When I went blind, I HAD to give up peeking at my notes. This was a shock to my public speaking system which had previously relied on reading. Now I wouldn’t do anything but speak from the heart. Nothing bores me more quickly than someone who is interacting with their paper rather than interacting with their people. Following are the seven things I recommend you do before any public speaking engagement to guarantee telling your story successfully. Remember - speaking without peeking is like any new skill; it takes practise. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.
1. Create your public speaking vision: Imagine how your public speaking engagement is going to go. Picture in your mind the rapturous applause you are going to receive. Think of how it will feel to have given the speech of a lifetime in just a few hours time. And remember – everyone wants you to succeed! No-one thinks “gosh I hope she’s really boring.” Expect the support of your audience because you’ll get it – they’re on your side!
2. Decide on your topic: Write down a list of all the things you could speak about. Is there a link between any of them? Could you combine two of them and come up with something really different that would provide an interesting perspective? Pick something you know very well as you will be drawing from your knowledge once you get to your feet.
3. Your main points: Once you’ve picked your topic, write another list of points you want to cover in your speech and pick three of them. Any great speech makes three great points so find them and put them in an order that makes sense.
4. Write down your three key points on flash cards: Like the kids do at school, write down the details relating to these three points you want to learn off by heart onto some small blank cards. I write mine in braille but I expect you’ll prefer print. Put them in a place you normally spend your quiet time and learn them off by heart.
5. Pick a letter for each point: With your three points Lined up in order, take the first letter from the first word of each point and end up with three letters. If you’re really lucky the three letters will make some sort of strange word. If you’re really unlucky, they’ll just be a peculiar set of letters in a peculiar order. However, it’s still much easier to remember three letters like J, K and W than a whole speech.
6. Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you’ve told them. It’s speaking 101 but it works – especially when you’re speaking without notes. The brain likes certainty so you’ll put your audience at ease straight away by telling them what you’re going to tell them. Then cover your three points and finish by telling them what you’ve told them.
7. Finally, close your eyes or put on a pair of that blind woman glasses, and begin speaking without peeking. Take up the challenge and see how much more powerful your story becomes. You’ll start to sound like you walk the walk rather than talk the talk. I can guarantee you’ll feel more confident, come across as more self assured and sound like a public speaker with a huge heart!
Julie Woods
www.thatblindwoman.co.nz