One of the things which makes speaking on stage stressful is not knowing the venue. You have to find the building and the room.
At one speech contest in Cambridge, England, one of the contestants got lost and turned aback and went home half way. As Woody Allen famously said, half the battle is just turning up.
Date
Check the date. Email about next meeting are not clear. Add the day of the week, especially if your regular meetings are on Saturday but a big event is on a Sunday or vice versa. Also check for national holidays and other major events such as football matches which could cause traffic jams.
Directions
If you are organizer of a national event, in some countries you can pay to install a sign to a hotel or conference centre at a junction. You can pay to change the road signs or add to them if you have a budge.
However, there's a lot you can do in advance to reduce the stress. Send a map to those attending. Phone to check they know the way. Organize lifts from the nearest station. Phone to check they are on the way. If they are lost, send somebody to meet them at the building entrance. Gather your group at a nearby pub for lunch in advance.
Packing A Printer
The Singapore contestant who reached the international finals, Wiwiek, told us that she packed her own printer so she did not need to leave her hotel bedroom and go to the conference centre to print off revisions to her speech.
Food Timing
Tell the pub that you have to leave at a specific time and ask which food can be prepared in time. Order meals in advance. Arrange for one person to pay for everybody so they can walk off fast. Then arrange cars or pairs to walk together.
You might invest in some food to share, to perk up your spirits, give a rush of energy before you go on stage. Even keep your rival contestants happy.
When you win and they lose, or you win and they lose, you already have goodwill which makes it easier for everybody.
Buying Food
It helps to check the type of venue and plan what to do. If possible go to the venue well in advance. For example, a year before. Either attend a meeting there. Or just turn up to something else in the building, have a coffee, and food where you can get coffee or food in the building, find out about the parking, the walk from the station. Check with the organizers whether you need to bring your own sandwich and if you can eat in the building and what time the food outlet closes.
We had a meeting in a building with a college cafeteiria, a business school. However, the eating place closed before noon at the quiet weekend. Those who had bought a sandwich before the meeting had food, those of us who expected to buy fresh at lunch time were unable to do so.
I bought food the next time in advance It cost me the price of a sandwich. If I was given food it was a waste of time and money. it saved queuing later.
Toilets in Queensland Art Gallery. Photo by Kgbo.
Toilets
Also check the toilets. You might hope for a huge venue to have a huge toilet area. Not necessarily. You might have two toilet cubicles, one out of order and the other occupied by a mother and two children.Two toilets on your level for a meeting of 100 people with a ten minute break in which you want to network. Toilets already occupied by a dance troupe changing clothes who broke up fifteen minutes before your meeting. Where are the toilets one level up or down?
On one occasion I was the judge at a contest. Doors were locked during speeches. i went for the food first.
The ladies toilet was along a corridor, down a flight of stairs and along a corridor. Nobody to ask.When I came back I was locked out of the contest.
Doors
I tried knocking but the door was behind the stage and nobody heard. What to do? Go home? My bag was inside.
I stood and waited. outside the air con in the heat. I had no choice.
Luckily after a few minutes somebody left and the door opened so I was able to sneak in. Nobody noticed or knew I was five minutes late back and had been locked out.
In some office buildings in Singapore you need a key to use the toilets. You go along a corridor, left, right left. Coming out there are two doors, left and right. it is easy to get lost. Then you need somebody to let you back into the office.
In the USA and UK the organizer of Toastmasters International always announces the location of the toilets. In Singapore this is rarely done.
Changing Venue For One to One Meetings
First you need to arrive on time. I had a meeting arranged and the other person wanted to change to another venue at McDonalds in a mall. I changed it back to the venue I know, another place, because the changed venue was an hour and a half away from me in both direction,s a fifteen minutes walk with my laptop, and the directions online were to a community centre and not the mall and I was afraid of being lost. We switched back to our usual venue.
Stand Up And Spotlights
When you speak on stage at a stand up comedy event you might be under a spotlight which makes eye contact or even opening your eyes difficult.
Arriving Early
So check the size and shape of the venue. Arrive early and rehearse on stage. Plan how to give your speech in a large hall and a small one. Then you will be sure that your audience can see you and hear you and appreciate the message you want to give them.
Sound Check
Have somebody stand at the back of the room and tell you if you can be heard. If you are organizing, get all the speakers to do a test.
Alternative Speech
Always have two speeches ready, one for a behind the lectern speech, another for a huge stage.
At very least arrive early and check the venue. Walk up and down miming your actions. If the venue limits actions, change the speech.
Small Or Large Stage?
This does not always work. You may be denied entry because 'the room is not ready' or 'nobody is allowed on the stage', 'please sit down', 'we need this place clear to set up the sound system' or even, 'we cannot allow one contestant an advantage over the others'.
An alternative is to check on line for the picture of the venue or ask to be sent one. If the organizers won't help, maybe somebody who attends a meeting has a photo. Maybe their Facebook page has a photo.
Weddings
At weddings you can assign one of the ushers to the car park with a welcome sign. The hotel or venue should have a sign in the hall with a direction arrow. Have signs at all exits, the back exit, the wheelchair ramp, the lifts - before your group goes upstairs to another wedding.
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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