Posted on by hildaweisburg

Calming the Butterflies

Public speaking. It can make even the most polished professional panicky.. Getting up to speak before an audience can be a terrifying moment. It is said that people fear it more than death. It’s even a challenge for even well-known performers. Adele, Rhianna and Barbra Streisand all reportedly suffer from stage fright.

But you need to face these fears. You are a leader, and at some point, you are going to have to speak before a group or do something else that makes you nervous. When this happens, don’t avoid the possibility and lose the opportunity to show your value to an administrator. It is not what leaders do.

Instead, prepare for it by knowing what to do when the butterflies start churning. In her article, Why the First 30 Seconds of a Stressful Situation Are the Most Critical, Stephanie Vozza provides four steps to get you through those moments. Vozza explains those first seconds are the peak anxiety time. Since this is when all your bodily functions go into freeze and flight, they are the key to getting past the worse of this. Here are her four steps:

  • Practice Meditation – It doesn’t need to be more than two minutes, but if do it each day (or at least regularly), you become accustomed to stilling your heartbeat. When you are faced with getting up to the podium, or anything that has your pulse racing, you can do your accustomed routine. Your body will easily recognize what it needs to do.
  • Just Breathe – Not the usual in and out, but in a more fully mindful way. Become aware of your breathing and your body. Notice the physical manifestations of your tension. Are you clenching your teeth? Are your fingers tightened into fists? By being mindful you can do what it takes to physically relax. Breathe. Notice. Untense those tight muscles.
  • Harness Your Inner Superhero – Just as your body adds to your tension by its responses, it can do the opposite and telegraph confidence. Straighten your stance. Throw your shoulders back. You have this. You know your stuff. You are well prepared. Think of your favorite empowering song and go for it.
  • Rehearse Challenges – One of the best ways to be calm in the moment is to prepare in advance. If you’re giving a presentation, know the opening paragraph. Print it out on something you can read easily without it being too conspicuous. Once you get past that opening, you will be fine. Can you get into the room early? Seeing where you will be can help you to envision yourself succeeding.

How you manage the challenges and stresses you will face as a leader is up to you. As with so many things in life, you can go one of two ways. You can let the stress engulf you and avoid ever doing it again. Or you can embrace the challenge. Prepare yourself in advance and prove to yourself you can handle this.

Being a leader involves getting out of your comfort zone and taking on new challenges. Whether it’s public speaking or running for an office in your state/national organization, there will be scary moments as you start and even once you have attained a new level of being in the public eye. The more often you take the chance, the more often you will succeed. And each success will build an extra layer of confidence.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

Your Presentation and Murphy’s Law

As a leader, you want to make your presence known to your stakeholders and presentation are a great opportunity for this. Speaking at a conference gives you credibility to your administrators. Giving a workshop for teachers shows them how you can support them in their jobs. Speaking to the parent association reveals to them the critical role librarians play and builds advocates.

The last thing you want or need in any of these situations is for Murphy’s Law, which states “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” to kick in. The possibility is always there. Anticipate it and be prepared. Most of the time, it won’t be necessary, but if should, you want to be ready for it.

John Millen advises you on how to do that in his blog, What to Do When Presentations Go Wrong. His seven step approach will ensure you handle it with ease.

  1. Plan for the Worst- Hope for the Best – Bring a second copy of your talk and especially a printout if you are relying on tech such as PowerPoint. When giving a presentation outside your school, see if you can send it in advance to someone who can pre-load it for you (and, hopefully, test out the system).
  2. Understand Your Audience – To whom are you speaking? Do you know any of them? What are their wants and needs? The more you know about your audience, the quicker you can make a connection with them. If you feel comfortable with them and they with you, they will be fine if the slide is not on the screen. Build in time to arrive early so you can mingle with them before you begin your presentation.
  3. Prepare and Rehearse – Spontaneity is great, but you don’t want to discover you have too much or too little for the time slot. Trust that as you go along you will go off script as you respond to the room. Knowing the approximate amount of time you have left allows you to do that and adjust. And without rehearsal, you are likely to read your slides rather than explain the point which can make your presentation stilted.
  4. Do Your Homework – If you are presenting at a conference, check out the room in advance. Where will you be standing? Will you be able to move around to make further connections with your audience. If possible, recheck the equipment to be sure all is working. The IT person at the conference or in your school can be of additional assistance.
  5. Create a Safety Net – Millen carries backup equipment such as an external hard drive with his presentation on it and additional cables and adapters.  You are not likely to need to go to this extreme unless you are speaking to a very large group, but knowing you have this can help put you at ease. Think in advance for other things that might help should something not go as planned.
  6. Let the Audience in on it – Don’t hide the fact that something has gone wrong. You have already built a connection with them. Share what is going on. You might let them know Murphy has shown up. Having them be with you as you work on correcting or dealing with the problem increases the bond and eases your tension.
  7. Be in the Moment and Keep on Going – This is an extension of the last one. Your audience wants you to succeed. They know things go wrong. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be prepared.

As you grow in your leadership journey, there will be increasing opportunities to give presentations. On the list of people’s fears, public speaking is more common than death. Preparation and planning can help with this. Don’t let fear – or Murphy’s Law – keep you from growing,

Posted on by hildaweisburg

Fight The Fear Factor

The past two weeks my blogs have centered on you getting in front of an audience. As a leader, this will be necessary to get your face and your program out there. Yet many school librarians shy away from doing this other than with the smallest possible group. They know the value but find a host of reasons not to step into the limelight. The most obvious reason is fear.

Fear holds us back, and we can’t afford to let that happen.

