I am allegedly a communications expert and yet I continue to have a massive communications failure. Countless times I tell people the following:
“The number one rule of public speaking is to practice your speech on video over and over again until you like what you see and are happy with your style and substance. Practicing on video once is worthless; you have to do it repeatedly until you are happy with the results.”
And yet, how to people translate my message?
“Be sure to practice your speech once on video.”
“Good Grief!” as Charlie Brown would say.
The odd thing is that I find many people passing on the “do a rehearsal once on video line” as if they were spreading my Gospel. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
Practicing a speech on video once and only once can be actually worse than no practice at all. If you practice your speech once and then watch it, chances are you will be depressed with how awful your speech was and you will look and sound even less confident in your next speech.
If you have any suggestions on how I can make this point clearer, I’d love to hear from you. Although, if everyone followed this one tip, I’d likely be out of a job. Because the world would be filled with great speeches and great speakers, so perhaps we should all keep quiet.
TJ Walker trains people to be great speakers and presenters. If you are interested in personal coaching, please call him at 212.764.4955