Famous People Who Admit to Nervousness and Stage Fright

Famous People Who Admit to Nervousness and Stage Fright

Show me a person who says, “I never feel nervous when I go to present,” and “I’ll show you an “automatic presenter.”

Some of the world’s most famous presenters freely admit to nervousness and stage fright—

Benedict Cumberbatch - He is so adorable, and his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes a marvel. And I loved him in The Imitation Game. He does, like Hugh Grant, often play bumbling and or odd characters so he can channel his nervousness into the part.

Adele - That booming voice, and she still gets scared.

Bob Dylan - That incredible creative man has stage fright. I get he has a bad voice, but he is a poet/lyricist of great magnificence.

Jason Alexander - He acts nervous all the time, how can he tell? By the way did you see him in the TV version of Bye Bye Birdie? Lots of fun.

Maya Angelou - She writes magnificently and has that amazing voice, but she also has stage fright.

Hugh Grant - There is a great interview on YouTube where he talks about it. Look up Graham Norton Show Hugh Grant Stage Fright. He talks about he even gets it working on animated films!

Annie Lenox - She says she gets over it by enjoying the moment. 

Brian Wilson - (The Beach Boys) Receives shoulder and neck rubs and prays before his concerts.

Sir Lawrence Olivier - Yes, one of the greatest actors of all time had stage fright.

Barbara Streisand - (singer and actress) I have seen her perform live. She had not done a live performance in years. She is wonderful, and you can see that she is a bit shy but she uses humor to overcome her fear.

Nicole Kidman (actress) - I was surprised. In her roles she always comes across as a bit plastic. I don’t see the vulnerability other people seem to see.

Michael Douglas - (actor) Yes, surprising.

Alfred Hitchcock - (director) I took a film class on him and read several biographies. As a child his mother was ill, and made him come home from school every day and stand at the end of her bed and report on his day. That would strike fear into anyone’s heart.

Winston Churchill - He dealt with it by drinking!

John Cougar Mellancamp (musician, actor)

William Shatner - He just keeps taking risks, and darn I admire that. If you can find the TV show where he and his wife remodel their home, you will be charmed with his boundless enthusiasm. I think that helps him as well. 

The Challenges and Advantages of Starting a Business at a Young Age

I started my business at 22 with $25 dollars and a really nice briefcase.

I have been very blessed in this business. Recently a media source asked me to share my challenges and advantages of starting a business so young. 

Here is my rough list.

1.       Disadvantage starting the business having no money for any marketing, not even the budget for business cards.

2.       Disadvantage not knowing so many things that would have made running the business easier and built it more quickly.

Just one simple thing, like getting the business cards from all my audience members before they left the speech or always asking for a reference letter from my clients would have been helpful.

(Advantage of not having cards and not knowing the “right way” to sell led to me calling everyone I had spoken for that week and asking what they liked about the program and what I could do better and if they needed other work done and if they knew anyone else that needed a speaker. I would even ask them to call their contacts for me and recommend me, which unbelievably they did!

3.       Disadvantage -I wish I had known to form a board for the company and or a group of trusted advisors with experienced business people to act as a sounding board and source of advice, and also to keep from being so isolated and ideally to work with collaboratively helping each other. I would tell anyone starting a business to do this and to ideally join a VISTAGE group.

4.       The biggest advantage was my naivete. I didn't know what you were supposed to do, what you could or couldn't do or what was and was not possible. As a professional speaker I ran out into the audience, stood on chairs, did crazy things and asked the audience to do fun things. I found out years later professional speakers didn't do such crazy things, but those crazy things made me unique. I still do impossible things every time I speak and doing that I believe, made my business. 

5.       The other advantage of starting young is that I didn't know to think in terms of billable hours. I didn't know that I should not put in more work than I was being paid for to do. Ultimately I undercharged and I put in far more work than I was paid for. Again, that was also an advantage because I consistently have gone above and beyond, the work was always at the highest standard which I think helped me get repeat clients and longevity in the very difficult speaking business. (Less than 5% of speakers who work full time speaking as their sole means of income survive more than 2 years in the business.)  I still have that work ethic and that desire to be the very best and work far more than I am paid for.  

