SpeechTraining

Posts Tagged ‘fear of public speaking’

In a survey done by Dr. Laurie Rozakis, author of  The Complete Idiots Guide to Public Speaking, it was found that many people are scared to speak before a group. It is the number one fear among Americans, “–and the number 6 is fear of death,” according to Dr. Rozakis.

Even the most experienced speaker gets anxious when speaking in public. However, this fear can be controlled so that you can put your fear to your advantage. This topic teaches us why people are nervous when speaking in front of a crowd and how you can conquer your fear.

FEAR OF THE AUDIENCE

People are afraid of rejection by their audience. Thus, many are terrified of speaking in public for fear of being criticized by the crowd for how they look or how they deliver their speech. On the contrary, audiences are very understanding about the speaker’s problem with stage fright. You become more nervous when your fear of the audience increases.

A few strategies to help you overcome a fear of the audience are :

• Choose a topic that you like and you are familiar with. The more comfortable you are about your chosen topic, the more confident you are in facing your audience.
• Concentrate on your topic. Focus on your topic and not on yourself. When you start to think of your subject matter and not yourself, your fear of speaking will likely decrease.
• Say to yourself: “I am the BOSS.” Trust in your capability of delivering your speech. Showing that you are in charge decreases your fear and increases your confidence in facing the situation.
• Don’t think of your audience as a threat. Bridge the gap between your audience and yourself. Analyze carefully to establish rapport. You should consider age, gender and their level of expertise. Remember to analyze your audience.

FEAR OF FAILURE

There are two ways to win over your fear of failure.

• Picture yourself succeeding. If you think that you will stutter in front of many people, chances are you will stutter. But if you visualize yourself delivering your speech well, then, you will.
• Face your fear. You cannot overcome your fear unless you show it and admit that you are afraid of it.

FEAR THAT YOUR SPEECH IS A BAD SPEECH

• Write well. Take time to write your speech. Review it and rewrite if necessary. If you are confident with your speech, the less terrified you will be about speaking in public.
• Practice and ask for suggestions on how you can improve your speech. Ask a friend of relative to act as your audience. Once you have delivered your topic, ask for their feedback. Don’t be afraid to hear about what they will say. Their feedback can give you insight on what is good or bad in your speech.

If you are afraid to speak in public, don’t feel bad you are not alone. Over 40% of the adult population is. In fact, fear of speaking in public is the highest ranked fear that all people have. Mostly this is due to a feeling that you won’t succeed but rather fail and be ridiculed or laughed at and no one wants that. Some people avoid it at all cost, including the potential to succeed or excel in their field. It doesn’t have to be this way for you. We’ve got some tips for you here which, if implemented should help you tremendously.

For most people, the most common place where they need to speak in public is in the workplace. Usually, you either need to inform your coworkers of the project you are working on or you need to sell an idea across to people higher up in the company. Don’t panic yet. If you take some time to plan it out you’ll do ok. Preparation is key.

One of the most important things before speaking in front of others is to know your material thoroughly. Make sure you’ve covered all areas of what you will be discussing. If you know what you are talking about, you won’t feel as nervous or flustered. Try to anticipate what questions others may have and be ready with an answer. If it’s at all complicated, try to think of different ways to say it, so everyone will understand. Diagrams may help you here to illustrate your point. Once you’ve done this, practice out loud somewhere by yourself if possible at first then in front of a friend or coworker later if it’s important.

If it’s appropriate you may want to hand out either an outline or a few illustrations. It may help to have some eyes looking at these occasionally and not all of them looking at you all the time.

As much as it’s humanly possible, try to relax. Breathe deeply. Since most people fear public speaking, others know it’s not easy and will be rooting for you not against you. If you are the type that can make small jokes, you can try one if appropriate. It helps your audience to relax as well.

If someone asks you a questions you don’t know or aren’t sure about, you can say something like “that’s a good question” and think for a few seconds, then if you know the answer great, answer it, and if you don’t you can say something like “I’m not sure about that, I think Bill might be able to answer that for you”. Make sure you name someone who you think would definitely know the answer. Other wise, you can tell them you will check into it and get back to them.

Arrive early to your meeting or presentation to make sure everything is there that you need and working properly.

Don’t say anything about being nervous to your audience, some people may not notice and you don’t want to bring it to their attention if they don’t. You may do better than you expect.

Try not to speak to fast, semi slow and clear is the way to go. Try not to speak in a monotone voice either. Add some inflection to your speech.

