Bad Advice

As I troll through websites on public speaking and stage fright, I see and read appalling stuff: Videos of public speaking coaches waving their hands wildly for no perceivable purpose. That awful advice to “look each person directly in the eyes, make a statement, move to the next person, look them . . .”

The worst advice of all? “Imagine your audience naked.” “Imagine your audience in their underwear.”

If I thought that a speaker or performer were imagining me naked or in my underwear, I’d walk out of the room.

What about the job interviewee with performance anxiety? Is he supposed to imagine the interviewer, who’s perhaps a potential boss, naked?

Unbelievable!