Record your practice
Whether to train body language or verbal expression, practicing is essential to help you progress, but it is even more effective if you film your practice. Filming your practice can help you identify your shortcomings.
Do it, and you will see, it's so obvious.
Filming allows you to analyze your appearance and the message you convey as accurately as possible compared to an actual situation.
👨🏻 (Stéphane): This allows you to keep a record of your work and track your progress over the course of your training.
We encourage you to give it a try as it can help you advance very quickly. In one hour, you can make considerable progress. Then all you have to do is rehearse your content and watch the result after each take.
Analyze the recording
It is not the most fun thing to do, because almost everyone hates watching themselves and hearing their own voice! But it allows you to see all the flaws in your delivery (or even become aware of them for the first time) so that you can start working on them.
So, try to put your ego to one side if you can and focus on:
The image you see of yourself.
What you hear.
What jumps out at you visually.
What seems to be a tic (verbal or physical).
What seems strange.
What you can easily improve.
What you could improve, but that will be more difficult.
Then make a mental list of the things that are problematic and could be better, and if you can, try to pinpoint your greatest flaw (which you should deal with first) and what you do well.
Build on your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses
Once you have clarity about your strengths and flaws, you can begin working on them.
But there is so much to think about all at once! Posture, hand position, verbal tics… how can one think about everything?
It isn't easy initially. For example, the first time you analyze a video of yourself speaking, there is so much to consider that when you try again, you may find that you cannot concentrate on both the content and the points that need to be corrected simultaneously.
It's normal and will come with practice. First, concentrate on fixing one or two major shortcomings and work on them. Once you improve on them, then you can start looking at other aspects.
There are some "flaws" that can be difficult to eliminate. But it's not the end of the world. It's good to be aware of what you do well too, and let things come naturally.
👩🏻 (Laurène): I tend to speak very quickly with a shrill voice when I am enthusiastic. Even if I'm being careful, it comes back at times when I am a little less in control. I take comfort by telling myself that this is part of my personality and contributes to radiating a sincere and authentic energy.
You can practice to a camera alone or with another person present; it's good to have an outside perspective.
If you don't want to film yourself, you could try out your speech on other people, in front of family, or friends, for example.
This gives you a chance to practice with an audience, and you can get their feedback straight away. It's a little like beta-testing -- their advice and opinions will help you improve certain things, cut out what is not working (i.e., a joke that flops), etc.
Ideally, you should do both, if you can:
Practice on your own with a camera, take the time to analyze what you are conveying, work on it.
Deliver your content in front of a few friends or family members (2-3 people) to test your message's impact on other people.
Let’s recap!
Film your practice and watch it after each take to become aware of your image, flaws, and tics.
First, concentrate on fixing one or two major shortcomings and work on them. Once they have been improved, work on other aspects.
Deliver your content in front of a few friends or family members (2-3 people) to test your message's impact.
In the third part of this course, we will look at how to stay in control of the presentation on the big day.
This part is divided into five chapters so that you can grasp how to adapt the process to five different scenarios and see the specific features of each context:
Speaking at a conference.
Presenting a lesson to a class.
Delivering a presentation to the camera.
Making an in-house presentation.
Getting through a job interview.
For each of these scenarios, we will show you:
How to prepare.
How to express yourself.
How to handle surprises.
