After Inbee Park won the United States Women’s Open this weekend she credited experience (she has won three major titles in a row) and weekly sessions with a mental coach. As a result, Park was calm, relaxed, and thoroughly enjoyed her final round. It struck me that being calm, relaxed, and enjoying the moment are three essential ingredients for success in public speaking, but, as Inbee Park has discovered, they are not achievable without 1) building on your experience and 2) achieving a peak mental state.
Build your experience. Professional golfers who have a strong history of success on a particular golf course are “favored” to win because of their experience. Experience in any field builds confidence. Champion golfers build on that experience by arriving two or three days before a tournament to play practice rounds. They take what they’ve practiced and simulate it on the environment in which they’ll be ultimately judged.
In the same way it helps to practice your pitch or presentation many, many times and preferably in the same room where you will give it. For example, an entrepreneur who has read some of my previous columns created a presentation based on the techniques. He told me that he will pitch the product (a mobile app) to investors later this month. This entrepreneur said that the techniques he’s learned have helped him craft the message, and now it’s up to him to practice. He even called the organizer of the conference and arranged to spend some time in the auditorium where he’ll make his final pitch. When he tees up his presentation for his actual audience, he’ll be ready.
Experience breeds confidence. I recently played one of the toughest golf courses in the country. The next week I played my home course (a very difficult course in Northern California) and shot my best score ever. This wouldn’t surprise psychologists at all. It’s called “perceived self-efficacy” in the academic literature. Simply put, confidence in your own ability strongly influences how well you perform. When I returned home I “perceived” my usual course to be easier when, in fact, it was the same course, same player and same swing. My perceived self-confidence helped me to be more relaxed, confident, and ultimately successful. In public speaking, your confidence will grow if you push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Take on more opportunities to give presentations in your company or department. Speak for free at the local rotary or chamber of commerce. Those organizations are always looking for strong content to add value to their membership meetings.
Achieve a peak mental state. Most professional golfers now have a mental coach. If you’ve ever felt your heart racing, palms sweating, and voice tightening before a presentation, then you know how these golfers feel. But while golfers still get nervous on the first tee or standing over a short putt to win the tournament; they have learned mental techniques to remain calm.
I’ve talked to neuroscientists and have studied academic papers on the subject of fear and public speaking. I’ve got news for you. It’s a myth that you will ever eliminate nerves. Some anxiety is a good thing and should be embraced. Those executives who I’ve met who are not nervous at all (and they are very few in number) are typically below-average speakers precisely because they don’t care as much as the person who does get nervous. The trick, of course, is not to let those nerves overwhelm you.
One piece of advice mental coaches give golfers is to forget about their last shot and focus on the next one. Even champions have bad holes or tournaments. The great ones set it aside and come back more confident than ever. The same applies to public speaking. During a presentation, if a slide doesn’t appear when it’s supposed to, you experience a technical glitch, or you’ve stumbled through a portion of your talk, keep your mind focused on the next shot (or slide). I’ll never forget watching a major presentation by an executive who seemed to unravel midway through his presentation. I asked him what had happened and he said, “I messed up what I wanted to say on slide five. I couldn’t regroup.” This executive let one bad slide fester until he completely lost his train of thought.
Don’t dwell on past mistakes or presentations that didn’t have the intended result. In fact, it helps to take another cue from champion golfers. Jack Nicklaus said he never took a swing, even in practice, without having a sharp mental picture of himself hitting the perfect shot. When’s the last time you visualized yourself giving a presentation that brought an audience to its feet? Your body, voice, gestures will reflect the image of the astonishing communicator you’ve pictured in your mind.
Above all, stop worrying and start enjoying your public speaking opportunities. Bob Rotella, one of the most notable mental coaches in the game of golf, recommends that players avoid building up a tournament in their minds until it becomes so huge they can’t relax and have fun. “The golf course has to be your sanctuary, the thing you love, and you can’t be afraid of messing up,” Rotella says. I like to think of the stage in the same way. Once you’ve practiced, it’s time to trust, stop worrying, and to have fun. You’ve practiced, you’ve refined your public speaking technique, and now it’s time to relax, stay calm, and enjoy the opportunity to share your ideas.