Take Care,

Patti Wood MA, CSP

Body Language Expert

Author

Skype or Video Job Interview Tips from a Body Language Expert

When I coach my clients on how to prepare for Skype or video job interviews or a Skype media interview from their homes I give them this check sheet. 

·         Prepare your room. Turn on the camera and see what shows up on the screen. If there is a trashcan or a messy bookshelf clean it up.  Simplify your background.

·         Try different backgrounds.  If you have a laptop with a camera you can try different locations for the lighting and setting to make you look your best.

·         A lighting trick is to use only ONE lighting source if front of you that is set up behind the camera that offers diffused light that means a good shade.

·         Check your seating, and your camera angle. You don’t want look too far up or down it will age you and or make your face look distorted rather than symmetrical.

·         Make up is very important for women on Skype or recording. It’s not a very forgiving medium. Even men may want to use a little translucent powder brushed lightly over the face so they don't look sweaty on camera.

·         Make sure if you wear glasses that they don't have a glare bouncing off of them. Lens Crafters has no glare lenses for an extra 40 dollars.

·         Check your wardrobe. Check your wardrobe sitting down, pull your clothes down in front and in back so nothing rides up and make you look funny.

For women jewel tones like royal blue look good next to the face. Sleeveless dresses or with no more than three quarter sleeve look better than bulky jackets. For men make sure your shirt is crisp and the collar lays down flat.

·         Get your hair out of your face. If it normally falls into your face put it behind you ears or get it cut. When you’re nervous it is far too easy to touch your hair and push it back to calm yourself and it is very distracting.

·         We give ourselves little touches on our face, neck, hands and such when we are nervous. They calm us by alerting the brain to send calming chemicals. These are normal stress cues, we do them all the time but they increase during on camera interviews. Gesturing normally can reduce comfort cues. Don’t try to be still. If you have to have some place to rest your hands, you can also try practicing with your hands resting off camera on the keyboard if you are using a desktop screen camera or open on your lap off camera.

·         If you normally gesture don’t try to stop yourself for the interview. Gestures actually help us create and go down neural pathways in the brain. Gestures free up space in the brain and at times effectively “pull out file draws to memories” and can animate the voice giving it more variation, interest and emotion.

·         Tape yourself doing a dry run of your interview to check the sound, lighting and how you look.

·         Practice with someone greeting you and asking you questions while you look at the camera and answer to practice making eye contact with the camera. Preferably someone who isn't hyper critical.

·         The day of the interview do another dry run fifteen minutes before to check your connection, and sound.

·         Take a short relaxing walk before your. Walking syncs your right and left hemisphere so you can think logically and speak with emotion and dynamism.

·         You want your body to feel and look energetic. So move and stretch in a relaxing, smooth way before your interview. The brain creates chemicals to match how your body is moving or posed.

·         Breathe deeply once you sit down. Slow, deep belly breaths center you and supply lots of good oxygenated blood to the brain. Try putting a hand on your belly and breathing in slowly on three, holding for three counts and breathing out slowly on a count of three. Imagine the breath coming in and out through your hand into and out of your tummy.

·         Make sure you are entirely off camera and everything is turned off before you make a sigh, make a face or make a comment. You would be surprised at how many times that last look of someone saying, darn or some cuss word when they think they are “done.”

These tips for preparing for Skype job and media interviews are from my book SNAP Making the Most of First Impressions Body Language and Charisma and my media interview books.

Will @upworthy type headline work for you? A startling conclusion.

Will @upworthy type headline work for you? A startling conclusion.     

Before I reveal if an Upworthy type headline will work for you, let’s back up and first talk about what IS an Upworthy type headline?
Upworthy is a site that takes videos that are already trending on Reddit and packages them into a super-catchy, super-sharable viral explosion.
Unlike you and I, Upworthy doesn’t have to worry about creating content. They simply take existing content that’s already going bacterial, repackage it, and give it a supercharged rocket booster. And it all starts with the headline.
To get a really good sense of what an Upworthy headline looks like, here are top 10 Upworthy headlines of 2013:

What is an Upworthy type headline?

