You've attended club or association luncheons, dinners, or other events, where you are given one minute to address everyone and tell something about yourself, your business, and any other little interesting tidbit you might want to share.
Doesn't sound like a daunting task, and its not IF you're prepared! If you are not prepared, if you're not ready, that's when people get nervous. Especially when you are asked unexpectedly to address an audience. Then it feels like an ambush!
Maybe you're at a church group, a club function, a business meeting, a board of education, a get-together with fellow team-members, a wedding dinner, whatever. They ask you to say a few words. You are caught totally unprepared. You have to say something. So, you mumble, or speak too quietly, too loudly, too quickly, or wander away from the topic, say ummm, ahhh, more than you'd like.
Here are 8 tips that will save you from total embarrassment:
1. The minute you even suspect you might be asked to speak, jot a few notes down on your iPhone, a napkin, even your hand.
2. Finish eating. (Do NOT try to talk with food still in your mouth!) Check your teeth. Take a sip of water.
3. Stand up straight - good posture helps you look, feel, and speak better.
4. Start by stating your name, thanking everyone, saying what a pleasure it is, etc. This gets the voice going. Usually people remember their names. If you're really nervous, jot your name down in your notes. (This is not a joke. People have forgotten their names in these situations.)
5. Keep it short, simple. Better to stop speaking too soon than to continue speaking too long.
6. Use your notes, if you have to. That's why you wrote them down.
7. Smile.
8. Sit down.
Don't be nervous about your next impromptu speech! Get more simple, practical strategies and useable ideas like these to help you sound like a pro! Contact Barringer Consultants for your FREE first session - info@barringerconsultants.com
