How to deliver your speech with confidence
There I was, live, shaking like a leaf, so how did I make it to the Semifinals of Spain’s Speaker Talent? Learn my confidence hacks!
There I was, live, in Spain’s Speaker Talent, the biggest Spanish Speaking contest worldwide.
The presenter, Alex Giménez, said: ‘If you go beyond 2 minutes, I’ll interrupt you.’.
… I panicked.
The time limit was a HUGE challenge for me. So how did I stay confident during my speech, when even my hair was shaking?
Grab that pen: I’ll share my top confidence hacks with you!
TIP Nº 1
Ground yourself
Breathe, touch your heart and connect to the emotion.
In this video you can clearly see how I give myself permission to wait a few seconds to ground myself and tune into my emotion VS rushing to speak.
When we get nervous, we get too in our ‘heads’, so our ‘monkey mind’ takes control over our voice. That is the recipe for disaster.
So I stopped my monkey mind, connected to my body and ‘felt my words’. One by one. Without rushing. Which leads me to the second confidence hack.
TIP Nº 2
Speak 'slowly'
The more you rush, the less room you leave to gather your thoughts or even ‘readjust’ mistakes on the spot.
I did make mistakes during my speech, can you notice them?
Instead of ‘mayor maestro’, I said ‘meyor’ (minute 01:19) But thanks God, I was speaking slowly, so I could ‘readjust’ my mistake on the spot and make it less noticeable (I hoped!). How? By repeating the word ‘maestro’ a second time with more passion.
TIP Nº 3
If you go blank, improvise
After literally 9 seconds I went totally blank… Can you notice it?
So what did I do? I improvised the words ‘no me lo podía creer, estaba con muchísimo dolor’ (‘I couldn’t believe it, I felt so much pain’), which helped me gather my thoughts and remember my next line.
That’s why training improvisation is a MUST in all my speaking programs.
Memorizing is ok, but it doesn’t mean ANYTHING, if you don’t connect with what you say.
TIP Nº 4
Master the 'art of silence'
It helps you EMBODY your presence, it creates suspense, curiosity and more connection with your audience.
TIP Nº 5
Do NOT compare yourself with others
While I was waiting my turn to speak, I did NOT watch any of the other speakers.
I wanted to maintain my speech as pure as I could.
So while the other contestants were presenting their speeches on Zoom, I stepped away from the screen and went to the bathroom to practice my ‘own speech’ in front of the mirror.
This way I avoided comparing my speech to theirs.
TIP Nº 6
Clean your brain from negative thoughts
Sometimes you are NOT the first one to speak and you just have to WAIT.
So to calm my nerves and keep my mind clean, I practiced self-coaching. How?
Writing down the beliefs I wanted to operate from, such as:
✨’I’m going to move them with my story.’
✨’I’m going to transform lives.’
✨’I will connect and inspire’
✨’I’m going to enjoy’
✨’My voice matters’
TIP Nº 7
Embrace Vulnerability
Learning to feel vulnerable in public will make you an amazing speaker.
Vulnerability is the number 1 emotion I teach my students, and the number 1 emotion that will help you dettach from your Ego.
It humanises you, it allows you to release ‘perfection’ and unlock the REAL you.
It ‘s pure ART.
Next week we will cover ‘How to rock at your next conference’, you don’t wanna miss it!
Your Voice matters, make it HEARD.
Happy Monday!
P.S. Shout out to my Speaking Lions student, Kat, who got her dream job!
“The workshop experience was great & I would recommend it to anyone looking for ways to improve communication skills – no matter if personal or business. I have new tools I can use before important meetings to align my energy and I had a very successful interview with my dream company!”.
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