Upworthy headlines use a psychological principle known as the Curiosity Gap.
Let’s take “A Pastor Asks A Politician Why He Supports Gay Marriage. It Seems He Wasn’t Prepared For His Reply” headline and break it down.
The headline introduces two characters; Pastor and Politician. It already sounds like a start to a funny joke, right? Two guys walk into a bar, one’s a Pastor the other’s a Politician…
All of us have strong feelings about Pastors and Politicians. So Upworthy is tapping into our preconception in a masterful way by introducing these two players to us right in the headline.
Then they add a hot button issue to the equation. Gay marriage.
And then BOOM! The Curiosity Gap. “He Wasn’t Prepared For His Reply”.

The Experiment

So, I decided to see if the Upworthy type headline would work for my business.
I performed a short experiment in November-December 2013 timeframe on Triberr blog. It’s fair to say that the experiment didn’t have enough data points to be entirely scientific, and Im sure the fact that the experiment was done in November-December (holiday season) will skew the data in some way.
I’ve chosen to follow 2 primary data points. The number of first-degree shares, and the number of visits which came directly via the shortner.
Note: Majority of Triberr blog traffic comes from within Triberr, and members are not seeing the headlines when clicking on the Blog link inside their Account drop down. So I’m only including shortner visits in the results.
I’ve compared 3 blog posts which use Upworthy type headlines and 3 posts that use a traditional type headline.
Click on total shares and pageviews to verify the numbers and get up to date info. 
Upworthy type headlines:

• The future of technology. He nails it. (260 total shares, 361 pageviews)
• Behind closed doors at a content strategy meeting. What you hear will surprise you. (231 total shares, 480 pageviews)
• She tried to keep them on topic but they kept going off the rails. What happened next will amaze you. (305 total shares, 281 pageviews)

Regular Headlines:

• The ROI on Influence Marketing – Case Studies (438 total shares, 420 pageviews)
• 8 Triberr Announcements Before Thanksgiving (230 total shares, 202 pageviews)
• The Anatomy of a Campaign Post (284 total shares, no pageview data)

Data Aggregated

Sometimes looking at a singular data point doesn’t reveal anything useful. Let’s aggregate these results and see what we have.
First degree shares:
Upworthy headlines got 796 shares total.
Traditional headlines got 952 shares total.
Upworthy pageviews = 1120
Traditional pageviews = 922 (I assumed 300 pageviews for the last post because I lost the data)
Interesting, right? Upworthy type headlines received less shares in total, but attracted more pageviews than traditional headlines.

Conclusion

Please share your own conclusions in the comments, but to me the data has spoken.
I hate to admit this because I see Upworthy headlines as lame and manipulative. Plus I’ve spend years learning how to craft a killer headline and Upworthy essentially changed the game right underneath my feet.
But the data points to the fact that Upworthy headlines are super-clickable even when it’s done by a regular business.
Will I use more Upworthy headlines? 
I was really hoping this experiment will be a total failure. I was hoping it would prove that Upworthy type headlines are an aberration and they only work for the likes of Upworthy and Buzzfeed. These “fast food” sites are ruining my Internet and I’d love to see them gone. They are drowning “home cooked” posts you and I write, and I hate that we have to fight them for attention.
Alas, data says that the Curiosity Gap based headlines work across the board.
So will I use Upworthy type headlines more now? I still feel Upworthy type headlines are exploitive, manipulative, and lame. But will I use them? YES! Absolutely.
Not only that, but I will try to convince you to use them as well. Why? Because if we all start using them, they will stop being effective. And then we can either go back to a more traditional approach, or come up with the next version of super-effective headlines.
Will YOU use Upworthy type headlines?

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Dino Dogan

Founder at Triberr

Global Force for Badassery | Founder of Triberr | Refugee from Bosnia | Writer for Technorati | Professional Speaker | Lousy Martial Artist | Singer/Songwriter | Hi.

Wikipedia definition of the term Media Coach, What Does a Media Coach Do?

I am working on a contribution for Wikipedia on the definition of the term Media Coach. Here is what I have so far to explain what a media coach can do.

