TREVOR PENTON, public speaking coach, says:
When I first met Farzana, I saw a confident, warm person and thought, ‘Where’s the problem?’ She was comfortable with me – the discomfort came when I asked her to address the camera.
When she stood up, the confident person disappeared. She was looking at notes on her phone, using it as a crutch. Her voice was quiet, she wasn’t smiling, she wasn’t enjoying herself. She didn’t use her presence. The result is that an audience won’t listen. She would create a feeling of pity, which is the worst outcome, as everyone then feels awkward.
This is very common – public speaking is in the top three things that people most dread. I think it’s a fear of looking silly. When all the eyes in a room are upon you, there is also a fear of being judged.
As a teenager, I loved drama and, after school, I went to RADA. I worked as a theatre actor, but I changed direction and set up The Flourish Academy to help people to communicate their best selves.
The first thing we tackled was helping Farzana to relax, to bring out her natural warmth. I did that by asking her to add personal details to her speech so it wasn’t just a string of facts. I made her laugh to see that a smile really makes a difference.
I got her to remember her script so she didn’t have to rely on notes. It involved her creating key phrases or images that helped her navigate through it and focus more on her audience. I encouraged her to use gestures to emphasise her points, helping her appear more natural.
Another tip was to introduce a pause, taking a breath at the end of the sentence. It helped her stay in control of the pace and would help the audience stay with her. A pause feels like an age, but it is not and it shows you are in control.
We then made a second video. There was a marked improvement. Farzana came across as more confident and there was more eye contact. The main difference was she looked like she was enjoying herself.
She seemed to have dialled down her inner critic and dialled up her confidence. It was so powerful. Here was a woman with a passion for teaching and wanting to make a difference for children.