#01 - Share with the Audience 
If you are concern about speaking to the audience, how about have a paradigm shift - SHARE your experiences; not teach them or tell them what to do. People enjoy sharing stories and audience like to listen to stories. So go for it!

#02 - Stand Firmly on Stage
Which means, placing your weight on both feet - not just on one leg as you may appear off balance (and sometimes literally off-balance!). By having your weight on both feet, you'll naturally feel confident and strong.

#03 - Move with a Purpose
Let's not speak behind the lectern. Rather, move as you speak. Having said that, identify certain points on stage and move to that points as you share the different points of your presentation. By doing that, there is a sense of purpose and confidence.


Yours creatively,

Hazriq Idrus
Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!
Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd

Have you wondered why some people are witty; whereas some others complained for their own lack of wit? In business meetings, social gatherings etc, the one who stands out and popular usually exudes wittiness (and most of the time, get away with what they want!)

Can we be on par with these people?

The thing is, we are all witty people! But some of us practise it and some don't. That makes a difference. Here is one of the ways to enhance our wittiness.

Look out for 'loopholes' and re-interprete of what people say:
Eg: In one stage production I was involved in, one character was on cross-roads and just need some motivation from his friends. He said, "I just need some support ..."
The second character, upon hearing this, went on, "Don't worry, we'll support you from behind!", and literally moved to the back of the first character to show his "support from behind". This got the auditorium cracked into laughter.

The words "from behind" wasn't in the script but a wording "loophole" was spotted and was exploited well to the audience's delight.

So the next time when you are speaking to someone, look out for such situations!

Yours creatively,
Hazriq Idrus
Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!

You are excited!  Your good friend is getting married and you are invited to host his wedding dinner.  

Your mind now wanders on what to wear for the event.

Wait! 

You are not attending it as a guest, but you are holding a BIG responsibility as the wedding emcee.  You know, besides the wedding couple, you are the next centre of attraction!  

So what should you do in preparation for the event?

I have created a list (non-exhaustive) of questions for you to ask the wedding couple or the organiser before you even start emceeing.  This would help for you to prepare physically and mentally:

1) When the event is going to be held?
2) What is start time and end time?
3) What are the room conditions?  In a ballroom, large hall, stage setups, mics etc?
4) What is the number of invitees / attendees?
5) What is the scheduled and itinerary? 
6) Who is in the audience?  Friends, colleague, family members?
7) Will there be games, or just eat and relax? Any themes for the wedding event?
8) Will the event be a course-meal or buffet spread style?
9) Would you be taking pictures / recording of my presentation?
10) Are there any sponsors of the event you would like me to acknowledge and thank?
11) Is there anything else that I should be aware of?

What do you think?  


Yours creatively,

Hazriq Idrus
Founder, The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
Author, The Stage Fright Antidote!

What could be the worst thing that could happen after you have prepared your slides for your presentation?  You  realised that you did not bring the slides along with you or that the slides that you bring did not match with the operating system at the presentation venue.  

One of the two things happened to to me during the launch of my book, The Stage Fright Antidote! in 2013.  I'll share with you towards the end of this post.

So what could we do to prevent this to happen?

There are at least three things you could (though I must emphasise, MUST!) do:

Plan A) Put your slides in your thumbdrive
Plan B) Put your slides in cyberspace; whether you email it to yourself, or you put it in a website you can access
Plan C) Put your slides in your laptop and bring your laptop along; even if the venue organiser says they will be providing you with the laptop

One of these ways should help you in case for some reasons you have forgotten to bring your slides along.  

Alternatively, if you do not want to depend on technology, go for Plan D - just print out your slides and bring them along.  Use it as a reference as you make your presentation.

So what happened during my book launch?

I had saved it in the thumbdrive, but the laptop at  the venue was not able to read the thumbdrive.  Thought I was lucky as I had emailed the slides to myself, so after i downloaded it, the system couldn't read my slides!

I had to go for Plan C!: using my laptop instead, and luckily everything went well.  

Yours creatively,

Hazriq Idrus
The Speaking Factory Pte  Ltd
www.thespeakingfactory.com

How can putting up a persona help me to be confident in my presentation?

In my public speaking training session, there is a segment what we called "Persona Interview".  In this segment, a participant will step forward and take a role of a persona that he/she doesn't resonate with.  

For example, once there was one guy (Let's call him "A") in my training session who took the challenge and put up a persona of  a "professional bodybuilder", even though he admitted  he didn't look like one(we could see that too!) and it had been ages since he went to the gym!  As he sat in front, anyone in the room can throw him questions.  He would then have to answer those question, as if he was an expert in that field.  The only rule we used in the game was that, whatever, this "bodybuilder" answered (even if we knew it didn't make any sense), we would agree with the answers because after all he's a "professional bodybuilder"!

Once the segment kicked off, we had a good laugh because we received all sorts of funny answers.  And because we sticked to the rule, we accepted all answers and asked even more questions - getting more funnier answers.

As the segment progressed , "A" grew in confidence answering those questions.  Why was that so?

"A" mentioned that one of the main reasons he felt confident because he knew that he would not be faulted for any of his answers.  That took one major "burden" off his mind.

You see, we are too judgmental even on ourselves.   That doesn't make us us look confident when are speaking.  We just need to kick that habit out.   Why judge ourselves, even before we step out to speak? 

