Mindset - Improve Your Public Speaking Presentation and Influence Skills Training Coaching Melbourne Australia

12Apr

Mind-trick That Can Help With Public Speaking Fear

Here's a mind-trick for public speaking fear that many of my clients have found very useful. Imagine that you've just given a talk and it's gone well. You're now successfully on the other side of it, and have just been congratulated by your boss...or you phone your friend and tell them that it went well. This mind-trick - imagining that you've already successfully presented your talk - can work really well to counteract the negative, pessimistic thoughts or images which will inevitably surface at some point before you get up to speak (unless you're a supremely confident speaker, in which case...

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Rehearsalfearful public speakers, good public speaking, negative thoughts public speaking, opening your speech, positive outcome public speaking, practice public speaking, prepared for presentation, preparing talk, presentation skills, procrastinating about practising your presentation0 CommentsRead more...

24Jan

Need to motivate yourself? What’s better, self-esteem or self-compassion?

Trying to rev yourself up to improve your speaking skills? There has been some interesting research done recently into what helps you to feel better about yourself: self-esteem or self-compassion? Psychological studies are finding that self-compassion - being kind to yourself - is more effective than high self-esteem when it comes to helping people to make changes in their lives. Wisdom Compassion Kindness ~db~ via Flickr When you want to see new possibilities, to motivate yourself to make changes and take action in the outer world, self-esteem isn't all it's cracked up to be. A study by Kristin Neff from the University of...

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Bloganxiety job intervew, Kristin Neff, motivation improve speaking skills, Roos Vonk, self-compassion, self-esteem public speaking, self-talk public speaking5 CommentsRead more...

03Jan

How to Positively Change Your Expectations for Speaking Success

In my last post I talked about how the expectations you set for yourself around your public speaking can really influence whether or not you achieve the results you're after: the article is here if you missed it. And I suggested that according to the latest brain research - and what I've seen work for clients and myself - is this: Aim very high long-term, and low, short-term. Today I'm giving you a plan which you can try the next time you're stressing out about your presentation and want to change your brain state to reduce your expectations to something more manageable: 1....

By Sarah DenholmBody Language, Mindset, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blogbrain research expectations, mindset exercise for public speaking, positive expectations public speaking, presentations skills positive mindset1 CommentRead more...

02Dec

Public Speaking Like Facing a Firing Squad? One Client’s Belief

What would you answer, if I asked you to complete this statement: “speaking in public is like____________________”? Public Speaking Like a Firing Squad? A new client, let’s call her Alice, was telling me recently that when she first entered her (particularly male-dominated) area of academia 30 years ago, giving a presentation was known amongst her peers as “facing the firing squad”. The audience would lean eagerly towards Alice, armed and ready to rip apart every assertion she made. And 30 years later, Alice still feels this way - only now, she’s moved into a new area where the audience is waiting with interest...

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blogfear of public speaking, giving a presentation, overcoming public speaking fear, public speaking attack, public speaking beliefs, public speaking in academia, public speaking successful mindset, reluctant public speaker0 CommentsRead more...

09Sep

Introvert? 4 Ways to Blast Through your Resistance to Presenting in Public

If you're an introvert, you may struggle to speak in public and plan to avoid it whenever you can; getting up in front of a group can seem like an insurmountable hurdle if you tend to avoid the spotlight. Yet you may need or want to present well; you have ideas to share, and it really bothers you that you don't feel competent at presenting. If you want to be able to get up and speak but feel as though you're fighting yourself as it's happening, it's worth knowing this (I discovered this concept through Susan Cain's writing; her book is Quiet:...

By Sarah Denholmbusiness meetings, Delivery, Mindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Rehearsalacting as if, BAS Behavioural Activation System, BIS Behavioural Inhibition System, fear of public speaking, Go System, interview behaviour, introvert public speaking, low-energy speaker, presentation skills, Quiet, resistance to speaking in public, self-talk public speaking, speaking in meetings, Stop System, Susan Cain, The Power of Introverts4 CommentsRead more...

01Jun

How to change your negative beliefs about speaking: 5 step plan

Choosing new beliefs I sometimes work with clients who have seen themselves as poor speakers for a long time, often many years. They may turn up for coaching or come along to one of my courses with the attitude of "well I'll give this a go, but it won't really change anything". Our beliefs run our lives - they underlie how we relate to the world. But you don't have to feel so stuck around public speaking, and you don't have to sabotage yourself by letting your past experience dictate the present moment. Sometimes I think that we over-complicate things...so with the...

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming NervesDavid Rock, new public speaking beliefs, overcoming public speaking fear, public speaking positive mindset, public speaking stress, speaking belief system, speaking goals, speaking skills, Your Brain at Work4 CommentsRead more...

01Feb

Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking: Playing at the Edges of your Comfort Zone

Stretching your comfort zone edges I've recently gone back to yoga classes after a break of 10 years or so, and one thing about doing the poses which confused me initially, was knowing how to distinguish between intensity during a stretch versus discomfort or pain. Intensity is another word for energy flow, and that's what you're after in yoga, and public speaking. But where does intensity tip over into negative, unhelpful territory, and how can you stop that from happening? The solution, I've found, is learning how to "play at the edges" of my comfort zone, my limits, without going too far....

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Rehearsalfear of presenting, fear public speaking, speaking comfort zone, speaking skills0 CommentsRead more...

18Jan

A Tip to Stop Self-Doubts Before You Go On Stage

[Updated 2020] A client asked me recently about any tip to stop self-doubts; those fearful, negative thoughts which kick in like clockwork in the hours before she has to present. You may know how she feels: it's so unhelpful, isn't it? And yes, it's how our brains work when we feel threatened by something, and don't feel that we have the resources to cope. And while there are a few different ways to tackle this issue, there's a practical strategy - which I'll share in a moment - which I've been using successfully with my speaking clients. I've also used it myself...

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills BlogBeilock, Choke, cognitive science, nervous presenter tip, public speaking fears, public speaking panic, speaking tip0 CommentsRead more...

31Oct

How to Practise Your Presentation: Practical Tips (And What Not To Do)

Group of Practice Golf Balls - vorakorn There are many different ways to prepare: today I'm going to talk about practising your talk in the outer world, but working with your inner world - using mental rehearsal and relaxation techniques - are also important if you're nervous. Practising can help in showing you: what you need to fix in order to make your talk flow logically what you need to edit for clarity the possibilities for connection with your audience when you know your material so well that you get out of your own head how to feel more confident and comfortable (see my previous article on the neuroscience of...

By Sarah DenholmContent, Mindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Rehearsal, Structurememorizing your talk, mental rehearsal, practice in front of mirror, practising public speaking skills, public speaking practice2 CommentsRead more...

11Oct

Low-Energy Speaker? 3 Simple Ways to Rev Yourself Up

Smithsonian via Flickr We've come to the 6th of 7 essential skills of a good speaker in my C.R.I.S.P.E.R formula (see here for the overview article). The 6th skill is energy. When we speak in front of others, we need energy. Not bouncing off the walls, but enough the audience doesn't 'tune out' in front of us, but instead get carried along with our energy. Enough that they can get our message not only through our words, but through how our body and face communicate with them. An audience takes their cue from us. "Life begets life, energy begets energy. It is by spending oneself that...

By Sarah DenholmBody Language, business meetings, Delivery, Mindset, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Rehearsalamplifying speaking energy, audience cues, presenting energy, speaking warm-up routine6 CommentsRead more...