Media Coach is person who gives feedback and instruction to someone who going to be interviewed by the media. The goal of media coaching is to improve the coaching recipient's content, branding and delivery. If the person being coached is going to be interviewed on television perhaps his or her clothing and other aspects of their physical appearance may also receive recommendation for changes and improvements by the media coach. A media coach may help a client write their "talking points" that is the main points they hope to cover in the media interview as well as help them write and rehearse answers to possible questions posed by the media interviewer. Most media coaches will create and ask the "tough questions" that a news source may ask their "coachee" so that he or she will be prepared with a good, well delivered response. With coaching someone can remarkable improve their confidence, appearance, and "messaging."

People running for elected positions such as the president of the United States may get a speech coach or media coach to help them improve the way they are perceived via various media outlets. Book authors, topic experts , corporate officers and corporate spokespersons may also hire a media coach.

Tips to viewing a video in your speech to help the audience pay attention to a video

Tips to Viewing a Video in your speech to help the audience pay attention to a video

Give assignments to groups or individuals as to what, in particular, they should look and listen for, as they watch the video tape.

This gives them something specific to look for so they become active (rather than passive) participants. They tune in with a responsibility. They know what you want from them.

        Goal 1     Pay attention to the voice.

        Goal 2    Pay attention to the opening message of the salesperson.

        Goal 3    Pay attention to the emotion in the voice of the prospect.

You are the questioners. Listen and look for anything that triggers a question in your mind.

You are the Agreers. Listen and look for anything you can accept or “buy.”

You are the Disagreers (non disagreeables). Listen for anything that doesn’t make sense or that you can’t buy or accept.

You are the Implementers or Appliers. Listen for something to practice that you can pick up and run with, starting Monday morning.

You are the Relaters. You will find an incident, event, or situation in your life that relates to a principle being discussed on the tape.

Stop Tape Opportunities

Prediction	What is likely to happen?
Decision	What would you do...?
Perception	How do you see the customer/salesperson at this point?
Right way/ Wrong way	Ask for good and bad ways of handling the problem.

 Behaviors                   Look and Listen for the nonverbal cues given.

                                                                                 

Patti Wood MA, CSP

Body Language Expert

Patti@PattiWood.net

http://www.pattiwood.net/presentation.asp

Well known in the media from her TV, magazine, newspaper and online publications interviews, body language expert Patti Wood is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and a member of NSA, The National Speakers Association.

"Patti Wood is the Babe Ruth of body language experts, the gold standard of body language experts, the capo di tutti capi of body language experts." -Washington Post

Patti Wood, CSP, holds a B.A. and MA in body language and is a high energy, interactive, professional speaker, trainer and media expert.  She has been on hundreds of TV shows and has been quoted in more than seven hundred publications.  She is also the author of seven books on communication including her recent book, SNAP- Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma. If you are looking for a smart savvy body language expert, and experienced speaker, email her today at patti@Pattiwood.net.

Dealing Confidently with Difficult Attendees

Dealing Confidently with Difficult Attendees

1.         Be cool, calm, dry and secure.

2.        Never let your attendees see you sweat or get upset.  

3.        Depersonalize the hostility.

4.        You may just be the “next person on the scene.”

5.        Remain composed, keep your pride and ego in check as you respond.

6.        If you are comfortable with using humor, be funny and do it nicely.

Patti Wood MA, CSP

Body Language Expert

Patti@PattiWood.net

http://www.pattiwood.net/presentation.asp

Well known in the media from her TV, magazine, newspaper and online publications interviews, body language expert Patti Wood is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and a member of NSA, The National Speakers Association.

"Patti Wood is the Babe Ruth of body language experts, the gold standard of body language experts, the capo di tutti capi of body language experts." -Washington Post

Patti Wood, CSP, holds a B.A. and MA in body language and is a high energy, interactive, professional speaker, trainer and media expert.  She has been on hundreds of TV shows and has been quoted in more than seven hundred publications.  She is also the author of seven books on communication including her recent book, SNAP- Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma. If you are looking for a smart savvy body language expert, and experienced speaker, email her today at patti@Pattiwood.net.

Responding To Difficult Questions Questions From an Audiance or at a Meeting.

