Know that your response to a mistake defines the audience’s response. 
If you respond to spilling water on your pants as if it were the sinking of the Titanic, the audience will see it, and you, as a tragedy. But if you're cool, or better yet, find it funny, the audience will do the same.

Your Response

We can minimize most of these fears by realizing that we speak in public all the time. 
You’re already good at public speaking — the average person says 15,000 words a day.

Minimize Your Public Speaking Fears

It’s often the case that the things speakers obsess about are the opposite of what the audience cares about. They want to be entertained. They want to learn. And most of all, they want you to do well.
Many mistakes you can make while performing do not prevent those things from happening. It’s the mistakes you make before you even say a word that matter more. These include the mistakes of not having an interesting opinion, of not thinking clearly about your points, and of not planning ways to make those points relevant to your audience.

What The Audience Want

You can say, “I have 30 minutes to talk to you, and five points to make. I will spend five minutes on each point and save the remaining time for any questions.”
That takes about ten seconds to say, but for that small price, you continue to own the attention of the room because they know the plan.

Tell The Audience Your Plan

I don’t practice to make perfect, and I don’t memorize. If I did either, I’d sound like a robot, or worse, like a person trying very hard to say things in an exact, specific, and entirely unnatural style, which people can spot a mile away. My intent is simply to know my material so well that I’m very comfortable with it. Confidence, not perfection, is the goal.

If you pretend to have no fear of public speaking, you deny yourself the natural energy your body is giving you. Anxiety creates a kind of energy you can use, just as excitement does. 
Ian Tyson, a stand-up comedian and motivational speaker, offered this gem of advice: “The body’s reaction to fear and excitement is the same… so it becomes a mental decision: am I afraid or am I excited?

A Little Fear Is Good

Get the audience involved:
<ul>
<li>Ask for a show of hands.</li>
<li>Quiz them with trivia.</li>
<li>Give them a problem to solve.</li>
</ul>
When you enforce a popular rule, you re-engage everyone who supports that rule. You restore your power and earn the audience’s respect. So, don’t hesitate to cut off a blowhard, silence the guy on his cell phone, and interrupt the table having a private but distracting conversation. As long as you are polite and direct, you’ll be a hero.

Own The Audience

If you’d like to be good at something, the first thing to go out the window is the notion of perfection.

People come because they:
<ul>
<li>Want to learn something</li>
<li>Wish to be inspired</li>
<li>Hope to be entertained</li>
<li>Have a need they hope you will satisfy</li>
<li>Desire to meet other people interested in the subject</li>
<li>Seek a positive experience they can share with others</li>
<li>Are forced to be there by their bosses, parents, professors, or spouses.</li>
</ul>

Why People Come To Hear Someone

<ul>
<li>Getting to the venue early so you don’t have to rush</li>
<li>Doing tech and sound rehearsal well before your start time</li>
<li>Walking around the stage so your body feels safe in the room</li>
<li>Sitting in the audience so you have a physical sense of what they will see</li>
<li>Eating early enough so you won’t be hungry, but not right before your talk</li>
<li>Talking to some people in the audience before you start (if it suits you), so it’s no longer made up of strangers (friends are less likely to try to eat you).</li>
</ul>

Ways to Reduce Physical Stress and Nervousness

Scott Berkun’s Confessions of a Public Speaker is a practical and hilarious book that presents these powerful and evidence-based techniques that many people can borrow to share ideas with others and eventually become great communicators: continuous improvement, efficient preparation, practice, and getting timely feedback.

In this hilarious and highly practical book, author and professional speaker Scott Berkun reveals the techniques behind what great communicators do, and shows how anyone can learn to use them well. For managers and teachers -- and anyone else who talks and expects someone to listen -- Confessions of a Public Speaker provides an insider's perspective on how to effectively present ideas to anyone. It's a unique, entertaining, and instructional romp through the embarrassments and triumphs Scott has experienced over 15 years of speaking to crowds of all sizes. With lively lessons and surprising confessions, you'll get new insights into the art of persuasion -- as well as teaching, learning, and performance -- directly from a master of the trade. Highlights include: Berkun's hard-won and simple philosophy, culled from years of lectures, teaching courses, and hours of appearances on NPR, MSNBC, and CNBC Practical advice, including how to work a tough room, the science of not boring people, how to survive the attack of the butterflies, and what to do when things go wrong The inside scoop on who earns $30,000 for a one-hour lecture and why The worst -- and funniest -- disaster stories you've ever heard (plus countermoves you can use) Filled with humorous and illuminating stories of thrilling performances and real-life disasters, Confessions of a Public Speaker is inspirational, devastatingly honest, and a blast to read.

Own The Audience

Confessions of a Public Speaker

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