If "A" could be so confident answering the questions, even though he was not a "professional bodybuilder", we can definitely be more confident speaking in our professional/ personal capacity - given that we have all the content with us!

So, if you would like to achieve that confidence level when speaking in the public, try this activity as you are rehearsing for your presentation.  Put yourself in a different persona, and rehearse your presentation in that manner.  And see for yourself what difference it could make.  


Yours creatively,

Hazriq Idrus
The Speaking Factory Pte  Ltd
www.thespeakingfactory.com

Have you ever experienced, the moment you stood up on stage in front of the crowd, and your mind goes blank?  You just can’t recall the next word you are going to say.  And that could be the start of a disaster!

Are there ways to solve that?

Yes, of course.  Cue cards!  If used properly, these cards would be your best friend the entire presentation or speaking gig.  If using it otherwise, and you’ll just look so amateurish!

Here are 8 tips of using cue cards when speaking.

1)     Number the cards consistently.  This helps you to know which cards go next in your presentation.  Some speakers use small binders to keep the cards intact, but still do number them just in case if the binders give way for some reasons (revisit Murphy’s Law).

2)     Write on ONE SIDE of the card only.  It would be a hassle if you need to flip the card regularly.

3)     Write in CAPs and in your best handwriting.  The lightings in the auditorium sometimes would be so dim that you might not be able to recognise the words if you write them small.

ONLY write trigger words, main 1)     points or key facts, names and quotations that you will be using in your presentations.  Anything more will have your cue cards look like a condensed version of your entire script!2)     The Only time that you write in whole sentences is the Opening and Closing statements because you might need that to remind you to use certain words so you can make an impact in your opening and closings statements.

3)     Use different colours for different key points.  That will grab your own attention. 

4)     Feel!  Look! Deliver!  This is the sequence when you are about deliver your lines.  Feel the word(s) of your key points, look up to the audience (best if you could look them in their eyes!) and deliver your lines in the most honest, possible way.

5)     Practice!  Practice!  Practice!  Nothing can come out good without practices.  The cue cards are just a visual aid in your presentation and not a substitute.  So you still need to practise your delivery and make the cue card be like a natural prop.  Once you are familiar with it, the whole presentation will look natural.

Yours creatively,

Hazriq Idrus
The Speaking Factory Pte  Ltd
www.thespeakingfactory.com

In the previous issues, we shared that using proper breathing techniques is a good way to manage your stage frights.  In this issue, we look at how actors use physical warm-up to help them prepare for their stage performance. 
 
Head rotation:
1)     Stand upright with your head facing front
2)     Find a focal point in front of you and concentrate on that point
3)     Slowly turn your head to your right.  Feel the stretch on your left neck.
4)     Slowly turn your head back to the front finding your focal point.
5)     Then turn you head slowly to the left, feel the stretch on your right neck.
6)     Slowly turn your head back to the front, back to the focal point.
7)     Repeat this a few times until you feel warmed up.
8)     The focal point helps you to stay focus, which is very important as a actor or speaker so you would not feel distracted during your presentation.

Face and mouth muscle
1)     Small Face/ Big Face – Scrunch your face as small as possible with your mouth tightly close.  Hold for a while, and then release, making your face as wide as possible.  Open up your eyes and mouth as well.  Never mind if you look funny! Repeat the process again for a few times.
2)     Jaw – Open your mouth as wide as possible.  Feel the stretch on the jaw.  Then relax.  Repeat this for a few times.
3)     Mouth – With your mouth close, get your tongue to touch your teeth, moving it around in your mouth.

Give it a try at your next presentation gig and you’ll see the difference.


Yours creatively,

Hazriq Idrus
Founding Director
The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
www.thespeakingfactory.com

What do all stage actors, presenters, singers, performers all have in common?

They warm their bodies up before their show.  Why?  Simply because warming up helps to calm down the body from anxiety and even stress.  

Stress is a physiological response within us.  When we feel threatened (or in this case, having stage frights) endorphins and adrenaline are injected into the bloodstream so that our senses are primed for action.

That’s why we feel the “butterflies in the stomach”.  To manage this, it is either we fight it or live with.  

The truth is, we can channel that “unseen energy” to our advantage.  Warming up is the way to go.

There are many ways to warm your body up.  You can try keep wiggling your fingers and toes.  Stretch your arm, rotate your head, jumping up and down – anything that you are comfortable with.

Typically the warm-ups are broken into two different areas; physical and vocal.  In this issue, we’ll cover vocal warm-up where you can use this warm up as you prepare for your presentation.

The basis of communication is breathing.  

You would need to breathe properly to communicate.  By breathing properly, it helps you to control your anxiety or nervousness.  Proper breathing means speaking from the diaphragm.  How to know if you are breathing correctly?  

Place your hand on your stomach. Make sure you are breathing in from your nose and out from your mouth. As you breathe in, notice if your stomach gets bloated, and not your chest.  If your chest is expanded, make adjustments to let the air go down to the stomach, where the diaphragm is.

The next step is to let the voice out as you breathe out.  

This takes time, for sure. Correct breathing helps us to feel better and think better and most importantly, manage that stage fright.

Yours creatively,

Hazriq Idrus
Founding Director
The Speaking Factory Pte Ltd
www.thespeakingfactory.com