photo credit: DoNotLick

Self Concept or Residue Self Image plays a big part in how well you perform as a speaker or as a presenter in schools.

Whether you’re speaking on a stage to a large audience or presenting an idea to class or a small group of students, how you see yourself and what you think you’re capable of is a big factor in the success you have.

Self Concept:

Self Concept is defined as….

an individual’s perception of “self” in relation to any number of characteristics, such as academics (and nonacademics),gender roles and sexuality, racial identity, and many others.

You have such a perception about yourself as a speaker in school. It’s been constructed by your beliefs, experiences and self assessments that you’ve made over the years relating to public speaking and interacting with young people.

Perhaps yours is that you get nervous when you speak and you always forget what you were going to say.

Maybe you think yourself a confident and engaging speaker who can rouse an audience with your wit, charm and sophistication.

Or maybe it’s something in between.

The key is to understand that however you perceive yourself in a speaking or presentation environment will directly influence the actions you take and how you communicate with young people.

If your self concept is very negative and revolves around your inexperience or nerves then you’ll most likely develop bad habits with how you use your voice and even stumble over your words, missing key points of your talk.

Conversely, if your self concept is great and full of positives (without arrogance) then you’ll act very differently in front of your audience and so reap the benefits.

Residual Self Image:

Residual Self Image is simply how you mentally see yourself.

Wikipedia calls it:

A person’s self-image is the mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially available to objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair color, gender, I.Q. score, etc.), but also items that have been learned by that person about himself or herself, either from personal experiences or by internalizing the judgments of others.

If you think about yourself right now and imagine what you look like, what do you see? Do you see someone quiet or loud, tall or short, confident or insecure?

However you see yourself effects what you think and what you do.

I remember when I first started driving properly after passing my driving test. I saw myself a cool young lad, driving around in a really nice hatchback car. I’d see myself driving around with the sun shining and the windows down, music playing and life was good. With that image came a way of driving that was fast and cool and would turn everyone’s head.

The only problem was that self image was causing me to drive recklessly and even though I was never involved in an accident or caused one for that matter, I knew it was only a matter of time before something happened if I didn’t change that self image.

If you have a residual self image as a speaker in schools that is negative or disempowering then it was massively effect how you perform and how well you get your point across.

The Power of Self Concept and Residual Self Image:

The real power of these two ideas is not just in how they effect you but also and more importantly in my mind that you CAN change then if they don’t suit your needs.

We all have the ability to create our own self concept and change our residual self image so that they empower us and help us to be better. Its just a matter of choosing what you want and then taking the necessary actions (including body language, mental focus and verbal language changes) that shift your self concept and self image to be empowering to you as a speaker.

photo credit: majcher

Great speakers can win over a crowd before they even step out on stage but if you don’t carry that kind of kudos it can be difficult to have an audience on your side from the word go, especially in schools.

When I’m delivering a 2 hour workshop to a group of young people I know that the first few minutes when I start are crucial. They’re the game changer.

If I can’t win over my audience of young people in the first 5 minutes then it’s always an uphill battle.

If you’re going to talk to young people in schools the same principle applies: You have about 5 minutes right at the start to really get your audience on side.

One of the strategies that I use and that works really well for other speakers is to…

tell them they’ll love it

Young people are in a particularly suggestive state when they first hear you speak especially if they’ve never heard you talk before because they’re open to hear what you have to say. So the first 5 minutes of a talk is a great time to influence to your way of thinking.

By sowing the seeds of enjoyment in their minds they’ll unconsciously sit back and relax because you’ve just put their mind at ease. The more clearly you can state this fact “that you’re really going to enjoy what I have to share with you”, the more they’ll relax.

But beware to offer it as a suggestion. If you say to young people “I really hope you’ll like what I have to say” then they’ll pick up on the doubt within you and focus on it.

Another favourite introduction of mine, to really get an students on side is to…

tell a story

People love story telling and young people are no different. It is one of the most powerful influencing techniques because the human mind has been conditioned over thousands of years to listen to stories.

By tapping into that suggestive state your audience is in during the first few moments of any talk or presentation you can really put story telling to great use to win over your audience.

I’ve seen this strategy used where the story is simply the tale of the speaker getting lost on their way to school. Other times I’ve personally used personal stories right off the bat that make a very clear point about my talk or workshop.

Stories make it easy for young people to relate to you and when they do that they’re usually on your side. Your stories can be funny, irrelevant, to the point, dramatic, emotional or even downright silly, but the point is the power of stories to win a crowd is very strong.

The final and most important thing you need to do at the start of any presentation or talk if you want to influence your audience is to…

be engaging.

If you’re not enthusiastic and energetic then you can’t expect them to be. In a situation such as a presentation or a speech to young people the most certain person will always have more influence over the other. So if you’re engaging your audience of young people will engage. If you’re not they won’t.

It is really that simple.

To win over any group of young people in the first few minutes of a speech or presentation you have to engage with them and begin to build rapport. By doing that you can move through your content and information together rather than having to struggle from start to finish.

The level of engagement is critical too. You can’t force the engagement by being too obvious and over the top. It will work for some groups but not for all and for some it will just turn them off immediately. You have to gauge your audience very quickly when you begin to see how they respond to your level of enthusiasm.