Some people are afraid of public speaking only because they don’t know what [...]]]> Public speaking is one of the things I do most. Every day, I have to speak on a stage somewhere in the world. Well, most days. And even if I’m not on stage, I have to deliver some presentation on a teleseminar.

Some people are afraid of public speaking only because they don’t know what they want to get from it. Personally, public speaking is for me a way of stress release, not a stress in itself. Very often, I pour out my thoughts, ideas and suggestions to people in my audience. They learn what to do and what NOT to do. It’s therapeutic for both parties, I think.

At the same time, it’s a misnomer for anyone to think that they should build ‘confidence’ in public speaking. Confidence is one of many states you can use to speak. Don’t tell me you’d read “Little Red Riding Hood” only in a confident tone of voice! You definitely need a variety of states.

photo credit: matt4077

Think of the  of your presentation. What emotional state do you want people to be in, and craft your sequence of emotional states accordingly.

Essentially, this means we need to thinkof the process by which we generate emotional states. It’s not difficult to do, but I sure wish I learnt it a long time ago.

You can learn about state management in other posts, and do remember to pick out things related to physiology as well as internal representations.

There’s also an interesting concept known as nested loops which, in brief are simply stories chained together in a specific sequence to achieve certain states in people. I’ll have an opportunity to discuss this in a teleseminar soon, because it poses interesting implications in the area of copywriting, stage presentations and persuasive communication.

Ask me any question by commenting!