Your message and other things you say

Had a student suggest a fourth ‘F’ when we were discussing the question, “What do you do when something out of the ordinary or bad happens while you are speaking?” (see last post for the other three Fs answer).

He responded, “Freak out!”

Of course, I don’t advocate that course of action, but it helped to underscore just how important scripted responses and templates are to helping us convert high-pressure situations into wins for us personally and the organizations we represent. When you can respond with knowledge and close the gap between what we as speakers feel is proper and what our listeners think is proper, we have a great chance of connecting with them and getting the responses we desire.

Don’t have a cow, man! There are better ways to deal with the stress of speaking.