How to Visualize the Audience As Friendly Toward You in Public Speaking
To become a successful public speaker, you need to develop techniques that enable you to overcome nerves and communicate clearly with unfamiliar audiences. You can develop confident public speaking skills by visualizing that your audience is friendly toward you and receptive to your ideas. Management Consultant David Straker, at the Changing Minds website, advises to practice incremental steps of "progressive visualization" whereby you imagine yourself in front of a friendly and appreciative audience. Practice visualization exercises regularly to gain confidence in your public speaking skills in preparation for real encounters with a live audience.
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Instructions
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1
Choose a topic that you know and understand well and find appealing --- for example, a favorite movie, book or television program.
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2
Imagine that you are with some friends in a familiar setting, such as your own home, and that you are explaining your topic to them.
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3
Visualize stepping onto a low stage and seeing the same group of friends sitting in front of you as your audience.
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4
Imagine repeating your speech about your preferred topic to your friends, while standing on the stage.
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5
Visualize the gradual addition of more people to your audience, such as a few more friends and a couple of strangers, and imagine telling them about your chosen topic.
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6
Visualize increases to the number of strangers in your audience in accordance with your own growing sense of confidence, and imagine repeating your speech to them.
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7
Prepare a speech about a more challenging topic, or one that you need to deliver at an impending function or engagement.
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8
Visualize delivering your more challenging topic in a speech to a select group of friends, as for Step 2.
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9
Repeat the visualization exercises in Steps 3 to 5. Depending on your confidence level, you could also imagine describing your challenging topic in a speech to friends and strangers in an unfamiliar setting, as for Step 6.
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Tips & Warnings
If you feel uncomfortable at any stage during your visualization exercises, Straker advises to imagine that you are sitting at the side of the stage and that you are looking at yourself on stage. Imagine that you can see yourself talking clearly and comfortably to an appreciative audience.
International speaker, Regina Clark advises to "keep in mind that the audience wants you to succeed." She also suggests that you imagine seeing and hearing the audience's applause as part of your confidence-building visualization techniques.
References
- Photo Credit Digital Vision./Digital Vision/Getty Images