Public speaking is a fear more common than death. Also known as “stage fright,” it is one of the most common fears. The phrase refers to performers, but it is, in essence, what we are all doing when we step in front of a group. Actors get past it or they wouldn’t have careers. You need to do the same because if you hide your light under a bucket, you will not be seen. If you are not seen, you will not be valued. And if you are not valued, you and your position are likely to be eliminated.

Terri Klass has sound advice on How to Stop Fear from Paralyzing Your Leadership. In presenting her five recommendations, she notes this fear can pop up at any point of your career, especially as the audiences get larger or feel more important. Each time you step onto a larger stage, there is the chance it might emerge. With these steps in mind, hopefully, you will be able to conquer it when it does.

  1. Name the Fear – Klass encourages you to identify the physical responses you are having. Can you recognize what is causing it? Notice and name your reactions (rapid heart, sweaty palms), and what they go with (not being sure you have the answer, wondering if anyone will listen to you, etc.) Recognizing that this is fear “talking” is an important first step.
  2. Share the Fear with a Trusted Advisor – Talking out the fear puts it into perspective. A fellow librarian or a friend (or both) makes a good listening ear. As you speak about the fear you just named, you are better able to see how inaccurate your fears are. If you don’t have someone to share it with, talk to yourself. Out loud. It’s hearing it that makes you aware of how much of the scenario you imagined is improbable and just some chemical reactions in your body.
  3. Try on a New Perspective – Klass has an imaginative idea here – think of someone who inspires you, and imagine them guiding you through this fear. How would they approach this situation? What attitude would they present? What would they say to you to encourage you? Can’t think of a person – Klass suggests you think of an animal. Imagine embodying the power of a wolf, the majesty of lion. It’s the perspective change that will help you manage the fear.
  4. Give It a Meaningful Good-bye – Look that fear in the eye and let it know you are done with it. Klass suggests writing down your good-bye and putting it away somewhere or speaking it into a mirror. Rather than putting away that fear, you can also burn it. There is a kind of satisfaction in seeing it go up in smoke. Gone forever.
  5. Commit to the New and Inspiring Leader – What are you going to do going forward? How do you want to be? Look at the presentation you made after having conquered your fear. How did it go? Remind yourself of this the next time you move onto a larger stage. Talk to yourself as you would to a friend who is beginning to shine more brightly.

I can remember reading Frank Herbert’s Dune shortly after it was published. A line from it has stuck with me forever, “Fear is the little death…. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me.” Each time we step out of our comfort zones, fear will be waiting. Don’t let it keep you from being the leader you were meant to be.

Posted on by hildaweisburg

Presenting – You!

Leaders take risks. One of the scariest risks for beginning and seasoned leaders alike is making a presentation before an audience. But eventually you’ll have to do it. It’s how you extend others’ awareness of your value to the teachers and students. Unfortunately, Social Phobia—fear of social situations that can result in judgement, rejection or shame—is the topmost common fear.

So what can you do? Start small and with a familiar audience. Your first presentation may be to your fellow teachers. You know them and what they need to discover so they can be more successful at what they do. You’ve been showing them, one-on-one, how you support them. Now you are just opening it up.

Next level up may be to a parents’ group. While you don’t know them individually as you did with your colleagues, they will come to your presentation because they realize a gap in their knowledge you can fill, and you can show them ways to support their students. Sharing your expertise with them makes them more aware of what you bring to their kids every day.

Presenting to your state school library association or a national one is probably the scariest. Here you are speaking to your colleagues. A part of you may feel as though they know more than you and what are you doing there. (Ah, the ‘joys’ of Imposter Syndrome). Remind yourself a committee selected your proposal. They recognized you have something valuable to offer. Keep that in mind as you begin.

For all levels of presentation, preparation counts, and preparation includes your mindset. In addition to the content, you are presenting yourself—and that means you as a leader and the value of your program. Kevin Eikenberry describes how you can do this in Showing Up When It’s Your Time. Here are his tips:

Showing Up Aware -You are aware of the purpose of your presentation but think bigger. It may be a bigger opportunity than you realized. Something you say may spark a huge idea in someone in your audience. This might lead to a larger possibility, whether it’s a collaborative project with a teacher, a parent who now would like to create a library advocacy group, or it inspires an article or blog by you.

Showing Up Prepared – You want to be comfortable with the topic as well as how you plan to bring it. Technology blips (zoom, power point, internet connectivity) and questions going in an unexpected direction are always challenging and do occur. If you have a firm grip on your presentation and the material, you will respond confidently when the unanticipated occurs.

Showing Up at Our Best – Being rested and having eaten, as Eikenberry recommends, are a good start. Also, think about yourself and what makes you feel your best. You are likely to dress up for your presentation, but are you comfortable with what you are wearing? If you’re going to be standing for a long period, think about the shoes you’re choosing. If you may be photographed, think about the colors you’re wearing. This probably is not the day to try a new look. Don’t give yourself something else to worry about.

Showing Up Expectantly – Expect to succeed. An athlete going into a game expects to win. They may see themselves making a great play or crossing the finish line first. A positive mindset at the outset relaxes your body and makes you more engaging to your audience.

Showing Up Early – Always! This helps on so many levels. If you cut it too close, you will be agitated rather than relaxed when you arrive. You will have little time to “show up prepared” for those little glitches in plans. Also, arriving early allows you to mingle and talk with participants so that when you begin, they are already open to listening to you and you are already comfortable and familiar with them.

The hardest part of making presentations is getting started, but taking the risk is worth it. In the opening of the article Eikenberry quotes Woody Allen as saying, “90% of life is just showing up.” The idea is not to just show up, but to show off—your skills, your program, your leadership. And once you have a few successes under your belt, you’ll be ready for bigger stages in the future!