Article Five Tips to Beat Going Blank
“The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public,” said Sir George Jessel.
We can laugh at this, but for many people, this is no laughing matter. They live in mortal fear of losing the plot or going blank during their presentation, with that sinking feeling of nowhere to go.
The five easy tips in this article will show you how to turn a ‘lapse in thinking’ to your advantage so your listeners think it’s all part of your presentation.
The sad thing is it even gets to the point where people dread any interaction with their listeners for fear that this will make them lose their way. They literally will their audience to ‘give them a break’ by not saying a word so they can somehow get through the ordeal unscathed and slink safely back to their seat. The following tips will ensure that this person is not you.
1. Change the terminology
Change the terminology, and we change the feelings.
Occasionally, I ask my audiences, ‘Is it normal for people to lose their train of thought in everyday situations?’
For example, ‘I’ve forgotten what I was going to say,’ ‘Where did I put my pen?’ ’It’s on the tip of my tongue.’
They nod at the obvious naturalness of this.
I then ask, ‘Would it be normal to assume that these same people might lose their train of thought when speaking before a group of people?’
They find themselves nodding at the obvious naturalness of this also. So the first thing to do is change the emotionally charged term ‘going blank’ that holds us back to the more friendly and realistic term, ‘losing my train of thought.’. Thinking this way makes it more acceptable and helps us do something positive about it.
2. Set up your own friendly life buoys
Reams of detailed, print-size notes, however, are not the way to overcome the problem. First they’re hard to read, then what if you drop them or they get mixed up?
Here’s a fact. We live in an impromptu world. Every day of your life, you effectively communicate with friends, family, and colleagues by reacting to key ideas and stimuli.
You say something; they respond to it. The words just flow as you relive a particular story from memory, or you give a spontaneous demonstration for a minute or two of what you mean. No one says, ‘Just a minute, let me refer to what I’ve got written here..’
It just happens.
What you say is stimulated by key ideas.
In contrast, detailed notes confine us to a narrow range of expression.
In a public speaking situation, the secret is to have your key ideas close at hand so you can’t lose your way. These could be nearby keywords or phrases, charts, objects, or pictures – each triggering an example for you to illustrate what you mean.
Tip: You may choose to use an acronym, a real or imaginary word where each letter triggers your next main idea. Your acronym could be written down, projected on a screen, or kept in your head.
When I’m in front of people and lose my train of thought because someone asks me a question or some wag says something funny, I’m no longer overwhelmed with the panic of losing my way and getting lost, for I now know it’s quite normal.
The truth is a little interaction down some side path or joining in the laughter of some witty remark actually enhances your talk because it all seems so natural to your listeners. All you have to do to get back on track is look at those friendly mental joggers laid out in sequence nearby to tell you where you are at a glance and what to talk about next. They are your lifebuoys. And you know where they are because you put them there!
So rather than dreading all this, unexpected interaction can be used to ensure you’re not perceived as just another boring speaker. In fact, you can initiate this interaction by asking the occasional feeler question like, ‘Anyone ever seen anything like that?’ to keep them on their toes and take the pressure off you!
You can’t possibly get lost, for, again, those friendly lifebuoys are right there within reach when you need them.
3. Turn a negative into a positive!
When unplanned interactions do happen, the first thing to remember is not to flag the fact that you’re lost with a negative comment like ‘I’m sorry, I’ve lost my way.’ It looks bad and you do not need to apologise.
I’ve learnt to turn a loss of thought into a powerful dramatic pause. I’ve learnt that people appreciate time to reflect on what’s been said.
If you’re in control of the situation, thoughts will continue to reverberate in people’s minds even though the words have stopped.
Casually walk over and look at your list of key ideas as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. Be extra cool, and muse out loud as you go with something like ‘Interesting, isn’t it…’
You’ll see top speakers use these little musings to stimulate reflection as they gather their thoughts in order to lead into their next main idea. You can do the same to guide the thoughts of your listeners.
4. A glass of water makes you look cool
And then there’s the glass of water. It looks perfectly normal for you to have a sip of water during a presentation, but right beside the glass are your notes, a short list of key words (printed in large type) or symbols that tell you where you are at a glance.
If you get stuck, have a sip of water, glance at your notes, then, giving the impression that you’re in total control and not at all flustered, link back to where you left off. It comes across very naturally.
If you’re giving an informative demonstration or talk, any items you have set out before you will help guide you. No matter what happens, a quick glance at the screen or objects laid out before you will show you precisely where you are, and you’ll be able to move on to your next story or example with ease.
Remember, it’s all very safe for you laid these life-saving mental joggers out yourself.
5. Make your notes a box of bottles
A woman in one of my workshops was still not convinced that a set of strategically placed mental joggers would cure her of her long-held fear of going blank.
During the course of the program, I discovered that she was a passionate collector of old bottles, and that each one of these bottles had a fascinating story behind it. Cathy knew these stories well and was eager to share them with anyone who would listen.
I asked Cathy to stand four of these bottles up in a box, out of view of the audience.
She began her talk with the words: ‘The household discards of today often become the lost voices of the past. Luckily, bottles don’t deteriorate with time and tell us much about those who came before us.’
She then put her hand in the box and pulled out a bottle at random, a little handmade ink bottle. ‘Now this is interesting…’ she began. Then, with all the naturalness in the world, Cathy told the bottle’s story from memory.
She got us to imagine an early Victorian gold miner writing a letter to a loved one by flickering candlelight in his rudimentary tent with ink from this very bottle! And when the bottle was empty, he simply threw it out onto the diggings to be discovered by us many years later.
Cathy said that thousands of these little bottles have been found on the gold fields. She then picked up another bottle, smiled as its meaning came to mind, and confidently began her next story. Cathy says this one talk convinced her of the power of mental signposts and permanently rid her of her debilitating fear of going blank.
Your notes, therefore, should be nothing more than a box of ‘bottles’ placed where you can see them. A quick glance will tell you precisely where you are and what to say next. It really is that easy.
Tip: Notice how Cathy did not hand these fascinating bottles around for people to look at during her talk.
She stayed in control by inviting her listeners to look at them afterward. And the same thing applies to handouts. A comment such as: ‘I have some interesting notes for everyone…’ or ‘Please take a yellow sheet on the way out’ will avoid unwanted distractions.
I once saw a speaker hand a person in the front row a brochure as an illustration of what he was saying. For the duration of his talk, that brochure snaked its way from row to row, stimulating lively discussion as it went! It completely disrupted the talk.
Of course, the added benefit of turning a train-of-thought loss into a powerful communication tool is that you have one less thing to lie awake at night worrying about.
Hope this helps.
© Laurie Smale Inspirational Speaker, Speaking Coach, and Author
ARTICLE // Five Tips to Beat Going Blank
By Laurie Smale, Author, How to take the panic out of public speaking 🎤
1. Change the terminology
2. Set up your own friendly life buoys
3. Turn a negative into a positive!
4. A glass of water makes you look cool
5. Make your notes a box of bottles
These suggestions provide practical ways for you to structure your public speaking presentation and avoid going blank.
Read all the details at https://lauriesmale.com/blog/article-five-tips-to-beat-going-blank
All of my practical coaching wisdom is in my three books available at https://lauriesmale.com/books
#lauriesmale #article #howtotakethepanicoutofpublicspeakingbook #goingblank
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