Debunking Public Speaking Myths: Should I Picture The Audience Naked?

It's a phrase thrown around quite frequently isn't it? You describe to a colleague in a break around the water cooler that you are nervous about an upcoming talk in public and you get the response "Don't worry, just picture the audience naked!" I've always noticed two things about the people who say this; firstly that they think they are absolutely hilarious and secondly that they are only half joking. They really do think in part that a handy trick is to place an imaginary barrier between you and the crowd (one which makes them ridiculous in your eyes) in order to get through it.

Since leaving drama school a couple of years ago I have encountered this well worn saying with fresh eyes and ears. Instead of just being able to tell you not to go with it because of how silly it sounds, I can now actually give you specific technical reasons why it will completely undermine your attempts at great speech making based on the learns I've acquired speaking to thousands of people live every night as a professional actor...

1. It compromises your focus

As with anything you wish to be elite at, public speaking requires 100% of your attention at the point in time in which you are giving the speech. Imagining things that are not there requires a tonne of time, sweat and energy (just ask any actor who has ever had to work with green screen!). Energy is a precious commodity and trust me you want all of yours going into giving the best speech you have it in you to give, not in picturing the audience in a state of undress. Focus on the group of people in front of you as they are which means fully clothed hopefully.

2. It establishes the audience as the enemy

No one wants to spend 20, 30, 40 minutes bored! As an actor, day in day out, I have to find a way to get audiences to put up with me speaking Shakespeare for 3 1/2 hours at a time without getting bored. Even as a professional voice user this is quite a challenge! The thing to keep in mind is that your audience is always warmer than you think. Even if it feels like the whole world is against you, please trust that no-one is coming to your talk expecting or hoping for it to be awful. Remember they are the poor people who have to sit through it! The audience in fact is the only reason why the speech is taking place at all. It is for their benefit, growth and enjoyment and you may find that it is even at their specific request that you have this public speaking opportunity at all. Therefore going into a speaking engagement having decided to 'picture the audience naked' suggests that the audience is the sort of organism you have to fight rather than one you should seek to befriend and actively engage with.

3. Corpsing is highly probable.

Quite simply, I don't know why you would want to picture your colleagues and superiors in the nude but as someone who has never done it (honestly!) I can only assume that laughing mid speech to the complete amazement of the audience is a risk you will inevitably be taking. As an actor who has found herself stuck in the middle of scenes where for one bizarre reason or another everyone is fighting off laughter, I can assure you that getting the speech back on track is a task of sisyphean proportions.

4. It blocks your ears

This may also sound a little strange but hear me out. Sight and sound are closely related in communication. Scientific research by Dr Mehrabian (whilst often taken out of context) suggests that in certain situations the way we comprehend in communication comes from non-verbal clues. For this you need your eyes wide open. Imagining the audience as they aren't actually places something in front of your eyes which will have the collateral effect of compromising what reaches your ears. It cuts you off completely from your audience and places you in your own little speaking bubble. If you can't hear whether the group of people you are talking to are enjoying what you are saying or getting any value from it at all, how do you know how to tailor your expertise by combining it with rapport so that it lands most effectively with them?

5. It encourages one upmanship

Nudity is of course a vulnerable state for any of us to be in. To actively choose to picture an audience you are going to speak to like this then is to approach the speaking engagement as if the path to success starts from the imagined humiliation of everyone else in the room. The rest of your speech will inevitably be delivered as if to a group of people at their worst rather than a group of people at their best. This will actually make you appear a much worse speaker than you are. Why? Because aside from all of the other points described above, your speech will provide more answers than it does questions. Imagining an audience in a way that leads you to talk 'down' to them, 'at' them or think they are a joke (which I humbly suggests nudity does) will lead you to show off the many conclusions your expertise has lead you to draw in your field. Talking to an audience as if you are meeting a group of individuals at their best will, instead of drawing conclusions, lead you to channel your expertise into planting a myriad of questions in their heads which they will be excitedly talking about many days after your speech has been given. Wanting to talk with your audience rather than enforce your view points on them is in the DNA of every great speaker.

So there you go. A series of technical perspectives to keep in mind when approaching a speech that you are nervous about giving. And remember it is ok to be nervous about public speaking! It means that you care deeply about your subject. Trust that on the other side of your nerves lies personal growth. However if the above tips didn't help with any of that, at the very least you'll now have a little ammunition to use against the joker in the office who half believes that naked audience picturing is a viable option!