Vanya Wryter Consulting Services

Tag: public speaking

  • How Do You Conquer Your Fears?

    How Do You Conquer Your Fears?

    Daily writing prompt
    Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech?
    View all responses

    If you’ve ever searched for the answer to the question “How do you conquer your fears,” you know there is no perfect answer. Everyone has a different level of courage, and a different level of ability to conquer what intimidates them.

    If you’ve read my previous blogs, you know that I conquered a common fear – public speaking. It wasn’t achieved overnight. It took a lot of effort and practice (and I had no choice – speak in front of an audience or don’t have a job).

    I would say the best advice for conquering your fears is to face them head on, but from a safe distance. (So, if you have a fear of heights, I’m not suggesting that you jump down from a high rise.) Start with something small. For example, in an actual experiment, a boy named Peter got over his fear of white rabbits through repeated exposure, first from a distance, and eventually desensitizing him to his fear of the rabbits.

    Another example of facing your fears is my experience performing on stage. I was part of a music group. I forgot my lines and froze in the middle of a song. Not my best moment, and not a perfect performance, but the point is, I got on stage in front of several people I knew at school. If you try something once, and you survive, it is easier to do it again. (And you set the bar a bit lower: first time, get on stage, make a mistake and look silly; next time, get on stage, do a better job.)

    To conquer your fears, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and don’t be afraid to be less than perfect. Also, don’t be afraid of embarrassing yourself (such as forgetting your lines). Every little step counts as progress. 

    Thanks for reading!

  • Taking a Big Risk

    Taking a Big Risk

    The biggest risk a person takes is usually something that drastically changes their life. The thought that you could fail miserably and be laughed at or put down by your nonsupporters can deter you from taking that significant risk. It’s easier to do what’s comfortable and be in your safe place.

    I took a major risk years ago when I decided on a career change. The big hurdle I would have to overcome would be public speaking. Of course, I was intimidated by the thought of speaking in front of people I did not know. The first time I spoke in front of a group of twenty-five people, I wasn’t very loud and the people at the back of the room couldn’t hear me. I was also worried about forgetting my lines.

    After presenting for about a month, my throat hurt and I discovered the roof of my mouth had a soft palette that I hadn’t known existed until that point in my life. I thought that I had grown something in my mouth!

    Fast forward a decade and I was presenting in front of groups of fifty to two hundred people. My confidence had grown since my early presentation days. Despite having so much experience, I still got nervous the day before a presentation, but I am a lot more confident. The trick is to practice what I’m going to say in my head before the actual presentation. Although I refer to notes, I try to remember what I’m going to say as if I don’t have notes. Then I picture myself speaking to the audience and calm myself down (because I still feel nervous sometimes).

    I feel a lot more confident about speaking in front of a large group now than when I started.

    One day, I would like to speak at a Ted Talk. This would involve speaking in front of a group of thousands. As confident as I am in speaking, I don’t think I have the time or energy to practice a speech that is eighteen minutes long until the words are flawless. I think I will get tired of repeating the speech many times as I practice it. Also, I’m not sure what topic I would be so passionate about that I would spend months practicing the same words over and over until I know them in my sleep.

    So, a big risk that I’d like to take but haven’t been able to is making a speech in front of thousands of people.

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s the biggest risk you’d like to take — but haven’t been able to?
    View all responses
  • 6 Tips to Developing an In-Demand Skill Set

    6 Tips to Developing an In-Demand Skill Set

    How economy-proof is your skill set? Companies are cutting salaries and jobs due to rising costs, but you still need a job to pay the bills. What you need to stay employed is an in-demand skill set.

    Workers with in-demand skill sets are snapped up by another company if they are laid off, or they pivot with ease into a new industry. These are the perks of an in-demand skill set: these skills ensure a stable income. To stay in demand, you’ll want to continuously improve on this skill set which includes the following expertise.

