3 Most Irritating Public Speaking Mannerisms
OK, so your speech has been written and rehearsed. You know the demographic of the audience, you’ve studied their interests and understand their expectations. You have performed your voice warm-up exercises and have made sure that a glass of water has been placed within your reach and you are ready to deliver your presentation.
Surely there’s no room for error? Yet your audience appears distracted as you deliver your speech perfectly.
It could only be – your irritating mannerisms.
Surely not! After all, you don’t have any mannerisms! Do you?
Time after time, carefully prepared presentations are spoilt by speakers being oblivious to their mannerisms whilst on stage – unconsious habits that serve only to distract the audience from what is being said and focus their attention on your irritating actions.
Are you guilty of any of these? Be honest with yourself or better still, ask a trusted friend to truthfully outline your most annoying habits.
1. Are you a Leaner and Swayer? Speakers who continually shift their weight from one foot to the other, swaying first one way, then another will certainly make their audience feel truly giddy. Others will show a preference to rock forward and backwards from heel to toe as they deliver their speech. Of course, the speaker is oblivious to these movements but the audience certainly won’t be! Make an effort to become aware of your balance when speaking and work towards remaining still and upright.
2. Are you a Scratcher or Ear Puller? Many speakers put great effort into appearing to be well educated and a deep thinker and frequently this will give rise to habitual touching of an ear or scratch of the head to give weight to that image. Sub-consciously too, these actions bring comfort and calm frayed nerves and so are common mannerisms. Always remember though, scratching is catching and before long you’ll have the whole audience scratching too!
3. Are You an N.B. & C.? This is polite code for a Nose Blower and Cougher. These irritating mannerisms indicate that the speaker has developed a nervous habit which makes them appear to be suffering from a heavy cold. Their frequent clearing of the throat and wiping of the nose will annoy the audience and certainly frighten any hypochondriac who may be sitting in the front row!
If you find yourself constantly needing to clear your throat, practice swallowing instead and always make sure that you have a glass of room-temperature water to hand during your speech.
Mannerisms affect us all and in any other walk of life generally won’t matter at all. However, if you are delivering a speech to an audience, your mannerisms – or lack of them – may make the difference between being remembered as an excellent public speaker, or an extremely irritating one.
Which one would you prefer to be?
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