Why you need to ditch your on-stage persona?

Many performers have an alter ego for the stage. David Bowie became Ziggy Stardust and Beyoncé describes Sasha Fierce as her “fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken and more glamorous” side for the stage.

I’ve only been on stage and not been myself once. To raise money for Children in Need I wrote a 10 minute sketch all about monkeys and performed it in the style of a “geeky monkey super-fan!” I’m not an actor so I found the role quite tricky, but once I’d begun to get the hang of the shy, quiet Body Language, the voice followed. (As the last video of my comedy sketch went down so well, I thought I’d  be brave enough to share another video of my stand-up routine here if you promise not to laugh…actually, please do laugh)!

Some people say that it’s useful to put on an act when you’re presenting, in order to come across as more Confident – “fake it ‘til you make it” as the saying goes. But I say drop the act and just be yourself. The audience won’t be fooled by ‘fake’ confidence; your face and body language will show how you really feel. As a presenter, if your face and words don’t match, the audience will get a bad feeling and know that something isn’t right. (More on that here).

So how do I get more confident?

I developed my Public Speaking Monkeys approach, which uses proven NLP techniques, to work on mind-set before skill set. Once the monkeys are tamed and delegates are fear-free, they are able to learn advanced presentation skills techniques quickly and take on board constructive feedback easily. That’s how they become such strong presenters in such a short time frame – sometimes within days.

So come on Beyoncé…give me a call. I can make you as confident as Sasha Fierce!

Simply Amazing Training offers professional presentation skills coaching and public speaking coaching for individuals and companies in Bournemouth, and across Dorset, Hampshire, Herts and London. Have a look around the website, or call me today on 01202 798128 for an informal chat to discuss your requirements.

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