Speaking, Teaching, Facilitating… and other distinctions

 Just because you are a good facilitator does not mean you will make a good speaker. BUT the skills are definitely transferable, and having one will always support the cross-over to the other.

Firstly, let’s start with the definitions.

SPEAKING

Speaking is one to many often done with people you do not know, that have been brought into the room by someone else. You are generally presenting your content in a one directional way. (Not always, but that is the pattern, you are speaking to the room not them to you). There is less of an experiential component and the focus is generally more on the content/story.

FACILITATING

Facilitating is often done in your own room, or a room you have already been set up for (ie the company, host etc has brought you in for a specific purpose so there is established trust for you to come in and do the job). You are not just presenting your content as an expert, but you are supporting the attendees to gain mastery over the content themselves - it is about facilitating experiences/teachings for them to embody what you know. People are generally warmer towards you.

THE CHALLENGES 

Now simply in the blueprints above and the way they have been set up means that from the get go, as a speaker you are working with a lot more judgement and prejudice. People do not know you, trust you, or sometimes even care for you.

As a facilitator you generally have one foot and half your body through the door already.

As a speaker you are a new face, so you have to get the attendees to soften and warm up to you, you have to open the room and it takes more finesse to do this in a masterful way. (You also need this as a facilitator but you are starting from a warmer place and in a sense you have to be pretty unaware to alienate people from that place).

How does this show up in your body? 

As the judgement hits, you tense up, freeze, and don’t know what to do with your hands, bodies, etc and sometimes slurring speech, forgetting what to say etc - basically you go into some form of “Stage Freeze"

Let’s be clear, some people think speaking is memorising a speech then talking at people.

No...

That's closer to a lecture or a presentation. At a lecture you can speak “at” people and it is perfectly acceptable.

The language almost denotes that people will expect that, and that nothing is expected of them but to listen.

As a speaker you have to engage. You're paid to be engaging. 

As a lecturer you are paid for your expertise and you can be boring - and it's fine.

As you can see already, people that can move ACROSS these different delivery methods are the ones that are MOST powerful because they have a larger skill set, and more threshold in their nervous system to unpack rooms even when they are dead, tired or distracted.

Just for measure, the distinction with TEACHING is that it is generally more personable and happens over a longer time.

Ie. the teacher will know their students, challenges, etc. and there is a sense of emotional intimacy that is allowed to happen and improves the process.

You might be reading this and think: ‘Miroslav you are making these distinctions but you do all of this when you're on stage.’ And yeah you would be right ;) - I’m rewriting the rule book.

And also helping you tap your extensive skill set so we can bring more life to the stages of the world. By stages I mean any event where we speak one to many - whether the stage is a physical, digital or assumed.

Teachers of all kinds are on stages at all times - Yoga, highschool, uni, music etc.

My strengths are in speaking, facilitating and teaching. And I extort all my other skill sets - hence why people often find me captivating - I draw on all my life resources when I get on a stage (whether in-front of 200 people at a conference or 15 students at a high-school).

Most people are just confined to ONE of these distinctions. Which is limiting - not just for their students/clients but also for their mastery in working speaking/teaching/facilitating.

If you know this is an area you want to study and master. Check out my course offering here or book a 15min chat with me here to see how I might help you level up your speaking game. 

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Related Posts:

The Reason Your Message Isn't Being Heard

Bringing Your Magic To The Stage

What It Takes To Be An Enlivened Speaker