How to Perform Public Speaking (With or Without A Dry Throat)

Last week the Daily Telegraph called me, to interview me, on how Theresa May could have coped public speaking, with a dry throat.

Water, water and more water – is the simple answer.
Lozenges work because they make you swallow, but water is much quicker, more effective and its efficacy can be repeated at speed.
And contrary to what the second person in the article said, coffee / tea / whatever – it really doesn’t matter – you are not singing an aria when you are public speaking,  so a little dairy and caffeine aint going to hurt you in the middle of a coughing fit – dying on stage is.

On a feminism note – no male prime minister public speaking or otherwise, would have been left to struggle like that – some keen young woman in an above the knee skirt, would have rushed on with a whole jug of water, let alone another glass, but May had to practically choke before she was helped out.

I bet you don’t even know where Margaret Thatcher was buried?

But time passing into history, slowly dissolves the pernicious mud of misogyny and the true character of a powerful woman emerges.

Teaching people public speaking is all about damage limitation, or in other words expecting and or anticipating the problems and having the answers or methods or techniques to either eradicate, or manage those possible problems.

Performing Public Speaking Isn’t About Being Perfect

It’s about being the best you can possibly be..

It’s about spending time creating a ‘specifically for performance’ speech, rather than an article to be silently read by a stranger in solitude.

It’s about hours of practicing your delivery, finding your timing, your page turns, audience acknowledgements and familiarising yourself with, or learning the script – depending on how much time for preparation you have..

Then, after all of that rehearsal time, it’s purely about being in the moment, being 100% aware in that moment that you are public speaking i.e. speaking to a lot of people when and managing and responding to, well, whatever happens!

Professional Actors

That’s what good actors do – hence every night is different – okay, very subtly – but trust me – every audience is different and you can feel that when you are on stage and you have to adapt to the them and so the new ‘now’.

And mistakes happen: often.

So you need to be match fit, alert and focused!

Otherwise your performance will be a little like one of those old-fashioned carriage clocks in a dome of glass – almost hermetically sealed and certainly not interacting energetically with your audience.

Also remember suspension bridges are very strong and make crossable hitherto, unbridgeable stretches of water – because they are flexible – and keep their integrity however hard the wind blows.

Learn your craft and your speech but then be in the ‘now’ and communicate with those dear folk who have either bothered to, or been forced to, turn up, to listen and watch you.

Focus on Communicating What You Are Saying

Focus on them and making them, to not only feel included in what you’re talking about, but understanding it, especially if it’s dense and full of corporate jargon …and then you will perform your best, because you will be focusing on communicating.

May tried to do all of this, but her back up was woefully remiss to the point of not being there – so if you have equally ambitious men around you (and who doesn’t ?!) – try and think of all the things that could go wrong and have personal backups ready.

Normally a prime minister would be treated to a full glass of water on exchange of an empty one, not so in this case, she was left to struggle.

Even’ that lozenge’, was not originally from her chancellor, but from a sympathetic member of the public who shamed Hammond into doing something!

Preparation, Amongst Ambitious Colleagues

So, have extra water ready – don’t rely on anyone to help you out because even if they do, for a few minutes it will be you standing in the pooh until they come to your rescue.

If you do need lots of water, make sure you’ve had a decent amount of carbs beforehand so that your body can suspend liquid for at least a couple of hours – two or three bananas are amazingly effective.

Remember, when you are doing your public speaking, it is your head on the block so you need to have made sure any available guillotine blades have been blunted.

Public Speaking is Performing

When you perform, you really do metaphorically live or die, enlighten or bore, and as part of your preparation you must anticipate all eventualities that could throw you.

And when you are Public Speaking those unforeseen problems could include a a lack of assertion, in those around you and the ambition of your male colleagues – a pretty lethal combination!

Performing Public Speaking in a Professional Manner

So to perform public speaking professionally, with or without a dry throat, anticipate any problems you can think of and then make a plan of preparation.

A plan that protects and enables you to thrive, despite unexpected happenings, other people failings and the ambition of your colleagues!

© Rachel Preece, 2017. This material may not be copied or shared without the written consent of the author.