It’s one thing to record a story: you get retakes, editing, music and all the rest. But doing it LIVE? Join Story Mechanics host Bill Whittle and guest Mike Rowe as they discuss their history of public speaking, including tips and methods used to reduce or eliminate stage fright in this most stressful of storytelling scenarios.
Listen here on Soundcloud:
I want these installments to go on forever! It is so much fun to hear each of the topics enhanced by the personal experiences you’ve both had.
For me, as a performing musician over some 55 years now, the dilemma I continually have to face is nervousness — but only when it transforms itself into tenseness. Being tense is an absolute killer. Breath control is largely gone, Confidence is gone. What’s left is sheer panic, and that feeds on itself. Horrible when it happens. The best thing I can do is first, prepare my material to the point where I don’t have to worry about them. (Easier said than done.) Then acknowledge and accept the nervousness, but rely on my muscle memory to bring it home. Works… Read more »
For some reason I seem to be commenting a lot recently (Relax, ACTS, you are in no danger to be topped in comments😁) And a lot of it could almost be considered bragging. Not my intent. However…..🤔 Public speaking (and especially singing) has never bothered me. I can be nervous before, rarely, but once started, it ends. I’m better if I have practiced, but if I’m not obligated to do things a certain way, I often have no idea what I’m going to say, but it often is something funny that I have no idea where it came from. And… Read more »
1st time I had to brief top brass on a classified project, I froze solid – deer in headlights. Why? My boss loaded my focused (early career) engineering brain with messages of high-level talking points (i.e., cost, politics, production, survivability, etc.) that I had no ‘feel’ for (as a new ‘propulsion’ engineer). Once I stumbled past and butcherd the political talking-points, and got onto magnificent engineering features, I lit the room up because I knew my shite – cold! After the brief, a senior gov/DOD official noticed I wore a special tie tack (a Whale) that few in the world… Read more »
In my job (I’m retired now) I had to learn to speak in front of groups of 30 to 40 people who came to our facility to learn how to use epoxy in boat building or other construction projects. They came to us because we are the experts in the marine and composite industry. When I first started I was as nervous as hooker in church – as they cliche goes. By the end of my career not only was I not nervous but I actually enjoyed it. I’ve been retired since 2018 and still run into people I talked… Read more »
I love these episodes but they’re more informative than there is anything to comment on in them. Don’t let the lack of comments dissuade you from continuing this content.
THIS ^^^^^^^^^^
I saw Bill W. in Marietta, Ga., dragging along my youngest boy. Agree Bill seems very relaxed on stage. While he was talking about how antithetical this is for most folks, I remembered telling friends that I felt most relaxed doing surgery. Mmmm.