Don't panic .. banish stage fright the MJ way

IT is enough to strike terror into the hearts of even the most confident people, causing sleepless nights and spasms of wild panic.

But the source of these nightmares is not a fear of heights, or even spiders, but public speaking.

Whether it is the prospect of addressing a host of your own colleagues at the company AGM, or delivering a contract-winning pitch to a potential client, preparing to speak in public can set even the most assertive executive's knees trembling.

But now, help is at hand for the Capital's stage-fright-stricken business community thanks to the services of MJ Consulting.

Set up last year by 28-year-old Maryanne Johnston, the company offers executives advice on every aspect of public speaking and making presentations.

With an impressive client list that ranges from the big guns like The Royal Bank of Scotland and Aberdeen Asset Management to smaller outfits such as retailer Graham Tiso, Ms Johnston seems to have tapped into something of a niche market.

For the moment, MJ Consulting is a one-woman enterprise, but its owner confides that expansion could be on the cards soon. Having learnt her trade at the Kingstree Group in London, where she worked for three and a half years, she decided to move back to her native Scotland last year.

When it comes to helping business leaders conquer their jangling nerves and stage fright, Ms Johnston favours a two-pronged approach.

"My two main goals are making sure that the speaker gets their message across clearly and ensuring that their personality, credibility and integrity really come through," says Ms Johnston, who was born in Elgin and studied in Newcastle and France.

"I work with executives of all levels, but at the moment I am mainly working with middle to senior management."

Her clients seek out her advice because they might be facing an audience of delegates or have a nerve-wracking presentation to give to secure a lucrative contract.

Offering sessions both to groups and on a one-to-one basis, her approach is designed to prepare people as thoroughly as possible for their moment in the spotlight.

Given her expertise, one could be forgiven for assuming that Ms Johnston herself is immune from the public speaking jitters. But in truth, it was only once she began helping other people overcome their fears that she started to banish her own demons. As well as her face-to-face business coaching, she regularly gives seminars to aspiring young executives at Scottish junior chambers of commerce.

Speaking just hours before she heads north to address the Inverness branch, she confesses: "Public speaking is something which I used to be absolutely terrified of, until I started working in this field and learned how to reduce any pressures I might be putting on myself.

"It's all about controlling the adrenaline levels. I know that for my seminar, I've got all my notes in order and I'm clear on what message I want to get across." One of the key aspects of MJ Consulting's public speaking training is preparation - making sure that every pitfall, from wobbly lecterns to tricky technology, has been taken into consideration.

"What I do for my clients is to provide an objective view of what they want to say. Although I may give advice on grammar or style, the content is very much their own. I ask them who their audience is and what experience they have. And I establish what they want their audience to go away remembering about the speech afterwards."

She explains it is a case of transferring the conversational skills business people rely on in more informal situations to the more formal setting of a public address or presentation.

"In relaxed, informal situations people get their message across and make an impact, but sometimes there are situations where they are perhaps not feeling on top form or they have to speak to a much larger audience than they would otherwise be used to. I say to them, 'let's look at what happens in conversation and see what's effective'."

After observing the way her client conducts informal conversation, she then puts them on the spot with a public speaking exercise. "I throw them in at the deep end and make them give a speech they've never seen before. It shows the kind of things that can go wrong when you're under pressure. After that, I pull out techniques the client uses in normal conversation and advise them how to incorporate them into their speech.

"Key things are making eye contact with your audience, learning how to use silence effectively and making sure you keep your listeners' attention."

Such is Ms Johnston's success rate that clients come back to her time and time again for advice and guidance. She likens these repeat sessions to the kind of intensive, continuous training that top athletes undergo with their coaches to help them stay ahead of the game. "An analogy I like to use is Tim Henman. He doesn't get to the quarter and semi-finals of Wimbledon every year just because he's had two or three tennis lessons. His coach takes him along every step of the way, making sure he is always playing at the top of his game.

"It's the same with public speaking. And the vast majority of my clients are pretty effective communicators to start with anyway - they wouldn't be in the jobs they're in if they weren't."

Despite these strong communication skills and abilities, an over-reliance on elaborate presentation aids, such as PowerPoint, can be the undoing of even the most meticulously crafted speech or pitch, Ms Johnston believes.

"You get clients who want to hinge a whole presentation on PowerPoint or another visual aid. But that can actually distract the audience and draw their attention away from what the speaker is saying. It means that the credibility of the speaker is lost a little bit and they may find it hard to get their message across."

Instead, she recommends a back-to-basics approach. "We start by structuring ideas for the presentation on paper, gradually building up notes to speak from. Then we work on how visual aids can back up the presentation, rather than making them the focal point."

Beyond the business world, the fear of speaking in public is no less prevalent, with weddings proving a source of particular anguish.

Anxious bridegrooms and nervous best men are filled with dread at the thought of making a witty and memorable speech in front of hundreds of guests, many of who just want them to hurry up and get on with it so they can get stuck into the salmon mousse.

But wedding speech coaching is an area which Ms Johnston hadn't ever really considered, until one of her close friends begged her to come to his rescue as his Big Day loomed ever closer.

"My friend approached me about six months before his wedding," she explains. "He said: 'I know what you do is more business-based, but I am utterly terrified about my wedding speech and I need your help!' I took him through various sessions to get his speech together, helping him mainly with his delivery until he felt a lot more controlled and calm about it.

"Then at his wedding he gave an amusing, touching and very romantic speech which went down a storm. And I thought: 'This could be a whole new angle for me'. So far, I've coached two grooms and two best men and another two best men are coming to see me this year."

Unaccustomed as you are, these tips will help

ACCORDING to Dr Cynthia McVey, senior lecturer in psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, public speaking is an experience that many of us find very frightening.

"It's absolutely horrible," she says.

"Even people who are quite used to doing it can feel totally traumatised before they get up to speak.

"It's very like stage fright - you can feel sick and your heart starts thundering in your chest just before you have to go on.

"You worry about what people will think of your appearance, how they will rate your speech and whether you'll forget or fluff your words.

And it can be even worse for business people, because they are expected to have a very high competency level."

Here is a selection of Dr McVey's suggestions for calming those pre-speech jitters:

• Practise your material thoroughly before you actually get up to speak, perhaps by rehearsing in front of a small group of friends.

• Try not to cram in too much in the way of visual material. If you are using an overhead projector or PowerPoint, make sure it can be seen by people at the back of the room.

• Taping yourself delivering a run-through of the speech can help you to spot weaknesses or hesitations.

• Use some tension-busting exercises, such as a few minutes of deep breathing, to help you relax before you go in.

• Above all, try to remember that the audience is on your side. They will understand how difficult public speaking is, and they will be hoping to be informed, entertained and stimulated. They do not want to see you fail.