Public Speaking Meltdown and Blunder Blues---Get Your Confidence Back!

A public speaking meltdown

I recently learned, again, about the need to continually practice and refresh public speaking skills when I felt compelled to make remarks in praise of a national award recipient---an instructor friend of mine---at an event held in honor of her award. I did not anticipate that her former students would be invited to take the lectern to say a few words. There were many stories I could have told about how helpful my friend had been as an instructor and mentor over the years, but I had not given advance thought to which story to use or how to present it. The result was a rambling, stumbling, nervous few minutes. It was a public speaking meltdown---my worst public speaking experience in years.

Golden tools for public speaking confidence

I'm not a particularly spontaneous person , so I need to prepare to talk to a crowd about much of anything beyond where to find fire exits or restrooms. If you're that way, too, you need to prepare a bit the moment you have some idea that the opportunity (or obligation) for you to make some remarks at a public gathering may present itself. Even speaking "off the cuff," some level of advance preparation and practice is usually possible.

Just as those who lose weight must continually plan to eat only small portions of food and use other techniques to avoid gaining weight back, if you don't practice and use the tools you need to cope with nervousness in public speaking situations, you risk regressing to a prior (and lower) level of competence. Preparation and practice---"out loud" speaking practice---are the essential tools.

Getting your public speaking confidence back

On the morning after a public speaking meltdown, take it easy. Your first step to recovery is to recall some famous people whose missteps were captured under a far brighter spotlight than yours. These are people who did not allow miscues or mediocrity to define them.

Susan Boyle's "Memory" did not dash the dream

Susan Boyle is a wonderful Scottish singer who rocketed to international stardom this year via YouTube after a bold and brave audition on the British television show, Britain's Got Talent. Ms. Boyle was shaky at the start of her performance of the song Memory in the second round of the show. She kept going, finished strong, and was praised afterward.

In the final round of Britian's Got Talent, Ms.Boyle played it safe-probably because her shaky start in the second round was still too fresh in her mind---and ultimately came in second overall. Despite not being the winner, however, Ms. Boyle's singing and recording career is now well on track. Her singing engagements calendar is full. She has released her first album and she continues to make television appearances, like this one on the Today show, backed by live musicians.

Chief Justice John Roberts' do-over did the trick

In January of 2009, the chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, bobbled the wording in his administration of the presidential oath of office to President-elect Barack Obama. Messrs. Roberts and Obama did the oath over, s-l-o-w-l-y and carefully, the following day to assure that its validity would not be questioned later. Click here to see the first and second versions of the oath. Chief Justice Roberts didn't comment publicly about his oath miscues, which was probably the best way to assure that it would soon slide well beneath the surface of popular news topics.

While administering an oath of office is not exactly the same as making impromptu remarks, this event showed that you can't take anything for granted in a public speaking situation. You must practice speaking your part out loud before the day you have to speak it in front of a crowd.

Even Abraham Lincoln was a better speaker with advance preparation

Even Abraham Lincoln was not entirely comfortable giving extemporaneous or impromptu remarks to a crowd. It's said that he often rewrote and polished a written version of "impromptu" remarks to release to the press after a public appearance. Not all remarks reported in the press of his day benefited from this level of revision, however.

In July of 1863, President Lincoln addressed a crowd of hundreds that had gathered on the White House lawn to celebrate news of a Union Army victory. His remarks were reported as including the following sentence: "How long ago is it?---Eighty odd years---since on the Fourth of July for the first time in the history of the world a union body of representatives was assembled to declare as a self-evident truth that 'all men were created equal.'"

President Lincoln's July 1863 remarks were not nearly as eloquent or memorable as the address he gave four months later at Gettysburg, after he had more time to reflect upon, prepare and polish his speech:

"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal..."

You fall off the public speaking confidence wagon, you get back on

I've gone back to basics and remembered my Toastmasters club training. I prepared, prepared, prepared for a recent seminar I was to teach. The seminar was attended by 22 people; not a huge gathering, but large enough for a good test. A mirror and tape recorder served as my presentation coaches beforehand. The seminar went well; I received some favorable comments afterward, and I'm back on the road to public speaking competence. But those of us who don't come by this skill naturally know we have to keep practicing and rehearsing possible speaking scenarios. We can't let our guard down. We have to keep working on public speaking skills to keep them fresh.

There's only one sure remedy to cure the public speaking blunder blues, and that is to get to work creating newer and more enjoyable public speaking experiences.

Sources:

Personal Experience

Toastmasters Clubs http://www.toastmasters.org/

Susan Boyle's Audition, Britian's Got Talent http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Susan Boyle's Second Performance, Semi-Finals of Britain's Got Talent 5/24/09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIk7gI3ESfE

Susan Boyle on Today Show, 11/23/09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9uNjS_0-I8

Obama Retakes Oath of Office After Roberts' Mistake http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/21/obama.oath/index.html

Abraham Lincoln's Independence Day Address of July 7, 1863 (researched by James R. Heintze) http://www1.american.edu/heintze/Lincoln.htm

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address http://www.visitingdc.com/memorial/lincoln's-gettysburg-address.htm