To empower your talks, identify a universal message that you own through experience. A universal message will energize your presentations with passion for what you are saying. A contributing factor to stage fright and fear of speaking is the fact that people often leave out their most deeply held beliefs and values from their presentations. They tend to edit out the very material that would inspire their communications. Underlying this tendency is a belief that their spiritual and emotional values are not appropriate or acceptable in many situations. This is not the truth. The truth is, that your emotional and spiritual Self should always be expressed in every talk, performance or communication that you deliver. There is always a place for universal human values. Without it, your presentations are too dry, cerebral and heartless. Without emotional juice to support and empower your presentation, you will naturally feel more stage fright and anxiety about speaking. When you bring your deeply held values into your talks, you automatically connect to your passion, which is the fuel of your star power. The passion of your spirit buoys you with so much energy to share your ideas that you forget to be afraid.
Everyone has a unique message to deliver that is exciting and energizing. Every life has a theme that is based on a major lesson that is being learned through the human experience. Your unique message always comes from your struggles. Struggles build soul. What you are wrestling with in your life becomes the gift you have to give others. When you identify your message, you can use it in your presentations to inspire yourself and your listeners and to ease your stage fright.
That’s what Dan White did when he was a new vice president for a hardware manufacturing and distribution company. He believed strongly in hiring the best people and supporting them to do their best, and when his company had difficulties in distribution, he was called on to speak at a forum for their customers, the individual hardware store owners. He could have focused on his company’s shipping issues and trying to play defense, but when he practiced that approach, he felt stiff and uncomfortable. It was just not authentic for him.
Instead, Dan chose to acknowledge the problems but focused primarily on his people. He emphasized how his company was upgrading their hiring practices and how his great people were making the difference as the company changed its distribution system. Dan was energized and inspired to speak to the owners this way. He became animated, expressive and passionate, without a trace of stage fright. By bringing his values about people into his presentation, Dan transformed the forum. He set the tone that almost single-handedly rescued the company from potential disaster. The owners went home inspired, feeling they were with a manufacturer that they could trust to supply them in the future.
Dan did what I call “taking his audience to the mountaintop”, and you can go there as well in your next presentation. Just look for the principles that are common to all human beings. If you speak from your highest thoughts and speak to the highest good, you can take your listeners to the summit. You will help them take action and be their very best – the very essence of what it means to inspire. Your courage will give them permission to speak and act from the same place, and they will be transformed.
Go here to understand what happens in stage fright. If you have a presentation to give and are struggling with anxiety, an hour coaching session might help you as it did Dan White. In person, by phone or Skype, we can work together to energize your talk so that you take your listeners to the mountaintop.
