#1 Public Speaking Tip – How To Warm Up To Look, Feel and Sound Your Best

Have you ever been to a live sporting event, and gotten there early? Whether it’s baseball, basketball, or hockey, the athletes are guaranteed to be out there, moving around, getting ready, or “warming up,” before the big game.

Why do they do this? Why not spend the time resting so as to conserve precious energy? As we all know, there are many benefits to warming up before exercise, like increased blood flow to the muscles and increased heart rate, which helps the body perform better. Also, perhaps obviously as well, a “Pre-Performance Routine” (warm-up) is also shown to prepare athletes’ minds effectively for the task at hand, leading to increased mind-body connection and focus. So when you’re sitting in the stands watching the outfielders play catch, you know that these are elite performers doing something essential to prepare for the task ahead.

What you may not know, when you’re sitting in your theatre seat about to watch a play, or even at a business conference with an expert speaker backstage, is that those performers have the exact same philosophy about how to prepare for their big moments, and have their own warm-ups to optimize their performance. 

Kristen Linklater, the late guru of Voice work for stage actors all over the world, said that “Speaking is a physical act.” This means that it takes the whole body to effectively communicate when speaking to an audience, even an audience of one. Our face, hands, lungs, diaphragm, lips, tongue and jaw muscles are all working furiously as we speak out loud, and if they’re not, that’s a problem. Without the body engaged in this way, your voice will sound dull, lifeless, bored and flat, leaving your audience feeling the same.

So, how do you, as an entrepreneur, prepare for a big pitch, talk or presentation? First of all, you must accept that you are a performer, and that doesn’t need to mean fake or over the top. The way that you speak in public, and even in private, about your business can mean the difference between growth and stagnation, simple as that. I’ve seen brilliant entrepreneurs fail because they couldn’t communicate their fantastic ideas, or get others excited about their company. I call public speaking “the last 10%” of being a founder; once your idea is validated, the business plan laid out, and the product designed, you need to convince other people that what you are doing has real value, whether those people are investors, partners or customers. So why neglect this hugely important piece, even if you feel it doesn’t come naturally to you?

Second, you need to accept that a warm up before appearing on camera (and stage, but there’s not a lot of that these days) to speak is not only helpful, but absolutely necessary. I hope I’ve done that in the first few paragraphs, but if not, just try the routine below, and I guarantee you will feel the benefits immediately.

The Routine:

? Body scan. This is to calm the mind, and start paying attention to your body. Stand up, close your eyes, and “scan” your body with your attention, looking for places where you are holding tension. When you find them, just breathe and imagine letting the tension release on your exhale. Do this for 30 seconds or so.

? Belly breathing. This is to allow the diaphragm to descend, which in turns allows your lungs to properly fill up. When we breathe into our chest, we are cheating ourselves of the amount of breath we need to have a nice, rich powerful voice. Place your hands on your belly, and as you inhale, feel your abdomen pushing outwards against your palms. As you exhale, feel your belly retracting back toward your spine. Repeat at least 3 times.

? “HMMM-MAHHH.” This is to activate the voice. Breath into your belly as in the previous exercise, but on the “out-breath” make the sound “HMM-MAHHH” as loud and long as you can, starting the “HMM” in a high pitch, and allowing the voice to descend in pitch as you say “MAHHH” and hold that “AHH” sound for as long as you can. Do this at least 3 times, trying to sound louder each time.

? Big face, small face. This exercise warms up the facial muscles, so important for good communication, even on Zoom. Open your mouth and eyes wide, raise your eyebrows, and hold for a second. That’s “big face”. Then squish your eyes closed, purse your lips forward and try and scrunch all your features to the front of your face. That’s “small face.” Go back and forth between the two “faces” 3 times, inhaling on big face and exhaling on small face

? Tongue twisters. This is to warm up the articulator muscles in your mouth, so important for emphasis and making people feel your words. Say “unique New York”, slowly and with exaggerated pronunciation, and then speed up but keep the exaggerated clarity, eventually trying to say it 3 times fast but clear. Then do the same for “red leather yellow leather”, and finish off with the phrase “How now brown cow,” allowing your jaw to fall open and making a nice big resonant sound with this final phrase (don’t try to say it fast).

Now you are ready to perform! Follow this exercise before your big Zoom call, or online pitch, and you will be amazed at how much more confident and focused you feel. And believe me, your audience will notice too!

Please like and share if you found this useful, and comment below on what your favourite warm ups are!

If you want to improve your pitch fast, check out my Powerful Pitch Bootcamp here!