Responding To Questions

1. Take a deep, cleansing breath and say to yourself, “I will get through this.” Ask yourself, “How can I best serve the attendees?”
2. Use Positive Body Language

·         Keep your head turned towards the group.

·         Keep your arms and hands open and your palms exposed.

·         Maintain eye contact when listening. 

·         You can break and move away when responding to a question if the person is offensive.  You can even change the "game" by sitting down on the edge of a table of pulling up a stool or chair and addressing the entire group in conversation to take the feeling of being challenged out of difficult person.
 

3. If you don’t like the questions don’t say, “Good Question.” That rewards the person and he or she may ask you more "bad" questions.  If you need to say, "the short answer is...." or "That is a question that deserves and needs a long conversation where I can personalize  the answer for your needs and or "I an answer that, but Rather than take up the time of the rest of the group with that long answer for just you now  I would love to speak to you at length when we finish today or set up a time this week to talk.  we can talk about it at length." "Does that work for you?"
4. If you are challenged by a question or a person, make sure to clear your face of negative expressions and if you can smile! Don’t go to war with them. Remain neutral.
5. Use the entire space and touch if it is appropriate.

Patti Wood MA, CSP

Body Language Expert

Patti@PattiWood.net

http://www.pattiwood.net/presentation.asp

Well known in the media from her TV, magazine, newspaper and online publications interviews, body language expert Patti Wood is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and a member of NSA, The National Speakers Association.

"Patti Wood is the Babe Ruth of body language experts, the gold standard of body language experts, the capo di tutti capi of body language experts." -Washington Post

Patti Wood, CSP, holds a B.A. and MA in body language and is a high energy, interactive, professional speaker, trainer and media expert.  She has been on hundreds of TV shows and has been quoted in more than seven hundred publications.  She is also the author of seven books on communication including her recent book, SNAP- Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma. If you are looking for a smart savvy body language expert, and experienced speaker, email her today at patti@Pattiwood.net.

Tips to get questions from an audience

Tips to get questions from an audience

Always count to five after asking your attendees for questions (in fact, use the five count technique when you ask for answers from the audience as well.) This gives time for introverts to think of something and respond. Extroverts will blurt it out. There are two times this is most significant:

1.       When you ask for a response for the first time from your attendees you are, in effect, training them to respond. If you jump in to fill that awkward silence they know that you’ll rescue them next time and they will remain silent and passive. Force them to break their silence.

2.      When you have a technical, left-brained, introverted group they are more likely to need that quiet time to think of their answer. Use humor. Say, “No one likes to ask the first question, who would like to ask the second?”

Patti Wood MA, CSP

Body Language Expert

Patti@PattiWood.net

http://www.pattiwood.net/presentation.asp

Well known in the media from her TV, magazine, newspaper and online publications interviews, body language expert Patti Wood is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and a member of NSA, The National Speakers Association.

"Patti Wood is the Babe Ruth of body language experts, the gold standard of body language experts, the capo di tutti capi of body language experts." -Washington Post

Patti Wood, CSP, holds a B.A. and MA in body language and is a high energy, interactive, professional speaker, trainer and media expert.  She has been on hundreds of TV shows and has been quoted in more than seven hundred publications.  She is also the author of seven books on communication including her recent book, SNAP- Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma. If you are looking for a smart savvy body language expert, and experienced speaker, email her today at patti@Pattiwood.net.

How to Get Questions from an Audience Started

How to Get Questions from an Audience Started

*                    Give out blank 3x5 cards to everyone and ask them to put questions on cards and pass them up front during question time.

*                    Ask attendees to turn towards a partner and come up with a question. This is my personal favorite. It creates a lot of energy and more quality questions because the partners answer each other’s simple questions and eliminates the ridiculous ones.

Patti Wood MA, CSP

Body Language Expert

Patti@PattiWood.net

http://www.pattiwood.net/presentation.asp

Well known in the media from her TV, magazine, newspaper and online publications interviews, body language expert Patti Wood is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and a member of NSA, The National Speakers Association.

