Presentations in Action - Jerry Weissman [34]
Although there are a great number and variety of solutions, the problem remains unsolved because the vast majority of them are purely physical solutions to what is not a purely physical problem. The fear of public speaking is caused by a presenter’s fear of failure. So unless that mental fear is allayed, physical cures will not work.
Mr. Perahia agrees that “it has to do with a fear that you might fail in some significant way. But it’s not something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about, because you just have to do it. Communication is a very strong part of art. And to get it, one needs to play it, to live it.” As the article on Mr. Perahia concludes, “[A]udiences typically savor his legendary concentration and unassailable technique in hushed form—granting him a degree of respect not always afforded other, equally famous artists.”
To bring concentration from the concert stage to the podium, use The Mental Method of Presenting. Succinctly stated, the method involves shifting your mental focus. Don’t think about how you are doing—whether you succeed or fail—but on how your audience is reacting to you. You can then respond to what you observe by either pausing to adjust your content or moving forward. This simple shift of concentration gives you control of your own destiny and, in doing so, reduces your fear of public speaking.
I recently met a young businesswoman who, upon learning that I am a presentations coach, proceeded to confide in me and describe her perpetual problem with nerves. She said that whenever she has to face an audience, she goes to the front of the room clutching a stack of note cards and shuts her eyes for before speaking. I suggested that instead she open her eyes and read her audience instead of her notes. That mere summary of the Mental Method brought an immediate sigh of relief and a smile to her face.
Imagine what will happen when she—and you—put the correct focus into practice.
44. Presentation Advice from Actress Tovah Feldshuh: Concentration Creates Communication
Rudyard Kipling wrote his classic poem “If ...” to commemorate a war hero in the Boer War of 1899–1902. The poem, which begins with “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs ...” and ends eight stanzas later with “Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,”F44.1 is a paean to concentration.
A Wall Street Journal story about rude behavior from audiences at Broadway shows provides a modern example in the theater. The story describes the all-too-common discourtesies of mobile phone ringing and loud talking. But the worst incident was at a performance of Irena’s Vow, a serious drama about the Holocaust, where a “man walked in late and called up to actress Tovah Feldshuh to halt her monologue until he got settled.” The article reported that the actress complied but that “she doesn’t recall the incident, which she says may be evidence of the Zen attitude she’s cultivated onstage.”F44.2
Ms. Feldshuh was in a state many actors achieve or aspire to achieve when they are onstage. Call it “Zen,” call it “The Zone,” “Being in the Moment,” call it what you will; that state of total concentration is what makes for great acting.
This is also the state that presenters and speakers would do well to enter, with one important difference. Performers such as Ms. Feldshuh direct their concentration inward, to their characters. To be effective, presenters should direct their concentration outward, to their audiences, and, more specifically, to individual members of their audiences.
The rationale for this shift strikes at the heart of the most powerful challenge to effective presentations: the fear of failure and its accompanying performance anxiety,