Managing Stage Fright

00:00 Let me start by asking you a question.

00:02 How do you get over your nerves of sending a document to your boss or your most important clients filled with all sorts of typos and grammatical mistakes? Chances are, you tell me, well T.J., that's pretty easy.

00:15 I run it through spell check, I edit it, I go through a couple of drafts.

00:19 Well, no kidding, but that's exactly what you can do with your speech or presentation.

00:25 Here's the difference.

00:26 Your speech.

00:27 Your presentation is not the words on a document.

00:32 Your speech is you actually speaking.

00:34 So the only way to review it and critique it is for you to watch a video of yourself. Now, when I started in this business 30 years ago, you could make the excuse. There's no time.

00:44 It's too expensive to hire a production crew, but you don't have that excuse.

00:48 Everyone is surrounded by video cameras.

00:52 It's in your cell phone.

00:53 It's likely in your computer, your iPad.

00:56 There are video cameras everywhere.

00:59 They're cheap and plentiful.

01:00 You can buy one for $10 at the grocery store.

01:03 Now, you might not want to practice on video.

01:08 Hey, you're the one who wants to get over your nervousness, your fear of public speaking. I'm telling you, this is the absolute best way to do it.

01:16 Now, here's the trick.

01:18 You can't practice your speech on video once and say, Oh, well, I don't like that, but now I practice.

01:26 No, that's only going to make matters worse.

01:29 You've got to watch your speech, figure out what do you like, what do you not like, the stuff you like? Do more of the stuff you don't like, do less.

01:40 Now here's the real key.

01:42 You have to keep on practicing your speech on video till you can point to it and say, Wow, that guy, that woman, she's great.

01:53 Wish I could speak half as good as she does.

01:56 Once you get to that point, it becomes impossible to be nervous.

02:00 The reason you're nervous is you don't really know how you're coming across.

02:04 The reason you're nervous is you're afraid you might really be boring.

02:08 Well, guess what? You might really be boring.

02:11 There's no way of knowing unless you watch yourself.

02:13 Trust me, you can ignore every other piece of advice I give you.

02:17 If you follow this one piece of advice.

02:20 You'll be head and shoulders above everyone else.

02:22 And you will never fear speaking.

02:26 And that is, you have to practice on video and tell you like what you see.

02:34 Absolute guarantee, it will eliminate your nerves.