Milo's periodic journal of
learning, life-tips, and laughter


The So-Called Phobia of Public Speaking
(Subtitle: Fear of Public Speaking Is Rational!)

As a speaking coach, I'd say 75% of the people who call my office mention fear -- and that's fine.  It's okay to acknowledge that something is scary; it's even better that these folks have picked up the phone, taking a step to deal with it.  It's that word "phobia" that I have a problem with.

Dictionary.com defines a phobia as "a persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation...."   My argument is that there's nothing irrational about being afraid to do something that you haven't been trained to do well!

Supposing tomorrow, for reasons unknown, you are awakened to find out that you have to do immediate open-heart surgery on someone.  Only you can save the person on the table and you're [click to continue reading this article]
 


Public Speaking Tip of the Day

What happens when you'd like to have your presentation on Powerpoint, but it's impractical for the setting (ie: there's no room for a screen, there's no projector, the situation is too informal for Powerpoint, etc.)? 

Use Powerpoint anyway...for your own benefit.

I always tell people that Powerpoint is only 60% for the audience and 40% for you...so keep that 40% part!  Just set up your laptop where only you can see screen.  You still get all the advantages for yourself -- especially with your personal remote (they're about $10 on eBay) so you won't have to hover over the Enter key.

Using Powerpoint this way frees you of fumbling through papers and makes it easier, with big fonts, to maintain eye contact.  It even enables you, if necessary, to do that thing that we usually try to avoid: reading from the screen.  It's not ideal to do that, but if only you can see it, it's more forgivable. 

You can throw these types of Powerpoint presentations together quickly because you don't have to use fancy things like graphics or pop-ups since it's for your eyes only. 

One of the many tips in "Public Speaking: Get A's, Not Zzzzzz's!"
 

Recently released for the next generation:


A Thank You from Milo

With the help of many of you who bought the new book and/or posted about it on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, the paperback release of
Public Speaking for TEENS: Get A's, Not Zzzzzz's! was a hit!

It peaked at #2 in its category, which I'm extremely proud of.  Try as I might to unseat #1, What Color Is Your Parachute for Teens? (the teen sequel to the NY Times best seller for adults) is a mega-hit from a powerhouse agency. It has held the #1 position for months.  So I can feel very proud to have spent several days at #2 behind that.

Everyone's support in getting the word out means a great deal to me.


Make More of Autocorrect on Your Computer

I'm always surprised to learn that people aren't making the most of the autocorrect features of programs like Outlook and MS Word.  You needn't limit yourself to the corrections that come with the product.  And the usage goes way beyond spelling.  Most autocorrects can hold sentences, formatting, and even images.

For example, I have three salutations, each with a photo and two columns of information, saved under three different autocorrections.  One is my default in Outlook, but if I want one of the other two, I just erase the default and type "coachsal" or "tbsal" (for teambuilder salutation).  The entire desired salutation pops up, replacing those few characters, like magic.

Got a paragraph that you frequently type, like directions to your place from the closest freeway?  Save it all as "gettome" in Autocorrect and you'll never type it again.  I never type my email address or phone number in emails...all autocorrect.  And then there are no typos because a bunch of numbers just pop up.  And if they don't pop up, it's much more noticeable that I mistyped the autocorrection key phrase.


Today's Humor

"They say people are more afraid of public speaking than they are of snakes. It doesn't seem to make sense. I mean, you don't see someone walking through the desert, suddenly shouting, "Watch out! A podium!"

-- Source unknown


Today's Featured Podcast

Have you ever struggled to make peace with yourself?  To treat yourself with the kindness, compassion, and love that we know we should show to others.  When we can get to that point, it can reframe our work, our relationships…and our lives.

I invite you to listen to my podcast interview with motivational speaker and author Mike Robbins, whose latest book Nothing Changes Until You Do -- A Guide to Self-Compassion and Getting Out Of Your Own Way helps individuals and audiences look at how they undermine their own good intentions through self-deprecation.  Mike gives us some insight into the challenges of opening up to ourselves, being okay with the imperfect person we find there, and taking that person into the big world out there.  His site is www.Mike-Robbins.com .

My podcast show is also called "Full Speech Ahead!".  You can find past episodes like this on iTunes or click anywhere on the image of us below to hear it right now.


See?  Told you the newsletters would be light and helpful.  Thanks for your patience; so pleased that it's finally going out.

If I can be of service to you, just use the button here to reach my site and drop me a line!   -- Milo

 

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Copyright 2016, Milo Shapiro.

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