Procrastination in Speaking

 Procrastination:  to be slow or late about doing something that should be done : to delay doing something until a later time because you do not want to do it, because you are lazy, etc.

Although I have been busy writing speeches, attending meetings, earning educational awards, I have been procrastinating about updating my blogs.  I realized this morning that I have been wasting time by going back to sleep in the morning instead of getting up and getting started.  Because of this I end up rushing around and not accomplishing what I wanted to get done.

Recently I sat down to look at my goals for my clubs.  I had intended to complete a Competent Communicator Manual and Competent Leader Manual for all three clubs.  I did not succeed in completing these goals because I looked at it too late.  Although I obtained a Competent Leader in two clubs and a Competent Communicator and Advanced Communicator in one of my clubs, I did not complete all my speeches or meeting roles.

One of the roles that needed to be completed for the Competent Leader was a newsletter for the Club.  One other member and I worked diligently on this and put together a quality newsletter by the deadline date and obtained our credits for doing so in our books.

I also prepared some articles for a local paper and emailed them out.  I was rewarded by seeing one of the articles in print this week.  However, there is much more to be done.  Speeches to be written, agendas to be prepared, mentees to be nurtured, roles to be filled.  So, no more procrastination!!  Time to write down my Toastmasters goals in order to achieve them by the end of this year.

How about you?  What goals have you set for yourself this year?  Have you been procrastinating?  Is there something specific you want to accomplish?  Write it down in the comment section.  Writing your goal down is the first step to achieving it and when you state it clearly, you brain begins to work on achieving it.

To your speaking success

Fran Watson

P.S.  Need help in determining a speech topic?  Click here for a free list of over 800 speech topics.

Avoid Developing Bad Habits

AVOID DEVELOPING BAD HABITS DURING PRACTICE
by J.A. Gamache
Third place Champion at the 2001 Toastmasters International
World Championship of Public Speaking

When practicing a speech, don't pause after you make a
mistake. If you stop and start again, you might develop a
reflex that will manifest itself on the day of your
performance.

I'll always remember one of my first English speech contests.
As a native French speaker, I was inexperienced with the
English language and was really nervous at the idea of
mispronouncing words. Back then, my accent was so thick that
I couldn't always make myself understood.

During rehearsals, I would stop myself each time I
mispronounced something and then would repeat the word, using
the correct pronunciation. I improved a lot this way and was
correcting my imperfections.

On the day of the contest, I continued the same pattern and
would stop to repeat a word whenever I mispronounced it. It
would have been better had I ignored these errors, but I
couldn't help myself because my habit of self-correction had
turned into a conditioned reflex. As I stumbled repeatedly
during my speech, I gave the judges the impression that I was
ill prepared, which made me lose the contest.

I learned a great lesson from that defeat. When you prepare a
speech, it's better to practice as through you're really
facing an audience, for the following reasons:

1- YOU'LL AVOID DEVELOPING UNDESIRABLE REFLEXES.
You won't instil bad habits in yourself, such as constantly
correcting yourself when speaking in front of a group.

2- YOU'LL DEVELOP THE HABIT OF DEALING WITH CONTINGENCIES.
Here's a partial list of contingencies you could encounter
during rehearsals (and also on the day of your speech):
- Stammering or mispronouncing something
- Forgetting your text
- Inverting parts of your speech
- Mishandling a prop
- Experiencing computer problems
- Being distracted by an interruption

3- YOU'LL GAIN SELF-CONFIDENCE.
On the day of your presentation, you won't be dreading any
unpleasant surprises. You'll know what to do because you've
encountered them during rehearsals.

Practice your speech as if you were really in front of an
audience, and you'll avoid bad habits. You'll also develop
strategies to get yourself out of predicaments and you'll be
less stressed when faced with an unforeseen event.

Happy speech!

©MMXII J.A. Gamache www.jagamache.com. All rights reserved.


---------------------------------
PERMISSION IS GRANTED TO REPRODUCE THIS ARTICLE
in whole or in part if a copy of the reproduced text is sent
to J.A. Gamache at info@jagamache.com after publication and
also provided that the following bylineappears along with the
reproduced text:

This article was reproduced from "Speaking in Public with
J.A.", a FREE electronic magazine authored by J.A. Gamache,
International Inspirational Speaker. To subscribe to his FREE
e-zine or to find out more about his presentations, visit:
http://www.jagamache.com.

For more tips on public speaking click here

Public Speaking Dilemma: What To Do When You Don't Have Enough Time

Do you have a standard hour-length presentation, but your host can only spare a half hour? Are you in the middle of a presentation when you realize that, due to a late start or abundant questions, you are running out of time?

 

No matter what your topic, always be flexible and ready to cut short your session (or ready to lengthen, as the case may be). Here are some ways to make sure your presentation always fits the time slot.

 

Pointer #1: Use a timed outline

 

When you create your presentation outline, include time estimates next to each section (I like to add mine in red to make them easier to spot on the page).

 

A brief, one-page bulleted outline (or two pages double-sided) will be easier to time than a long, rambling novel written in paragraphs.

 

Practice your presentation and jot down time estimates as you go (two minutes for opening, five minutes for section I, seven minutes for section II, etc.) When you get to the end, add up all the time and determine whether you should add to or subtract from any sections to make it all fit into the allotted time slot.

If you have to edit severely to fit into a different time frame and your presentation will be adversely affected, you might want to develop separate self-contained presentations for short, medium and long time slots.

 

Pointer #2: Shift information depending on its priority

 

If you notice that you are running out of time while in the middle of a presentation, you may have to shift some of your content around. If you have important points at the end of the presentation, now is the time to bring them forward. As soon as you notice the time crunch, start changing the order of your sections.

 

When creating and practicing your presentation, it's always a good idea to think ahead about how you would handle this situation. The layout of your bulleted outline should make it easy to see which sections to leave out, move up or move down.

 

If you have to leave out something that you feel is important, gather business cards from the audience and offer to e-mail them additional content.

 

Pointer #3: Supplement with handouts

 

There's usually some information that we want to share, but that we don't necessarily want to include in our live presentation. You might have some relevant articles to supplement your workshop, or you might have charts and graphs that you didn't have time for or the technology to project.

 

Use handouts wisely. If the material does not need to be reviewed during your presentation, then leave handouts at the back of the room for the audience to pick up on the way out. If you choose to put them on seats before you begin, be aware that your audience may spend half the time reading and not listening to you.

 

Your handouts should always include your contact information and a link to your website, if you have one. Make sure all resources and references are clear and easy to read; use graphics if appropriate and leave a lot of white space on the page. Don't overload handouts with text; make them concise and relevant to your presentation. Otherwise, they will end up in the recycling bin!

 

Follow these suggestions, and you will always be prepared, no matter how much (or little) time you have.

 

To your speaking success

 

Fran Watson

 

P.S.  Click here for more info