But... practicing on autopilot will not make you a better speaker. Without identifying your strengths and weaknesses, measuring them and mindfully working on them, practice will only reinforce your existing habits - no matter how effective (or not) they might be.
The key to improvement is measurement.
The key to improvement is measurement.
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All speakers must accept that the way a performance feels on the inside is not necessarily the way it comes across to others. We must all tackle the challenge of calibrating how something feels to how effective it is out in the world.
But how do we measure talent? How do we quantify the delivery of a presentation as engaging or real or vulnerable or entertaining if not by gut feeling? There are few worse feelings than coming offstage to muted, scattered, pitying applause and not knowing what went wrong. Were you nervous, flustered, unprepared? Did a question from the audience throw you off? Maybe even everyone ELSE thought you were great but inside you feel terrible, like you know you missed something important to you. There is a temptation to give in to the gut feeling of "oh I was awful" and not examine it further.
But how does "I was awful" help? How will beating yourself up or telling yourself that you can't do any better ever help you improve? |
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What you need is an expert eye to break it down into specifics - small, measurable steps that you can actively work on, build your self-esteem and improve your skill.
That's where I come in. My name is Danielle Benzon and over my years of working as a speaking coach, I've analyzed thousands of performances and broken them down into measurable specifics. What I've discovered is that talent or charisma can be broken down into 7 elements.
When we look at each element on its own, it becomes easy to realistically measure a performance and identify both strengths and areas for improvement.
What I hate more than anything is watching a speaker struggling with overwhelm, trying to be excellent at everything all at once and getting frustrated when it's too much. Or worse, giving up because that generalized "I wasn't good" feeling is just too big to tackle.
I can't be everywhere at once, so to help speakers grapple with this analysis on their own, I have created a checklist of these 7 elements, plus an explainer ebook of how the elements break down and what to do to improve each area. These resources are meant to help speakers measure both their own progress and to help them learn what to emulate from others they might admire.
If you are a speaker and you find some of the elements of your craft frustrating or intangible, I invite you to sign up for my mailing list in the green box above to receive my 7 step Charisma Checklist and accompanying e-book to help you overcome that overwhelm and build your presence on stage and on camera one step at a time.
When we look at each element on its own, it becomes easy to realistically measure a performance and identify both strengths and areas for improvement.
What I hate more than anything is watching a speaker struggling with overwhelm, trying to be excellent at everything all at once and getting frustrated when it's too much. Or worse, giving up because that generalized "I wasn't good" feeling is just too big to tackle.
I can't be everywhere at once, so to help speakers grapple with this analysis on their own, I have created a checklist of these 7 elements, plus an explainer ebook of how the elements break down and what to do to improve each area. These resources are meant to help speakers measure both their own progress and to help them learn what to emulate from others they might admire.
If you are a speaker and you find some of the elements of your craft frustrating or intangible, I invite you to sign up for my mailing list in the green box above to receive my 7 step Charisma Checklist and accompanying e-book to help you overcome that overwhelm and build your presence on stage and on camera one step at a time.