Leadership Communications: Beating Stage Fright (and Other Spokesperson Woes)

Buzz around the beginning of the business new year was dominated by director Michael Bay’s flub at the Consumer Electronics Show.  While joining Samsung executive Joe Stinziano as a spokesperson to unveil the company’s new curved TV, he got out of sync with the teleprompter, couldn’t recover, and walked off the stage.  But was it a failure of leadership communications or just a really bad day gone viral?

Better known for his work behind the camera, Bay was most definitely out of his comfort zone.  And his unexpected exit was a classic example of paralyzing stage fright that can happen to anyone, even the most seasoned speakers, who have also had extensive spokesperson training.

But his misstep wasn’t just shared with the folks in the room.  Propelled by social media, it became a “trending topic” with the rest of the world—transforming a single goof into a much bigger story than warranted (although in the classic “any news is good news” model, it may have been interpreted as a terrific attention-getter for Samsung and its new product.

In poll after poll, Americans reveal that our number one fear is getting up and speaking in front of others, more terrifying than spiders and snakes, or even death.  And it doesn’t matter whether it’s a room of 30 or 3,000.  Public speaking is a critical aspect of communications leadership.  Bay’s experience offers up some important lessons.

Practice, practice, practice.

Preparation is the best defense against stage fright or speaking anxiety.  It’s not enough to have strong messaging and know exactly what you want to say. You have to practice your delivery.  It’s why athletes practice every day, to keep muscles limber and improve performance.  If you are going to make a presentation, practice in front of a mirror. Repetition helps you imbed in your mind not just specific words but the key points you want to make.  And being in front of the mirror helps you see facial expressions, hand gestures, and posture that you may want to modify.

 Warm up.

Drawing again from the world of sports, great athletes don’t march on to the playing field without stretching and warming up.  So, too, should speakers limber up the vocal chords.  Tongue twisters are a great way to do this, as is singing in the shower the morning of presentation. Just before your presentation, go off by yourself and do some deep breathing to help calm your nerves.

Don’t be a slave to the script.

It’s better to have key points and phrases in mind rather than a rigid script that you feel you must recite perfectly.   Having your key points at top of mind will help you ad lib and recover should you get off track.  You are the only one who knows exactly how the presentation is supposed to be.

Acknowledge flubs and move on.

Bay was on the right track when he told the audience that he was out of sync with the teleprompter and he was just going to wing it.  He created the expectation that what we would say might not be perfect.  It’s too bad that the experience was so overwhelming that he couldn’t continue.  People can sympathize with the mistake as we’ve all been there at some point or another.  Brain freezes, mispronunciations, and even insulting gaffs happen even to veteran broadcasters.

Don’t rely exclusively on props.

Teleprompters fail.  PowerPoint slides fail to load.  Unfortunately, too many speakers rely on these props as indispensable crutches. When used well, they can enhance a speech or presentation. But they shouldn’t be the sole method of delivering content.  You should be prepared to get your points across, with or without illustration or tech support.  While sitting in on pitches from ad agencies on behalf of a client several years ago, one of the firms had a PowerPoint malfunction.  Twenty minutes of the allotted 30 minutes were spent trying to fix it—wasting a valuable opportunity to communicate value.  The client was frustrated and the firm didn’t get the work.

Consider spokesperson and presentation training.

With even a small dose of training, you’ll not only learn some good speaking techniques, but you’ll be able to practice in a friendly environment, get constructive feedback, and gain a better understanding of your own style.  The result will be some speaking strategies that work best for you, and the development of more confidence and comfort in front of an audience.