I once was in a Toastmasters divisional-level speech contest (for the
state of Maine and parts of New Hampshire), when out of the blue
came the boisterous noise of a jackhammer. The floor was thumping
and rattling, and my concentration was shot. I became flustered and
made several mistakes. After the contest, I analyzed my practice routine
leading up to the event: I would clear the room of any distractions,
put the dog outside, and close the doors for complete silence. In a perfect
world, this made sense. How do you prepare for an unexpected
baby crying (I’ve had this happen, too), papers rustling, or silverware
and glasses clanking? As a speaker, you can only control so much.

I began practicing with distractions everywhere. I have practiced
with the television and radio on. I have invited the dog in and
stepped over him on more than one occasion. I have forged ahead in
my speech when the phone rang. My favorite was practicing while my
ten-year-old daughter began her brand-new trombone lessons. Yes, it
does sound like a bunch of elephants, but the distraction challenge is
beautiful. You will become more nimble in your surroundings if you
prepare for anything. Your concentration level, having been put to the
test, will make you ready for the distractions you can’t predict.

 

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

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When I first started learning the piano, at the late age of thirty-eight,
my passionate piano teacher drove into my head that when I
hit the wrong note, I should keep playing through to the end. She
emphasized that if I stopped every time I made a mistake, I would
never make it to the last note. I would suggest the same with a speech,
once it is ready to practice in its entirety. You need to get it ingrained
in your head that you will not be perfect. You will make mistakes, and
that is a fact. When you stop at the point of the mistake, you will hurt
the flow and also probably influence how you react in the middle of a
real presentation if you make a mistake; you may be creating a habit of
stopping where you are and starting over, which will not be good for
you or the audience.

As you go back to certain sections and repeat them over and over,
you are fine-tuning portions of the presentation but limiting your ability
to look at the speech holistically. There is more to a speech than
just content. Flow and rhythm are built throughout, and stopping
each time you make a mistake makes them harder to recognize. In
some of my earlier speech practice habits, I started over again whenever
I made a mistake. This made the beginning of the speech flawless
because I had said it so many times. There have been times, because of
the added pressure of the actual performance, where I lost my place in
the body of the speech that had been practiced less. I surprised myself
with the mistakes I had never made before in practice. I am convinced
it was because I did not take my piano teacher’s advice. I have made
considerably fewer mistakes since I have learned to practice all the way
through.

 

 

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books available in softcover, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only):

• Now What? The Ultimate Graduation Gift for Professional Success
• Time Management Manifesto: Expert Strategies to Create an Effective Work/Life Balance
• Displacement Day: When My Job was Looking for a Job…A Reference Guide to Finding Work
• The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World
• From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Axiom Business Book Awards in Business Reference
• The Unofficial Guide to Fatherhood

See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book, eBook, and audiobook (From Fear to Success only) purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

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[audio:https://www.transformationtom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/46Chapter-60.mp3]

“From Fear to Success” Audiobook= Be a Student of Yourself

Only you control the final touches you will make to the presentation.
After receiving feedback from anyone and everyone, don’t forget the most
important person to get feedback from: yourself. Be a student of yourself.
Use the simple tools of a mirror or a video camera to improve in all aspects
of speaking, whether it is speech content, delivery, stage usage, non-verbal
gestures, voice inflection, or the many other facets. Video is often difficult
for people to accept as a valuable tool, probably because it says so much. To
see, hear, and analyze ourselves is tough because most people are harder
on themselves than on anyone else, due to the pursuit of perfection.
Once you get past the uneasiness of watching yourself, you will
immediately see the benefits of video because you can rewind and
watch it multiple times for further reinforcement. More importantly,
you can target the feedback for yourself. When you review the video,
break it down by isolating certain aspects. For example, turn off the
sound. Because you no longer need your hearing senses for this part of
the exercise, you will make crucial observations about the non-verbal
and physical aspects of the speech that you might well have missed
otherwise. Invest time to be critical of yourself and you will be amazed
at how much you transform. The ability to study yourself drives home
the best in you because who knows you more than you?

 

 

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books Displacement Day:  When My Job was Looking for a Job (2014 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention), The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World (Honorable Mention at the 2012 New England Book Festival),  From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide (2013 Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal Winner and 2013 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention).  Audiobook version of “From Fear to Success” is also available! See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

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[audio:https://www.transformationtom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/45Chapter-59.mp3]

“From Fear to Success” Audiobook= Practice—This is Not an Option

 

If you are giving a prepared speech, then ensure that it is prepared.
You can’t check over notes right before you go on to present and consider
that preparation. You should practice in front of family, friends,
cats, and dogs. Find anyone and anything to be in front of to ensure
that you have practiced more than just the words. You should practice
pacing, voice inflections, and places to pause, stage usage, and physical
aspects of the speech. There is too much left to chance without
preparation.

There is no such thing, in my opinion, as too much practice. There
is some risk of too much of a staged presentation, so you should use
caution to make sure your movements remain natural. However, practice
is required to get better. When practicing for speeches, if I am listening
to the radio in the car, I practice during commercials, or if I am
transitioning between tasks at work, I may find a few minutes to run
through a speech or presentation. The amount of positive feedback I
continue to receive about my obvious improvement in confidence and
skills is validation enough to keep practicing.

 

 

Thomas B. Dowd III’s books Displacement Day:  When My Job was Looking for a Job (2014 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention), The Transformation of a Doubting Thomas: Growing from a Cynic to a Professional in the Corporate World (Honorable Mention at the 2012 New England Book Festival),  From Fear to Success: A Practical Public-speaking Guide (2013 Axiom Business Book Awards Gold Medal Winner and 2013 Paris Book Festival Honorable Mention).  Audiobook version of “From Fear to Success” is also available! See “Products” for details on www.transformationtom.com.  Book and eBook purchase options are also available on Amazon- Please click the link to be re-directed: Amazon.com

MP3 Downloads of “From Fear to Success:  A Practical Public-speaking Guide” are available at Apple iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic, Nokia, Xbox Music, Spotify, Omnifone, Google Music Store, Rdio, Muve Music, Bloom.fm, Slacker Radio, MediaNet, 7digital, 24-7, Rumblefish, and Shazam “From Fear to Success” MP3 on CD Baby

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