you imagine a world without conversation, songs, telephone calls, T.V. shows, movies, and negotiations? What a bland existence and world it would be! We use our voice to our advantage everyday, and without our voice human evolution would only be stagnant. Learning how to speak well in public can also help you think on your feet, and remain calm when audience members become listless or disrespectful in presentations. Also, you can better overcome buyer objections if you can maximize your thoughts and tap into their needs. The cost of not speaking well in public could just be your lack of career advancement and consequently, your financial outlook.
You owe it to yourself to practice speaking in public and focusing on overcoming any fears you may have about public speaking. If you avoid practicing public speaking, you will only be improving the chances of you not improving your speaking voice. How costly will that be to you and your professional and personal goals?
The material in the book will focus on the beginning stages of speaking development: overcoming stage fright, speaking with the audience’s needs in mind, organizing main points, effectively beginning and ending main points, types of organizational patterns, informative and demonstration speech preparation, delivery effectiveness, supporting material and visual aids. By understanding these principles and committing to public speaking excellence, the reader can grow confident in their speaking abilities and become the excellent presenter they want to be.
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About the Book
The Confident Presenter: A Handbook For Beginning Speakers is designed to be a public speaking survival guide for people who may not have a lot of public speaking experience. Specifically, the focus is on developing the skills necessary to become a confident presenter, a presenter others will admire. Other books may discuss public speaking theory and may fall short on some of the modern realities associated with public speaking. This book is intended to focus on those realities, built on the premise that if you can use your speaking voice to your advantage you can influence others. Consequently, your effective public speaking voice will ultimately benefit you. Some of the topics covered in the book include understanding and mastering your fear of public speaking; determining your speech’s purpose and direction; understanding and capitalizing on the needs, fears, and goals of your audience; integrating material which will enhance your ability to influence your audience; incorporating effective delivery techniques which will ultimately influence your audience; and strategies for outlining and preparing speeches and presentations. The public speaking advice has been amassed through years of teaching collegiate public speaking courses and through the experiences of developing and presenting management-training programs for a variety of clients.
About the Author
Ryan is the Professional Development Coordinator and Department Chair of Academics at Antonelli College in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to studying human resource management, he has an M.A. and B.A. in Organizational Communication from Miami University (Ohio). Before arriving at Antonelli College, he worked in the management consulting industry researching and facilitating management development seminars for clients across the country and taught public speaking courses at Miami University (Ohio). His 2003 book Creating A Home For Learning: The Art And Science Of Teaching: A Survival Guide To The Classroom, also through 1stBooks, was co-authored with the Director of Education at Antonelli College, Jim Slouffman, and focuses on developing instructor effectiveness. Ryan resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife Stephanie.