A few ways karaoke can help you become a better public speaker

Karaoke can be a fun but anxious experience. Here are some ways that singing karaoke can help you become a better public speaker by learning to deal with the unexpected:

Have you ever been goaded on stage by your friends to sing karaoke, only to discover you that you can't hit those high notes? While this may just feel like a momentary lesson in humiliation, it's actually a great way to learn how to deal with an audience.

• Many people avoid public speaking because they fear being judged by others. What these people don't realize is that the audience wants them to succeed. No one wants to sit through a speech riddled in uncomfortable moments in the same way that patrons of a karaoke bar don't want to listen to someone nervously screw up a song.
• Here's a secret you may not realize: audiences absolutely love it when a speaker or performer recovers after making a mistake. While speaking publicly, if stage fright causes you to screw up, just focus on your recovery.
• When speakers manage to get back on track after making a mistake, audiences experience a silent sigh of relief because the awkward moment is over. Singing karaoke songs that are a bit unfamiliar or that require a vocal range well above your skill level offers plenty of opportunities to practice executing a smooth recovery.

One of the easiest ways to make a smooth recovery is by engaging your audience. This can be done in a number of ways, depending on the scenario.

• For example, if you are butchering a karaoke song, encourage the audience, in a good-humoured way, to sing along. Audiences love it when performers are humble enough to admit to singing poorly, while maintaining enough integrity to see the song through to the end.
• During a public speech, if you trip on your way to the podium or find yourself so preoccupied with nerves that you lose your train of thought, take a deep breath and engage the audience. This achieves two things: it removes the awkward elephant in the room and it shows the audience that you admit to being a perfectly imperfect human.
• You obviously can't ask the audience to help you finish your speech, as the above karaoke example describes, but you can use this same tactic to take the heat off yourself by engaging the audience. Try making a subtly humorous comment about your mistake or tell a brief, unrelated story that gives you a moment to regroup and recover before continuing with your speech.

If you avoid public speaking due to fear, get out there and sing karaoke. If you're a poor singer, use the opportunity to practice your recovery and audience engagement skills. You might even have some fun!