You and public speaking

At least one in every five people reading this has a deadly fear of public speaking. But if you plan to get ahead in your career there's a good chance you'll have to do some. Here's how to master the art.

Generations of otherwise functional adults are scarred for life by a deep, dark secret from their formative years. For some it was the memory of having to do something called an English oral. Perhaps it was the trauma of having to stand up at school assembly and deliver some end-of-year address.

Years later, at an otherwise stress-free conference involving a new piece of software, the memories come flooding back. Sweaty palms, quaking knees and wavering voice combine with enough "umms" to supply a Buddhist monastery for a year.

Even if you know your stuff, after this performance you have as much credibility as Jack The Ripper wanting to run a home for wayward women.

Yet public speaking is an essential skill for working people. You don't need to turn into a televangelist or a politician, so banish thoughts of needing splendid dental work, a corset, a double-breasted suit, blow-dried hair and a sunlamp tan. Basically, all you need to get you by is some good preparation and a sense of zen-like calm.

But above all, remember that it isn't that difficult to entertain or inform an audience that wants to be entertained or informed. Zoom in on where your audience is and get them on your side. A reference to something they'll all find funny or be able to identify with (the strange conference venue, the weather, something amusing that happened that morning in the parking lot) should do the trick. Tell them something interesting and keep it short.

Here are some other things you'll need:

• Know your subject. It's going to be very difficult to focus on your presentation if there's a nagging voice saying "Oh, I hope nobody asks about the new software's firewall problems". If there's some area in which you don't have expertise, try to have someone on hand who can answer the questions.
• Know the venue. In their book The Smiling Pawpaw and Other Presenters, Ronel Engelbrecht and Chris Rademeyer recommend establishing minute details of the equipment you'll be using, the car park closest to the venue and the lighting that'll be used.
• Know the crowd. If you're talking to a staunchly conservative crowd, avoid any jokes about the bishop, the actress and roller skate.
• Keep it simple. Unless you're talking to an audience that knows your subject intimately, avoid jargon and acronyms. Offer to go into technical details during question time. Otherwise you'll lose people in the first three minutes.
• Make notes. Divide your presentation up into an introduction, body and conclusion. Don't write out your presentation word-for-word or you'll end up reading it. In that case you may as well email people your notes to read in their own time. Rather make bullet points and rehearse until it flows.
• Insert reminders. Highlighted phrases like "Look up" and "make eye contact" on each page of your notes can help you do just that.
• Know the equipment. Whether you're using a whiteboard or a full-on data projection system, know how everything works. Mumbling something about "gremlins in the system" makes you look silly when you've got Edgar from accounts sitting in the back row and shouting, "Push the 'focus' button, idiot."
• Have a dry run at the venue. If you sound a bit tinny, don't worry. An auditorium will sound different when it's packed with human flesh, which does interesting things to acoustics. You can always ask whoever's running the PA system to make your voice a little "warmer" if you think you sound like a duck on helium. But ask a friend or colleague to sit at the back and listen to you run through your spiel.
• Engage with your audience. If you have allies or sympathetic colleagues in the audience, place them two-thirds of the way back and make a point of looking at them periodically, rather than staring blankly and with growing panic at the sea of faces.
• Speak up. Stay several inches from the mike, or you'll pound your audience's ears with every consonant you utter. Few things are as irritating. Speaking too loudly also costs you an audience's goodwill.
• Use your hands. If you're using bullet points, count them off with your fingers.
• Consider voice training. If you sound like a donkey going gargling a set of bagpipes, don't expect anyone to listen. Try the Voice Clinic (www.voiceclinic.co.za) or the Voice Works (www.voiceworks.co.za).
• Join the Toastmasters. Consider joining Toastmasters (www.toastmasters74.org) to hone your speaking skills in your own time. If public speaking is to be a regular part of your working life, consider training from a company like the Business Presentation Group (www.bpg.co.za).
• Don't belabour the point. Apart from blowing into the mike, telling off-colour jokes to a conservative audience and not knowing your topic, nothing alienates an audience as much as going on too long. Present your piece, watch the clock and get off the podium. You can always offer to take questions afterwards.
• Don't catastrophise. Finally, chances are that unless you're seized with such a case of nerves that you throw up on your shoes you won't be the worst presenter your audience has heard. So breathe deeply, imagine the audience naked (It's reputed to work) and smile. They've all been in the situation and know what you are probably feeling like.

If you're still not sure of what to do, here are some tips on what body language to use during your presentation:

- (William Smook, Health24)