The trails and tribulation of public speaking

Personally, I have never had a problem speaking in public. Getting up in front of audiences or large groups of people has never really bothered me. As a spoken word poet, however, I am always looking for new tools and ways to make my reading better and more effective.

A lot of times the major thing I deal with is pre-show jitters, that is the adrenaline or anxiety I get before I go on stage. Over the years I’ve gotten better at controlling it, but there are still a few things that I always feel that I can improve. Que the podcasts! I definitely took it to heart when Michael Williams talked about practicing out loud. As someone who has to memorize a lot of my pieces before I go on stage having my pieces memorized is always a huge stressor. I might’ve taken it one further and I even recorded myself whilst reading aloud to ensure that I was enunciating and speaking clearly! 

Also really liked the idea of “why” that he brought up. Why are you saying what you’re saying? Why is it important enough that you’re speaking in front of an audience? Those questions really stuck out to me and made me think, I’ve never asked myself those questions before and definitely will keep them in mind in the future! Something he also brought up was becoming a master conversationalist, using your own conversations as a means to practice becoming more and more comfortable with speaking in front of strangers. As someone who’s a bit of an introvert speaking conversationally can be a little bit of a task. But like anything you can only get better through practice, speaking is no different!

Likewise, he brings up praising yourself and that I definitely agree with. A lot of times even if I don’t feel any anxiety whilst reading I can be very hard on myself afterward. I agree and think it’s very important to reward and be kind to yourself. All in all, I think these podcasts were very helpful and insightful!

Listen to 21 Steps to Start Speaking More Smoothly & Confidently and more self improvement audio programs on Audiojoy — download free on iOS or Android.

Content Review byArslan Mcnally