“The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.” – Lady Bird Johnson, manager, investor, beautification advocate and former first lady of the United States.
It’s obvious that we have all been affected by COVID-19 in many personal and professional ways. I make my living presenting corporate wellness, fitness education and keynote presentations in front of large groups, as well as in one-on-one interactions through my fitness coaching. Needless to say, both of these industries have been in a complete shutdown and it will be a slow crawl back.
With this downtime, and since I often get asked how you get into public speaking, I’d like to share what I’ve learned about this and the best ways to break in. The world as we know it will change and who knows how events, speeches and presentations will be affected. What you will find is that a lot of what I’m mentioning for public speaking is also applicable to other walks of life.
It is still ironic to me that I’ve gotten to a point in my life and career where I present and speak on a regular basis. I could not have been any shyer growing up. Additionally, I had a huge fear of public speaking. Fast forward many years later, I present and speak on a monthly basis, providing continuing education for the fitness community and corporate wellness seminars/keynotes. So how the heck did I get here?
Throughout our lives, we are often drawn to situations that make us confront our fears. As I entered the fitness industry and jumped down the rabbit hole of movement-based training, I became so engrossed and passionate about it, it helped take away my fears.
Find your ‘thing’
The best presenters in the world have honed their skills in their particular interest. Get to know your product/subject so you can be comfortable and confident describing it.
Think about all the experts that you can: There’s a good chance you will say that they are known for something specific. They have done their due diligence to become true experts and have found much success in their lane of focus.
Find mentors
As you work hard and stay focused on learning as much as you possibly can about your particular topic, find someone who knows more and has more experience. Soak up as much information as you can from this expert. Offer to help him or her in any way you can.
Practice
How do you get to Carnegie Hall? “Practice,” the old joke goes. It goes for everything in life. And, at this point in time, you have plenty of time to practice. So:
• Practice in front of your mirror.
• Practice in front of your friends, family and anyone who is willing to sit in front of you either at a safe distance in person or virtually.
• Practice by filming yourself and reviewing it and have others review it as well.
Persist, be patient and pay your dues
Starting out, you need to be knocking on a lot of doors. Reach out to organizations and affiliations that you can see yourself working with and adding value to.
Have a PDF outline of what you will offer complete with learning objectives. Try to get yourself on video so the potential client has something to refer to visually as well.
If you are looking to represent companies or products, they may not need or want any additional employees at the moment. Keep holding yourself to the highest standard possible, keep getting a deeper understanding of your lane of interest, wait and keep yourself on the top of their minds.
Gotta start somewhere
To summarize:
• Get really good and knowledgeable about what you want to do.
• Find a mentor who can help you grow and learn from him/her.
• Start practicing as much as you can.
• Put yourself out there.
• Have the perseverance, patience and work ethic that puts you in the right places at the right times.
Is it fair to say that every single one of these points apply to going after anything in life? Now is not the time to get lazy and down. Now is the time to set yourself up to be better than before.
On a side note, if anyone is struggling with his fitness and/or nutrition regimen given the current set of circumstances, please feel free to reach out to me at Gio@GiovanniRoselli.com and I will be happy to assist you with my virtual online coaching program.