"Patti Wood is the Babe Ruth of body language experts, the gold standard of body language experts, the capo di tutti capi of body language experts." -Washington Post

Patti Wood, CSP, holds a B.A. and MA in body language and is a high energy, interactive, professional speaker, trainer and media expert.  She has been on hundreds of TV shows and has been quoted in more than seven hundred publications.  She is also the author of seven books on communication including her recent book, SNAP- Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma. If you are looking for a smart savvy body language expert, and experienced speaker, email her today at patti@Pattiwood.net.

What is the best way to ask for questions from your audience when you are the speaker?

Getting Questions

What is the best way to ask for questions from your audience when you are the speaker?

Wording of the request for questions from the audience. Do not use the standard old hat “Any questions?” It is used so often to end speeches that audiences hear it and they immediately think. “He is done I can stop listening now.”  Word your request for questions so that people will be compelled to share and ask. Say “What questions do you have about…?”

Patti Wood MA, CSP

Body Language Expert

Patti@PattiWood.net

http://www.pattiwood.net/presentation.asp

Well known in the media from her TV, magazine, newspaper and online publications interviews, body language expert Patti Wood is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and a member of NSA, The National Speakers Association.

"Patti Wood is the Babe Ruth of body language experts, the gold standard of body language experts, the capo di tutti capi of body language experts." -Washington Post

Patti Wood, CSP, holds a B.A. and MA in body language and is a high energy, interactive, professional speaker, trainer and media expert.  She has been on hundreds of TV shows and has been quoted in more than seven hundred publications.  She is also the author of seven books on communication including her recent book, SNAP- Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma. If you are looking for a smart savvy body language expert, and experienced speaker, email her today at patti@Pattiwood.net.

How to you use body language to ask for questions from an audience or in a meeting.

Getting Questions

How to you use body language to ask for questions from an audience or in a meeting. Invite questions by the way you present yourself nonverbally. Look at the group. Step or lean forward, and pause. Keep your hand in view, ideally with the hands open. Once you have everyone’s attention. Ask for questions.

Patti Wood MA, CSP

Body Language Expert

Patti@PattiWood.net

http://www.pattiwood.net/presentation.asp

Well known in the media from her TV, magazine, newspaper and online publications interviews, body language expert Patti Wood is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and a member of NSA, The National Speakers Association.

"Patti Wood is the Babe Ruth of body language experts, the gold standard of body language experts, the capo di tutti capi of body language experts." -Washington Post

Patti Wood, CSP, holds a B.A. and MA in body language and is a high energy, interactive, professional speaker, trainer and media expert.  She has been on hundreds of TV shows and has been quoted in more than seven hundred publications.  She is also the author of seven books on communication including her recent book, SNAP- Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma. If you are looking for a smart savvy body language expert, and experienced speaker, email her today at patti@Pattiwood.net.

When and How to Ask for Questions During a Speech or Meeting

Getting Questions

u When and How to Ask For Questions During a Speech or Meeting.

·         Ideally, ask questions throughout your presentation at the meeting, especially after major points and difficult to understand concepts. Let the group know ahead of time that they will have this opportunity and encourage them to interact. “As we finish each point we will have a discussion of what you need more information on and what your thing works well or needs more input.”

Patti Wood MA, CSP

Body Language Expert

Patti@PattiWood.net

http://www.pattiwood.net/presentation.asp

Well known in the media from her TV, magazine, newspaper and online publications interviews, body language expert Patti Wood is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and a member of NSA, The National Speakers Association.

"Patti Wood is the Babe Ruth of body language experts, the gold standard of body language experts, the capo di tutti capi of body language experts." -Washington Post

Patti Wood, CSP, holds a B.A. and MA in body language and is a high energy, interactive, professional speaker, trainer and media expert.  She has been on hundreds of TV shows and has been quoted in more than seven hundred publications.  She is also the author of seven books on communication including her recent book, SNAP- Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma. If you are looking for a smart savvy body language expert, and experienced speaker, email her today at patti@Pattiwood.net.

Something to Share

Sometimes you hear something so beautiful you just want to share it. Here Bill Evans' piano rendition of Alfie with a jazz quartet is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH_OQ6up5bY&sns=em

Deliver a Great Graph in PowerPoint

To see a great example of a graph chart and how to create and deliver a great graph chart in power point

Just watch the first one minute of this video.

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QPKKQnijnsM