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

25Aug

Which Music Can Make you Feel More Powerful Before you Present?

What Music Makes You Feel More Powerful? Updated October 2019 We all know that music can have a strong effect on our emotions (I've only ever met one person who claimed that music didn't affect her at all). And there was a study done back in 2014 about which types of music can make you powerful before you present, and lead to "higher perceived control over social events". The study, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, was inspired by the pre-game routines of athletes (Hsu et al., 2014). The authors explored 31 pieces from different genres of music (sports music, heavy...

By Sarah DenholmDelivery, Mindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog2 Unlimited Get Ready for This, abstract thinking, consequences of power, Darth Vader, Dennis Hsu, Hsu et al 2014, illusory control, moving first, music playlists to help public speaking, music stimulates power, power deep voice, powerful public speaking, Queen We Will Rock You, Social Psychological and Personality Science0 CommentsRead more...

17Jul

Should you Move About When you Present, or Not?

Should you move around when presenting? As presenters, people tend to fall into two opposing ‘choreography’ camps when they’re in front of a group - you may recognise yourself here: You stand stock-still (often hiding behind – even hanging onto – the lectern), barely twitching except to advance a slide Advantage: you feel better because you’re in a safe space (or safer – of course it’s all relative!) Disadvantage: it’s a boring, un-engaging look for your audience, and using so little physical energy is unhelpful for you too - if you're nervous, that adrenalin and cortisol will 'bank up' in your system and perpetuate any physical...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, Body Language, Delivery, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Rehearsal0 CommentsRead more...

08May

4 Tips to Redefine Public Speaking Anxiety

Reducing Presentation Anxiety Do you feel anxious when you have to speak to groups? Obviously you're not alone: public speaking is one of the toughest social situations that most people have to deal with. I've felt it myself, many times. Yet it's also one of the greatest opportunities to leverage your time, energy and visibility if you're interested in advancing your career. Here are 4 tips which can help to shift your negativity, and make presenting a more positive experience. 1. Start to see yourself as 'presenting' in everyday situations: when you walk into a meeting, pay for petrol or buy a coffee....

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog0 CommentsRead more...

27Mar

Fear, and How to Build Belief around your Public Speaking

Building Belief I was talking with a client this week about her fears around failure and embarrassment when she gives a presentation at work, and how she felt they weren't normal. I commented that they were indeed normal, and that we all have these fears as human beings. It got me thinking about the different fears and needs we have, and how the ones below are so often triggered by public speaking. Fear of: failure rejection embarrassment discomfort uncertainty not being good enough And the needs we have: to be heard to be accepted to be loved When you look at these lists, it's no wonder that speaking in public is so difficult...

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, RehearsalCharles Duhigg, fear of failure, habits and public speaking, presentation, speaking in public difficult, The Power of Habit0 CommentsRead more...

08Nov

Practising your Speech: your Most FAQ

Practising - your FAQ As a professionally trained pianist, practice has been part of my life since I was 6 years old. Time-consuming and often tedious, it's the focused, detailed work which makes going out on stage possible - a Classical musician wouldn't even contemplate walking out in front of a group without practising beforehand. Yet speakers frequently neglect this vital part of building confidence and professionalism, and a big part of the reason why seems to be lack of knowledge about what works around practice and what doesn't. So here's my FAQ list for you: What should be my practice goals? To speak...

By Sarah DenholmContent, Delivery, Mindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Rehearsal1 CommentRead more...

26Jun

How Mastering Discomfort Can Set You Free to Speak in Public

Mastering discomfort can set you free Speaking in public is confronting for most people. It can bring up all sorts of uncomfortable emotions and physical symptoms, which of course you'd rather avoid. But if what you want to achieve is outside your comfort zone, then inevitably there will be discomfort - or outright fear - in getting there: "Discomfort brings engagement and change. Discomfort means you're doing something that others were unlikely to do, because they're hiding out in the comfort zone." - Seth Godin And if you're someone who's struggled through times in your life where you were really uncomfortable or afraid, it...

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blogfreedom to speak in public, public speaking coaching, public speaking course, public speaking discomfort, public speaking self-consciousness, public speaking symptoms, Seth Godin, speaking comfort zone0 CommentsRead more...

23May

5 Excuses Which Stop you Getting Help

Excuses which stop you from getting help to improve your speaking skills [Updated 2020] Are you letting your fears about speaking in public stop you from getting the help you need to improve your speaking skills? Change is hard, as we all know. We're designed to avoid doing anything which frightens us, hard-wired this way to ensure our survival. You can overcome speaking fear...the hardest part is just starting. My mother-in-law was dying (she was 97) when I originally wrote this post in 2013 - and seven years later, I believe that the ideas in it still resonate. It was such a privilege to know...

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills BlogDavid Allen Getting Things Done, issues public speaking, overcome public speaking fear, private coaching sessions, public speaking action, public speaking class, public speaking embarrassment, public speaking fear, public speaking fear of humiliation, public speaking loss of control, public speaking overwhelm, public speaking perfectionism, public speaking planning1 CommentRead more...

02May

How to Build Confidence When Public Speaking and Presenting

Confidence Building What do you believe about building confidence around your speaking skills? Here is what I've found to be true: confidence is simply the expectation of a positive outcome. There are all sorts of possible definitions of confidence, but I like this one; it's clear, and boiled down to its essence. So how, you may be asking, do you build that expectation of a positive outcome? In 2 ways: 1. You take action in the outside world 2. You take care with your self-talk in the inner world Let's have a look at these 2 elements - which may be simple, but they aren't easy...

By Sarah DenholmMindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blogconfident presentations, confident public speaking, fear of presenting, mind-mapping beliefs, nervous about presenting, new public speaking beliefs, perfectionism public speaking, public speaking class, public speaking course, public speaking self-talk, public speaking successful mindset, speaking belief system, speaking coach, speaking skills2 CommentsRead more...

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...