Come As Your Worst Fear

It's almost Halloween and in the spirit of the season (pun intended), there's a good chance that you will be invited to a costume party. Themed Halloween parties such as "Come As Your Favorite Celebrity", "Come As Your High School Self", or "Come As Your Favorite Fad" are all the rage. 

But what if the invitation you receive asks that you "Come As Your Worst Fear". Will you dress as a spider? A snake? Maybe you will come as a roller coaster or an airplane. But how do you dress as a public speaker? Because according to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking.

Here's the truth about fear:

• Fear only controls you when you give into it
• The simple task of walking through your fear - doing what you fear, then doing it again - transforms your fear into courage
• Fear is a habit. You can establish a new habit by faking it until you make it
• Your fear rarely shows. And when it does show, it shows less than you think
• Fear is rooted in perfectionism - accept that you are human and remember that vulnerability is an asset in effective communication.
• You will survive even your worst-case scenario. Preparation and practice will see you through anything. 
• Fear is normal
• Fear can be transformed into one of your greatest tools...

At Ty Boyd Effective Communications & Coaching we don't offer a quick fix for your fear - the instant prescription that will eliminate your fear forever.  What we do give you is much more valuable. We give you a way to change the way you think about, and therefore how you react, to fear. 

Give us a call at Ty Boyd, Inc. and we will help turn your fear into energy. And then you are free to go to the Halloween party dressed as the Grim Reaper. 

Impromptu Practice

According to its website, TableTopics started when its creator, Christy Clark, was on her way to a holiday cocktail party. She was trying to think of interesting conversation starters because the thought of another evening of small talk was more than she could handle. She jotted down a few questions and tried them out on her fellow party goers. And the result is TableTopics - a collection of conversation starter sets meant to spark fun, interesting and meaningful discussions around the dinner table, at parties, on road trips - or wherever. 

During our Excellence in Speaking course, the faculty at Ty Boyd, Inc. get students on their feet to practice speaking accurately, intelligently and articulately. Most of the talking that we do on any given day is impromptu speaking and we have found that off the cuff practice is a good warm up for thinking on your feet in meetings and in daily conversations. Extemporaneous speaking - without preparation and without notes - can be overwhelming, but throughout the Excellence in Speaking course, we give you dozens of opportunities to practice what we preach.

We recently heard from one of our clients at AAA telling us that she and her colleagues, who are also Excellence in Speaking alumni, get together for a bi-monthly meeting to re-sharpen their communication tools. They take turns drawing a card from the TableTopics box and speak for 2 minutes. She wrote to tell us that she is amazed by the dramatic changes she has seen in those employees who attend the practice session on a regular basis.

We'd all like to achieve excellence without the drudgery of practice. But chances are, that's just not going to happen. But...if you practice, you will be ready, you will be effective and you will succeed as a communicator. Practice is a simple tool that is available to all of us no matter what our skills are in other areas. No matter how resonant our voice, no matter how naturally effortless our posture, no matter what kind of smile we have or how good our eye connection is - we can all practice. 

And...lest you think that conversation is losing its art in an increasingly digital world - you'll be happy to know that there's an app for that....TableTopics is available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch offering a host of questions designed to jump-start conversations and give you the ability to practice.