    Tip 1 Speaking Skills

    The ability to capture an audience and establish credibility depends on your speaking skills. Clarity and confidence are important on the job for people to understand you and believe what you say. To develop your speaking skills, work on the following:

    • Time and record yourself speaking about one topic for one to three minutes. Listen to the recording. Does your speech have a beginning, middle, and end? Do you speak smoothly, or fill your pauses with ums and uhs?
    • Watch videos about public speaking and try to implement a tip into your speaking practice. For example, focus on the volume and pitch of your voice one day, and focus on your vocabulary use for an impromptu speech on another day.
    • Create a list of job interview questions, write out your answers in point form, and then practice your answers until you’re confident you can ace your next job interview. 
    • Practice giving presentations at home to sound more confident when you present at work meetings.

    Tip 2 Writing Skills

    Writing skills are just as important as speaking skills. The difference is you have more time to think about what you want to say. As a result, there is more expectation that you’ll write with better grammar and organization. Spelling and punctuation mistakes suggest a lack of care and professionalism. To improve your writing skills, work on the following:

    • Copy a piece of writing that is in the style that you want to learn. By copying it as practice, your brain learns that writing style.
    • Practice writing each day, for a few minutes each day. Use editing apps to review and find suggestions for improving your writing.
    • Make a list of your common offenders, such as misspelled words or bad grammar, and check that your writing doesn’t have these mistakes. 
    • Outline your ideas to organize your thoughts before writing your email or report. 
    • Make a habit of completing writing tasks ahead of schedule so you have enough time to take a break. Then return to your task and re-read your writing with fresh eyes. You will have a better chance of catching your own mistakes.

    Tip 3 Tech Skills

    Tech skills are vital to survival in the modern world of work. Fortunately, it’s easy to find videos on YouTube, LinkedIn, and other applications and platforms to teach you the skills you need. If your co-worker or company IT department hasn’t answered your tech question, you can educate yourself on whatever technology you use. To improve your tech skills, try the following:

    • Download free versions of applications or software to learn how to use them if you’re looking for a job. After practicing how to use these applications, you can add them to your resume.
    • Create a portfolio of work using these applications or software. For example, if you’re looking for a graphic design job, create a brochure using Canva. Add these projects to your resume.
    • Challenge yourself to learn how to use technology on the job. Learn to host an online meeting for twenty participants. Learn how to present the statistics using Excel, even though you haven’t used Excel’s advanced functions before.
    • Volunteer to take on a project to practice using a type of technology. For example, take the lead on moving company tasks to a management tool such as Click Up.

    Tip 4 Leadership Skills

    Career advancement is difficult without leadership skills. Empathy and understanding the people you work with, and being clear and organized about when you want something done are both in-demand skills. Here are ways to improve your leadership skills:

    • Volunteer to take the lead for a project, even if it is a project for a team of one. Set your own project goals and deadlines. Set milestones for reporting updates to your supervisor and demonstrate that you can complete a project on time without supervision.
    • Step up to lead a team for a project for which you already have a lot of experience. If you already have the skills for a similar project, you already have the confidence. Now your next goal is to prove you can help your team complete that project together.
    • Take the initiative to anticipate what needs completion. Suggest ways to improve current policies. 

    Tip 5 Sales Skills

    Sales skills are crucial. You want to sell an interviewer on hiring you. You want to sell your boss on giving you a raise. Sales involve much more than money exchanged for a product or service. Here are ways to improve your sales skills:

    • Read books and watch videos about sales tips and techniques. Understand the psychology behind why some sales techniques are effective.
    • Practice mock job interviews if you are looking for a job. Focus on how you speak, your tone of voice, and enunciation. Do you sound confident? Does your body language suggest confidence?
    • Do your research. What does your audience want? If you want to ask for a raise, research what skills are valued in your industry. Look into your company’s goals for the coming year. Then show how your skills can help the company achieve its goals and why you deserve your value.

    Tip 6 Language Skills

    Language skills are highly valued, whether you’re monolingual or you’re a polyglot. Learning a language is a way to connect with and better understand other cultures. If you have a strong command of a language, you can be a professional writer, speaker, or translator. Here are ways to improve your language skills:

    • Practice a language with a coworker during lunch. Learn new words and learn about a culture at the same time.
    • Take classes or lessons online, with a class, or with a tutor, until you can work as a writer, editor, or translator.
    • Practice as a volunteer translator or volunteer at work until you have more experience for critical situations, such as translating to a client at your company.

