Become a better public speaker

My only opportunity to speak this year was at a company event. I do feel it went very well and I received lots of compliments afterwards. I worked on presence more than anything else. Nevertheless, there is always stuff to be improved on. I’ve been reading quite a few books lately on presentations. One I particularly recommend is: Presentative Zen by Garr Reynolds.

I am working on this one and need to refocus on it. I can’t simply let my passion, ah, speak for itself. Usually, I work myself up into a state right before the event and then when I am speaking I become so interested and passionate about the topic that I lose the jitters. Or, more recently, especially when serving on panels, become so engaged in the conversation that I forget to be nervous.

I had several photos taken during an event recently and they were a learning experience. For one thing, I have got to work on body language. Sure enough, I seem shy and hesitant at the beginning of the event and then the body language becomes stronger as I lose the jitters.

Dancing taught me the importance of presence but I haven’t been dancing lately. Maybe time to get back to that too. I guess what I am saying is that one has to have presence from beginning to end. The beginning part is what is difficult for me.