When it comes to public speaking, people who have the most difficulty permitting themselves to supply a dynamic display are those of the Type A personality. Indicated by a powerful drive for perfection, the Type An individual doesn’t make allowance for mistakes. And, that’s the nub of the difficulty.
Is it feasible to realize ‘perfection’ in a live performance? Who is to assert it is perfect? Perfection is subjective in this kind of locale. What I may see as perfect, somebody else may not. For the Type A personality, this obsession is what regularly leads to failure – and for that individual, the results are discontentedness in which he / she focuses only on the negative aspects.
Last century witnessed one of the best pianists of all times, Arthur Rubenstein. Renowned for screwing up in his concerts and even in his recordings, Rubenstein wasn’t engaged with some missing notes or passages that had marks. According to memoirist, Harold Schonberg, Rubenstein “was daring, he took possibilities, and if some notes suffered on the way that was unimportant….when he was on the concert stage one felt as if the piano itself was welded to his body. Musician and instrument were one.” The difference between Rubenstein and lots of other technically skillful pianists was the previous made music. In a chat with Schonberg in 1964, the pianist recounted, “I will gamble. There needs to be a factor of daring in great music-making.
These younger ones, they’re too wary. They take the music out of their pockets rather than out of their hearts.” No better statement might be made about public speaking too. Too frequently the presenter takes the notes from his / her pocket and proceeds to supply a dry rote display, that might be perfect in the way that every word is well planned and well scripted but there isn’t any heart in the delivery. No zeal, no keenness, no emotion.
Part of the unsatisfactory show is this obsession with perfection joined with nervousness. When the delivery exhibits zeal and a mistake or 2 is created, it counts not. Mistakes are made consistently by great performers, sportsmen, and public speakers as well. If you do not trust me, just hear the news on any specific day, at any specific time, by any given radio or Television station. If the greats in stage acting, broadcasting, performing, sports, or public speaking were to permit an occasional mistake to consume them, we’d have no broadcasters, actors, performers, pro sportsmen, or public speakers to amuse or inform us. That doesn’t mean a display replete with blunders however.
When there is a surplus of mistakes, then you’re not nicely prepared. You should practice your script so you are happy with and know your material. And that suggests practicing it aloud. Record yourself and observe the playback so you can hear what you do. If you can record yourself by video, by all possible means do so : you’ll then be in a position to see your delivery as well as hear it.
It is just after repeated practice or walk through that you are ready to supply your speech or your show. In this respect, public speaking is similar to music lessons, rehearsals on a stage for the musicians or actors, or the playing of sports, none of which you may achieve well without practice.
