for behavior analysts.”
a skill that can be learned with a systematic approach. The ability to speak to groups is a critical skill for behavior analysts. Giving presentations to civic or professional groups is probably the best way to spread the word about behavior analysis. With practice and training, you’ll get to the point where you can address a large audi-ence who will sense your caring and sincerity. Your enthusiasm for behavior analysis will come though loud and clear, and you’ll be able to clear up any misconceptions that others have about our field. Section 10.0 in the Guidelines for Responsible Conduct is the “Behavior Analyst’s Ethical Responsibility to Society,” and this section of our code of ethics stresses the importance of promoting our field. In addition to meeting our ethical responsibility, there are many jobs for professional behavior analysts that will require you to have public speaking skills.
need FOr puBLIC speaKIng sKILLs
Our interviews with behavioral consultants indicated that stand-up t raining was one of the most frequently used skills in their repertoire. They described situations where, in some cases, as often as three times a week, they needed to address a group of people to talk about behavior analysis theory or techniques.
Sometimes the consultants were simply building acquaintance with commonly used terms or basic concepts; in other talks they were conducting full-fledged training seminars with direct-care staff, pep talks for teachers, briefings of middle-level administra-tors, or role-playing and practice sessions with line workers in industrial settings. Consultants often described having to prepare a talk on short notice. For example, the behavior analysis consul-tant in a performance management setting might be given a brief-ing manual on Wednesday along with the instructions to deliver a 1-hour talk on behavioral safety on the following Monday for open pit mining field supervisors.
Many people simply cannot imagine themselves standing in front of a group of strangers and giving a talk. Like the phobic
public speaker at the beginning of this chapter, they begin to think of every disaster that might happen during a presentation:
“What if I choke up and forget what I’m supposed to say? What if they don’t like me? What if the projector doesn’t work? What if they ask me a question, and I don’t know the answer?” Know that this line of thinking is usually common for beginning pub-lic speakers. Once you are practiced and experienced, you might have mild nervousness before a talk, but the intense panic will be gone. To get you started on the road to becoming a great public speaker, we’d like to offer some helpful suggestions. For experi-enced, confident speakers who have given talks and would like to brush up on their skills, we have some tips on catching the next wave in technology and public speaking theory.
hOw tO get started
If you feel comfortable talking one-on-one with people, you’re off to a good start. If you have the ability to think of giving a talk as having a conversation on a topic with which you are familiar and excited about, you’ll be fine. To get started, you should create some opportunities to carry on short conversa-tions first with small groups and gradually expand to larger ones. This could take a few weeks, and during that time you could read some of the several good books on public speak-ing (e.g., Gelb, 1988; Harvard Business School Press, 2007;
Henderson & Henderson, 2007; Hoff, 1998).
If, on the other hand, you’re not simply a beginner but a person who has an actual mild fear of public speaking, you can approach this as you would a phobia; the best-known treatment of fears in behavior therapy is in vivo desensitization. As a behavior analyst, you are probably familiar with this technique. Just as you can address a fear of heights by starting out by climbing up one flight of stairs, you can work on your public speaking with relaxation training. You would envision yourself giving a talk with a small group of friends, then relaxing, imagining another person in the
group, relaxing again, and so on, gradually adding people (Martin & Pear, 2006). When you are not fearful under these cir-cumstances, it’s time to try an actual talk on a very familiar topic with a group of people you know well.
Desensitization works by gradual exposure to the fear-producing stimulus
so that the anxiety gradually goes on extinction; how long this takes depends on how often you practice and will vary from one person to the next. If it looks like you are not making any prog-ress by yourself, you might consider finding a behavior therapist to help you. It is worth it to do whatever it takes to overcome your fear. To maximize your effectiveness as a behavior analyst, you need to push yourself to the point where you can address most any audience on short notice and tell your story with confidence and enthusiasm.
standard teChnIques FOr puBLIC speaKIng Preparing Your Talk
There are two parts to every talk: (a) the content (this is your message) and (b) the delivery. Most people worry most about the delivery and what they are going to do with their hands, how they are going to project their voice, and how they will move around the room or the stage. But it is impossible to be a great public speaker without having a compelling message to deliver.
You need to begin with a story that you feel comfortable and excited about telling. This should be a story you know so well you don’t need a script.