'The course of true love never did run smooth,' goes a famous saying. And presentations? — Here's why it's important for you to fail in public speaking.
Ever fail at giving a presentation? Of course. Now imagine that the talk you gave was seven hours long.
That happened to me when I gave a full-day workshop some years ago. It was my fault and the fault of the organization's scheduler too, because the group's expectation and mine were totally different. But I'm here to tell the tale. The value of failures like that is what this article is about.
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Performing Is Failing. And Succeeding. And So On.
The quote at the start of this piece is from the character Lysander in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. And that's no accident. Here are a couple of other helpful quotes on the theme from two performers whose names you might recognize more easily:
"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself." — Charlie Chaplin
"I thank God for my failures." — Dolly Parton
Too many of us speakers and presenters spend all of our time creating and polishing our content, as if that rather than ourselves is what impresses people. The fly in this ointment? We may not have practiced—and failed—so we could pick ourselves up and try again. After all, if you want to know how to show the qualities of a leader when you speak, you mustn't try to achieve excellence for its own sake, but you must absolutely embody it in your talk.
Here's a truth you may already know but have perhaps forgotten: performance means trying and trying again until the extraordinarily difficult appears easy. That's one of the definitions of a consummate artist! Charlie Chaplin famously required 342 takes for a bit in his 1931 film City Lights, which one commentator said was "extraordinary even by his standards." Was the moment comic perfection? Probably not. But it was most likely 341 times better than it had been at first.
Want to Grow as a Professional? — Then Fail!
Remember, you'll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind. Doing means action. (Here's how to command a stage in public speaking. And here are tips on using "the voice of authority" so you sound like a leader.) How you grow from an experience—positive or negative—is an active endeavor, and a vital one. Nothing is as depressing, and then as inspiring, as failure. You don't need Pollyanna to remind you that obstacles frequently turn into opportunities. You're already living it.
There's a famous scene at the end of the movie Patton. George C. Scott as the famous World War II general (who believed that he was reincarnated) relates in a voiceover about a telling Roman custom. Generals who won battles and wars got to ride in a chariot at the head of a triumph, with enslaved opponents and riches from their territories following in the procession. But standing directly behind him was a slave, whose job was to whisper in the conquerer's ear now and again: "All fame is fleeting."
So is failure.
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Gary Genard is an actor, author, and expert in public speaking and overcoming speaking fear. His company, The Genard Method offers live 1:1 Zoom executive coaching and corporate group training worldwide. He is the author of the Amazon Best-Seller How to Give a Speech. His second book, Fearless Speaking, was named in 2019 as “One of the 100 Best Confidence Books of All Time.” For nine consecutive years, he was ranked by Global Gurus as one of The World’s Top 30 Communication Professionals, and he has been named as one of America's Top 5 Speech Coaches. His handbook for presenting in videoconferences, Speaking Virtually offers techniques for developing virtual presence. He is also the author of Speak for Leadership: An Executive Speech Coach's Secrets for Developing Leadership Presence. His latest book is The Confidence Book: 75 Ways to Reduce Your Anxiety, Let Go of Your Fears, Change Your Negative Thinking, and Perform At Your Professional Best. He is also the creator of The Dr. William Scarlet supernatural thrillers. Contact Gary here.
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