Meet and Greet Before Public Speaking

 

Public speaking can strain even the most outgoing person’s nerves. Add to that the pressure of a possible sale, and it can be enough to make one feel lightheaded. But, there are some simple tips and tricks to make the experience less of a chore. Sales trainer, author, and executive speech coach Patricia Fripp has a Web site full of useful information for anyone seeking to improve his or her public speaking skills, including articles that coach speakers on how to get over any pre-presentation jitters. One of her tips stood out as something that is not only easy, but also sets both the speaker and the audience at ease:

“A wonderful preparation technique for small meetings is to go around shaking hands and making eye contact with everybody beforehand. For larger meetings, meet and shake hands with people in the front row at least, and some of the people as they are coming in the door. Connect with them personally, so they’ll be rooting for your success. We as speakers are rarely nervous about individuals, only when faced with the thought of an audience. Once you’ve met the audience or at least some of them, they become less scary.”

This struck me as a great way to get to the know audience and put oneself more at ease, and I like how it can be adapted to both small and large speaking events. Click here to read the rest of Fripp’s article.