Any person that you ever communicate with will see you differently from how you envision yourself. In other words, their experience when interacting with you may vary from how you expect or intended the experience to be. You can think that you are presenting yourself in one way, while the person you are talking to can see you in a totally different way. Quick example, going on a date with someone you really like. You do your best to look great, but maybe you missed a stain on your shirt or your pants are wrinkled. You overlooked it because you were looking forward to seeing this person and you didn’t take the time to look in the mirror before you walk out the door to make sure your fit was right. You know me and my examples. When speaking, it’s only multiplied. Now you are trying to make sure you give your best self to 100 pair of eyes instead of just one.  A great way to prepare for that is to record yourself practicing.

In 6th grade, I played the saxophone and was pretty good at it. I really liked it a lot. But I was new to playing an instrument. The most experience I had up until that point was playing those recorders that we all had to use in elementary school music class. I wasn’t use to playing in front of room full of people and during that year I improved drastically. I improved so much that I often found myself in the first chair and I was also invited to be part of the Jazz Band. I would now have the opportunity to perform in front an auditorium full of people. The thought alone made me nervous no matter how much I practiced during school hours. It had to be a combination of the many funny faces you make when you are blowing air into your instrument or the fact that it would be obvious if you played wrong note. Anyway, to get over this fear, I would often practice in the mirror. I wanted to see what my audience would see. It helped me realize small micro-habits that I could fix as well as make sure I didn’t make any funny faces. All jokes aside, It helped me realize how I could make myself appear comfortable in front of my audience, even if deep down inside I was very nervous. It worked to a charm.

Giving a memorable talk goes beyond simply delivering great content. It depends just as much on your performance as does the words you say. By performance, I don’t mean you have to be an actor or actress. Although you are giving a piece of yourself, Public Speaking isn’t acting. Still, all eyes are on you, so that means that everything you do will be under a microscope. From the way you walk, to what you do what your hands, to your facial expressions. Everything you say and do for those 45 minutes will be viewed and in some instances scrutinized. So it’s not only best that you practice before hand, but also record yourself. When you are giving your talk, you are living in the moment and sometimes you may not be aware of other things that you do. It would be great if you can catch certain bad habits and eliminate them before you officially give your talk. It helps make you more aware and polished.

When it comes to recording yourself, go about it the right way but don’t overthink it. You don’t need to go out and buy a DSLR. If you have one, that’s great, but if you don’t, your camera phone will do the trick. The only other thing that you really need is a tripod. There are some other things you can do to simulate a real presentation environment though. You can tape yourself in your living room and have some of your friends or family view your presentation. They all don’t even have to be paying attention. In fact, it can be better if some of them are paying attention and then some of them are purposely moving around or doing other things. This simulates proper distractions that can throw even the most prepared speaker off in the moment. At the end of it all, you will not only have a good recording of yourself that you can view and draw improvements off of, but you can have people you trust (who also care about your improvement), give you valuable feedback.

Make your next presentation, your best presentation!

Sincerely,

Julian A. Leonard
(Founder of The JLeonard Group LLC)

Previous Tip