    Key Takeaways

    Many skills are transferable from one career or industry to another. In times of economic hardship, these skills will continue to find you steady work. Strong speaking, writing, leadership, and tech skills are always in high demand. Can you think of any other transferrable, high-demand skills? Comment below!

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  • 6 Steps to Leaving Your Comfort Zone

    6 Steps to Leaving Your Comfort Zone

    Here’s the scary truth: leaving your comfort zone is HARD. You’re living your nightmare in real life. But if you don’t take the first steps to challenge yourself or allow yourself to feel vulnerable, you will never leave your comfort zone. When you leave your comfort zone, you grow. You’ll open yourself to new experiences and opportunities. The crucial moment is to take that first step. 

    1 Identify your comfort zone

    To leave your comfort zone, you need to identify the boundaries of your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is where you feel safe, surrounded by what’s familiar to you. For example, if you don’t feel comfortable giving presentations to a group, you may feel more secure sitting in the audience. If the thought of traveling to a new city scares you, you’ll feel more relaxed watching a show about the place you want to visit.

    In your comfort zone, you don’t have to take risks or face challenges. You don’t have anything to cross off your bucket list. Your major challenges and goals are those that you’ve achieved before. After you find the outer boundaries of your comfort zone, you’ll know when you’re about to step outside of it.   

    2 Set goals

    When you’re ready to leave your comfort zone, set goals, starting with one small goal to get you started. Make sure that it is realistic and challenges you. If you fear public speaking, making a speech in front of 500 people is not a realistic first goal. The gap between where you are now and where you want to be is too wide.

    Small steps are easier to achieve. Your goal gives you direction and purpose and can help you stay motivated when things get tough. But you need to first break your goal into manageable steps, and work on just one step at a time. Begin with a well-practiced speech to a picture or toys in a room. They are a captive audience. Join groups such as Toastmasters, which is a supportive group that works on speaking skills. 

    3 Face your fears

    After you get your goal or goals, you will face the hardest part: facing your fears. Planning is easy. Working on the plan is hard, which is why working on conquering your fears one small step at a time is so important.

    Before speaking in front of an audience of strangers, practice speaking in front of supportive peers. By repeatedly putting yourself in an uncomfortable situation, you will slowly become comfortable. People who speak to an audience of thousands didn’t become professionals at public speaking overnight.

    4 Welcome change

    Change is scary. It’s why most people take the same route to work or dine at the same restaurants and avoid new types of cuisine. Leaving your comfort zone means embracing the unknown. When you are open-minded, you’ll try new things and explore new places. The results can be exciting.

    When you challenge your public speaking skills, you’ll discover a confidence you didn’t know you had. In turn, this confidence will give you the confidence to leave your comfort zone for something new in the future.

    5 Surround yourself with supportive people

    Facing challenges alone can be overwhelming. Having a support system can make a big difference in your self improvement. These people include friends and family, even coworkers.

    When making a presentation at work, you can ask supportive coworkers to give you feedback o your speaking skills. Join a group with similar goals to provide you with an encouraging environment to grow and get advice from people who have been where you are now.  

    6 Celebrate your successes

    Remember to celebrate your successes at each step, not just when you have accomplished your goal. Each step to achieving your goal is equally important.  

    After giving your first speech to five friendly faces, celebrate what you’ve achieved. After you’ve given your first major presentation to a new client, reward yourself.

    Key Takeaways

    Leaving your comfort zone is not easy. People love to be where they are comfortable because it is safe. But safe doesn’t bring you new experiences or help you grow as a person. You don’t develop new skills by repeating what you’ve done before. To leave your comfort zone, you need to take that first small step.

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  • Public Speaking Tips That Capture Your Audience

    Public Speaking Tips That Capture Your Audience

    Many people fear public speaking, and they have good reason to. It can be nerve racking to speak in front of strangers, and even more frightening to speak in front of a group of familiar faces. What if you make a mistake? What if you forget your lines, and everyone remembers only how bad your speech was?

    The embarrassment of such a public speaking nightmare is enough to deter many people from getting up in front of others and speaking. However, strong speaking skills will increase your career options. To advance your career, here are three public speaking skills to master.

    Continued on Vanya Wryter’s blog.