Treatment of audience fear by lowering expectations
Fear of the crowd is fear of failure, and the bigger the event, the greater the damage of the failure. The idea sounds pretty simple, but is it true? In practice, it turns out that it is possible to reduce the fear of an audience by using three techniques that deal with the basic assumption of the possibility of failure - one way is to lower expectations in the audience (and thus also in ourselves), a second way is to see the speech as part of a process and not as a single and important action, and a third way is Fatalism help (assuming that the failure has already happened and hence can only be a pleasant surprise). Lowering expectationsThis is an example of a technique that works much more easily in foreign languages than in Hebrew. The reason for this is that lowering expectations is a way to work on ourselves by working on the audience - we lower the bar of the audience's expectations and thus feel better. The advantage of doing it in English is that it is easier for us to admit weakness when its source is external and does not harm our self-image. Why does it work?The principle is this: there are people whose fear of an audience stems from the need to meet expectations. In fact, the reason why many very talented and successful people who come to my courses (say, senior managers, politicians or well-known rabbis) with extreme anxiety about an audience is that the level of expectations they have built for themselves is impossible - although this problem exists less frequently in all strata of the population. |
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Lowering expectations is done by opening with a comment about the ability to speak or the level of English - the type of 'Excuse me in advance for my English' or 'In the next half hour I'm going to bore you with a heavy accent about the financial reports' and the like. This kind of expression makes the speaker feel that the expectations are lower and therefore it will be easier for him to meet them. Two additional benefits he achieves are, first of all, an improvement in his credibility, and secondly, increased empathy towards him - because he faces difficulty, because he recognizes his weaknesses and because he is human.
To all those important people in their own right who say 'in my organization it is forbidden to show this kind of weakness' I am addressing For the video and analysis of a speech By JK Rowling at Harvard University - The author of Harry Potter and the richest woman in Britain is undoubtedly under a very heavy bar of expectations, yet she opens by saying "Thank you for inviting me here, I want you to know that the pressure of appearing before you has made me nauseous and completely lost my appetite , and that's how thanks to you I was finally able to lose weight"
Sporty look
Here the approach to reducing stress is by looking at the value of participation above the value of success. The technique can work in two ways (together or separately): we can say to ourselves 'it's just a speech, what can happen?' And in this way see failure as a learning experience and not the end of the world. The second way is to look at the whole process and see that the speech is only one part of it. Such a technique can be used in a variety of scenarios, whether it is a presentation of an article or a seminar (in which case the really important thing is the article that will be read regardless) or a sales presentation (in which case the really important thing is the face-to-face meeting afterwards with the manager) or a report on a project (Then what is really important is the project itself).
Fatalism
It's a technique where you simply put up with the failure in advance - in fact, it's an extreme version of the technique of lowering expectations. The idea is to start by assuming that the speech will not be successful and continue from there. The advantage of the technique is that it greatly helps to reduce the pressure even before the speech, a pressure that weighs heavily on many people (as opposed to a technique that lowers expectations which is manifested only at the beginning of the speech). The disadvantage of the method is that it affects the ability
The problem with the technique lies in its counter-intuitive op - it works in reverse, in that only if you believe you will fail you will be able to succeed and on the other hand if you expect to succeed you will make yourself fail. For this reason, the method is not suitable for everyone and it is important to test it 'small' before applying it to a big speech.
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English speaking course - Public Speaking Course
For beginners / those who suffer from fear of crowds: Hebrew course An effective course to improve persuasion |
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The public speaking course is intended for Israelis who speak reasonable English (ie- not native speakers) who need to talk to an English-Speaking audience. The course combines training in rhetoric with improving flow and self-confidence using English.
The course's aim is achieved through intensive practice in front of a live audience under personal guidance and coaching. This amount of exercises is accomplished thanks to long sessions (4 hours per session) in which complete immersion in English is exercised.
The practice sessions simulate speaking to an audience under a variety of business-related scenarios: committee discussions, team work, presentations, negotiations and debate. Every exercise begins with a briefing on the persuasion techniques involved and the etiquettes relevant to the practiced business situation. After the briefing all the participants practice live (no exemptions, no excuses...) and then each participant receives a detailed and personal feedback report, complete with recommendations for the next public speaking exercises.
Lesson content (theory) |
Practice drills |
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1
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Introduction & evaluation of skills |
Self-presentation (formal and informal) |
2
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Basics of public speaking |
Short improvised speeches (1 minute) |
3
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Body language |
Pros and cons speeches (2 minutes) |
4
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Introduction how to argue, how to explain |
Short improvised speeches (3 minutes) |
5
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How to prepare a speech |
Writing exercise |
6
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Speaking as part of a team |
Debate (4 minutes) |
7
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How to write a presentation |
none |
8
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Making a presentation |
Powerpoint presentation (5 minutes) |
9
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Handling questions from the audience |
Q & A drill session |
10 |
Conducting formal negotiations |
Parliamentary committee drill (6 minutes) |
11
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Advanced presentation technique |
Powerpoint presentation (7 minutes) |
12
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Overview and summary |
Mixed discussion |
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