There is fear of public speaking, and then there is PowerPoint

What’s going on with the man pictured in this blog posting?

He’s suffering from an emotion we’re all familiar with, and for a reason most of us know all too well. He has just been told he has to do some public speaking. He’s already feeling that adrenal surge that addles the mind and body with anxiety.

So now what?

His first thought is likely to be PowerPoint, though for the wrong reason.

Most of us are uncomfortable with public speaking, if not terrified by it. Before our speaking date ever comes around we can already feel the sear of eyes expectantly staring at us. Our instinct is to run and hide, but that’s not a professionally acceptable response to the situation. So we do the next best thing. Vamp together a PowerPoint presentation so people will stare at the screen instead of us.

During the presentation we stand off to the side of the room or stage, indicating to audience members they should look at the screen instead of us.

Then we dim or turn off the lights so we become shadowy or invisible.

We turn our back to the audience to avert the intensity of its gaze.

Then we read the slides verbatim because it’s the easiest way to ensure we do not freeze and forget our memorized comments.

This is bad strategy because the advantages of PowerPoint are largely nullified by our instinct to turn the presentation over to the slides in an effort to lower our own profile.

There are better ways. They involve time, strategy and technique. They range from thorough preparation and rehearsal to eye-brain control and modulated breathing.

I’ll leave you hanging for now, but will be back in a few weeks with more detailed information. In between now and then I’ll be writing blog posts on Myths about short and long sentences, and The stages of speaker development.

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