Keep things simple and to the point. Try not to drag on if at all possible. You don’t want to bore your audience.

A lot of people in sports use visualization to imagine themselves accomplishing their goal. This can work for you too. Visualize yourself succeeding with your public speaking.

Public speaking is a valuable tool you can learn and use throughout your life. The more you practice it and gain confidence the better you will get.

Most of us believe parts of life are inherently stressful. In fact, most of us have been taught to believe that life as a whole is very stressful. To deal with any type of stress effectively, you must first understand that life itself is NOT inherently stressful. Thousands of human beings have learned how to speak in front of groups with little or no stress at all. Many of these people were initially terrified to speak in public.

Their knees would shake, their voices would tremble, their thoughts would become jumbled – you know the rest. Yet they learned to eliminate their fear of public speaking completely. You are no more or less human than they are. If they can conquer the fear of public speaking, so can you. It just takes the right guiding principles, the right understanding and the right plan of action to make this goal a reality.

Many of us have observed public speakers and thought to ourselves, “Wow, I could never be that smart, calm, witty, entertaining, polished – or whatever.” Well, I’ve got news for you – you don’t have to be brilliant or perfect to succeed. That is not what public speaking is all about. You can make mistakes, get tongue tied or even forget whole parts of your speech and still be successful.

It all depends on how you and your audience define “success”. One of the biggest secrets to successful public speaking is understanding that your audience does NOT expect perfection. The essence of public speaking is to give your audience something of value. That’s all there is to it. If they walk away feeling better about themselves, feeling happy, they will consider their time with you worthwhile.

You don’t have to deliver mountains of facts or details to give your audience what they truly want. Many studies have shown that people remember very few of the facts or information that speakers convey. Remember, all your audience wants from you is to walk away with one or two key points that will make a difference to them.

While it may seem paradoxical, the best way to succeed as a public speaker is not to consider yourself a public speaker at all. Just go out there armed with a little knowledge and a few main points and be yourself. That’s all there is to it. Of course you may need to practice. Just keep throwing yourself into the arena, and in no time at all your confidence will come to the surface.

by Sandra Schrift
http://www.schrift.com

When you need to get up and speak do you feel butterflies in your stomach? Sweaty palms? Dry mouth? Shaking knees and hands? You are not alone. Fear of public speaking is No. 1. Death is No.4. So most people would rather get a root canal and pay their taxes than speak in front of an audience.

Here are a few techniques to help you reduce your nervousness and present like a pro.

1. Before you begin, drink some tepid water, take a few deep breaths and visualize your success.

2. The audience wants you to succeed – so just treat them as your friends and speak in a conversational manner. You don’t use notes when you speak to your friend, so don’t use them now. At the most, you may use some note cards that include some key words for you to remember.

3. You can relax yourself as well as your audience, if you remember to SMILE! Everyone is more at ease when they see your smile. Better yet, find some humor in the situation and get everyone to laugh, including you.

4. Practice, practice, practice. Getting familiar with your material by speaking often This really helps reduce your tension.

5. Find ways to speak – volunteer as a committee chair, lead a meeting, attend networking meetings so you can introduce yourself often and get comfortable hearing the sound of your voice and words.

6. Then ask yourself the big question: “What’s the worst thing that could happen? No, you won’t faint, or , forget what you plan to say. Remember when you speak to any audience, it is about them, not you. So be present with them as you would when speaking to your friend.

7. A great way to calm yourself is to arrive early and greet people as they enter the room. This is a way to relax yourself and encourage others to feel friendly towards you before you even start your speech.

8. Think about what you are going to wear. Choose clothing that makes you look good and feel good. Most people delineate their thoughts visually and your audience will form an opinion about you after looking at you for 30 seconds. My mother always encouraged me to “dress up” before taking a final exam – she said, “If you want a high grade, then look the part.”

9. If you really want to be a masterful speaker, hire a speech coach . . . like me. No serious athlete or professional speaker would get very far without a coach.

10. And, finally, focus on having fun President Theodore Roosevelt said, “If you can’t find a way to make public speaking fun, why do it?”

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Sandra Schrift 13 year speaker bureau owner and now career coach to emerging and veteran public speakers who want to “grow” a profitable speaking business. I also work with business professionals and organizations who want to master their presentations. To find out HOW TO MAKE IT AS A PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER, go to http://www.schrift.com/success_resources.htm Join my free bi-weekly Monday Morning Mindfulness ezine http://www.schrift.com/monday.htm