A Speaker's Nightmare

We’ve all been there.

You are in front of an audience – online or in person – and you look out and you see audience members glazing over, or checking their cell phones, whispering to the person next to them, or fidgeting,

In that moment, it can be flight, freeze, or appease time. Mouth gets dry, pits get sweaty, heart starts beating too fast, legs start shaking. We start talking too much or not at all.

Do you stick to your script? Do you start calling on people? Do you throw out the script and start yelling, dancing, challenging, asking probing questions?

One of the toughest things to do as a speaker is to let go of any attachment to a script, and learn how to adapt and play in the moment – all in service of CONNECTING to your audience.