LIFE IS A SERIES OF PRESENTATIONS

Why You Need to Conquer That Fear

By: Rabbi Eliezer Blatt

As a professional speaking coach, I think about the presentations that have shaped our Jewish history: Moshe trying to convince Pharaoh to free the Jewish people; the spies urging the people not to conquer Eretz Yisrael; and Shlomo HaMelech delivering his verdict in the most famous custody dispute in history. Often these presentations have pertained to matters of life and death for masses of people.

Most of us never have to make a presentation with lives hanging in the balance.
I make presentations for a living. I speak before groups of people, sometimes hundreds at a time, almost every day. And I get paid to do this, so you might think of me as a professional presenter. But what if I told you that those presentations are only a fraction of the number of presentations I deliver in a day?
How many presentations do you make in a day? What is a presentation anyway? Do you need a large audience in an auditorium with a podium and a microphone, or is a presentation defined by what you are trying to accomplish?

Maybe every time you communicate with your boss, that’s a presentation. What if every time you send an email or WhatsApp to win over a friend to your point of view, you are making a presentation? Then anytime you are attempting to convince anybody anywhere of anything – in business, at home, on the phone, in person, one-on-one, or in groups – that’s a presentation. In that case, you might actually be making hundreds of presentations a day, and your audience can be one person or a thousand!
With so many presentations each day, it’s important to master some tools for effectively delivering them.

One of the most important tools that I share with my students is how to control fear. Aside from politicians and professional speakers, who really loves talking in public? Not many. In fact, public speaking ranks among the things Americans fear most in the world according to a Gallop Poll, which found that the only thing that scares us more is…..snakes!

I have found that many people who are successful in many areas still suffer from fear of public speaking. Even though it may be masked by other activities in their lives, many people don’t have a very strong self-image, and when they find themselves in front of an audience, they become very vulnerable.

A grandmother once came to me for help in preparing for an audition to be a tour guide in Yad Vashem. She had no idea how she would ever get the job because she was terrified of speaking in front of small groups – even when the audience was only her children and grandchildren! “If I even have to say my name and address in front of more than five people,” she said at the time, “my heart beats rapidly, my mouth gets dry, and my back hurts. But worst of all, my mind freezes and I can’t remember what I wanted to say.”

Nonetheless, she wanted to conquer her fear. After being coached by me, she went on to deliver an eight-minute speech to the judges at Yad Vashem. The usual symptoms that followed her whenever she had to speak were no longer there, and she was able to keep the audience’s attention for the entire eight minutes. Best of all, she even enjoyed herself! In the end, she was so happy with her accomplishment that she no longer cared if she got the job. Needless to say, she did get the job. “I feel this was a real breakthrough for me and the beginning of something that I was always hoping for,” she said.

With proper training and practice, most people can control their fear of public speaking. I know because I’ve helped thousands of people to control the “butterflies in their stomachs.”
Controlling our fear of public speaking, learning to be an effective communicator can transform many areas of our lives because life is a series of presentations.
The better your presentations are, the better your life will be.

 Be Fearless!
Here are three tips to get you started:
1. Practice, practice, practice. Don’t think that you won’t be nervous if you are getting in front of an audience unprepared. Review your talk over a few times while recording yourself, or to a trusted friend who will give you honest feedback. Don’t just wing it!

2. Don’t focus on yourself. Focus on your message and make sure that message benefits the audience. The more you believe in your message, the more passionate and focused you will deliver.

3. Know that the audience wants you to succeed. They don’t have it in for you. People feel that someone in the audience will know more about the topic than them and ridicule them. Trust me, they won’t.

Eli Blatt is an internationally recognized expert Communications Strategist, Public Speaking Trainer, Seminar Leader and Virtual Speech Coach. Leading organizations, executives and professionals hire Eli to transform the way they communicate through content-filled, interactive and entertaining workshops, seminars and one-on-one training. If you would like to hire Eli for one-to-one coaching, group workshops or virtual training, please contact him at eblatt6@gmail.com