Tip Of The Day: Your Audience~One Pair Of Eyeballs At A Time

This professional speaking tip is for all you TERRIFIED speakers out there (which is just about everyone so don’t feel bad about it.)

Let me say this, right here, at the get go: Great communication skills are not only essential to our business lives. They are the foundation and bedrock of a happy fulfilling life
too.

So how can you possibly, ever, ever, ever in your wildest dreams, ever, learn to be at ease in front of any audience?

TRY THIS: ONE PAIR OF EYEBALLS AT A TIME

Next time you have to get up in front of an audience to give a speech or presentation, try this technique:

STEP ONE: DIVIDE YOUR AUDIENCE INTO THREE SECTIONS

• Divide your audience into three sections: Right, Center and Left

STEP TWO: PICK OR PLANT A PAIR OF EYEBALLS

• Start in the Center Section and pick one face to talk to. Yes that’s right. One face, with one pair of eyeballs in the center section of the audience.
• If
  you can, try to pick a face that looks receptive and who is smiling at you,
  not someone who is scowling, falling asleep, text messaging or tweeting.
• If
  you have to, plant a friend or colleague in each R, C and L sections* as
  a sure bet. Tell them to give you a big smile and do the “two thumbs
  up” sign every time you look at them.
• Trust me. It works. With your friends out there smiling up at you and making you feel like a superstar, how bad can that big, scary speech be?
• Unless,
  of course your planted friends start text messaging, tweeting, sleeping or scowling too….
• *Note on the “Planted Friends Option:” Before
  your speech, be sure to impress upon your planted friends who are going to be out there cheering you on of your specific need for them to FOCUS!-FOCUS!-FOCUS! YEAH, ON YOU!

STEP THREE: TALK TO THAT PAIR OF EYEBALLS

• So now, just talk to that Center Section pair of eyeballs and deliver just ONE of your key points.

• Next, turn to the Right Section of your audience, find just ONE other face. Yes,that’s right, another one pair of eyeballs, now in the right section. Then deliver your SECOND POINT to those two eyeballs. 

• Finally,
  turn to the Left Section, find a third face, uh huh, that’s a third
  pair of eyeballs (you’re really getting the hang of it now aren’t you?)
  and deliver your THIRD POINT to them.

STEP FOUR: KEEP ROTATING SECTIONS

• Keep rotating, delivering each one point of your speech, to one pair of eyeballs, per section, at a time.
• You
  will find that this technique really reduces your speech down to a much more
  manageable audience during your entire speech.
• Instead of wanting to
  flee those five hundred eyeballs on you all at once, you have now
  reduced the number of eyeballs out there (Yeah, in that “HUGE SEA of people”) down to ONLY ONE PAIR AT A TIME.

EVERY SPEECH, NO MATTER HOW LARGE THE AUDIENCE, WILL BE EASIER!
 
This approach to public speaking should feel much more comfortable for you because it is, in fact, HOW YOU TALK to people every day in your life! (Unless you are a chronic interrupter and then we have a new issue.)

This technique will also improve the quality of your gaze and make it more natural.
If you use this technique, you will look more at ease and your speech will also feel much more personal to your audience.

EVERYBODY LIKES MORE POWER AND CONTROL

When you really stop and think about it, approaching your speech this way, you have much  more power and
control up there.

YOU get to PICK which pair
of eyeballs, and on which person to whom you are going to talk.  Thus, “The Chosen Few” gets EACH ONE of your precious jewel points.

Yeah. Blow off all those
“scowlers” out there. It’s your show!

DOESN’T THIS APPROACH LEAVE EVERYONE ELSE IN MY AUDIENCE FEELING LEFT OUT?
You may think that this approach will leave everybody else in the audience feeling left out. Actually, it’s just the opposite.

There’s actually an kind of “optical illusion” that happens inside the minds and hearts of your audience when you speak this way:  While they are sitting there watching you, everyone FEELS like you are talking straight to to THEM.

SO WHAT’S UP WITH YOU?

So what’s up with you on this topic of Fear Of Public Speaking and what have you done to solve it in your own life? Talk with me….