How To Overcome The Fear Of Public Speaking

Speaking is one functionality that virtually every human being is endowed with, save for those who have speech impairments.

However, speaking in public is not something that can be done by every Tom, Dick and Harry.

A fear of public speaking also known as Glossophobia is one of the most common phobias in the entire world, but unlike other fears, it can sometimes be one of the hardest to avoid.

Glossophobia affects millions of people every day both old and young, class and social status notwithstanding. In fact, research has shown that around 74% of people suffer from public speaking anxiety. This type of anxiety is not gender selective as it has equal effect on both men and women.

The usual panic among a lot of people is because it takes more than just words to make a successful public speech.

Passion is a major ingredient which must not be found lacking in any successful public speaker.

Most of the successful public speakers first have a passion for what they do before their oratory skills come to fore.

The thoughts of public speaking usually make some people have the goose flesh and sweaty palms, not because there is anything wrong with it, but because of the extra skills and drive required to pull it through.

Some public speakers usually encounter roadblocks in form of fear, it sticks like a clog on the wheel, but the purpose of this paper is to help allay those fears with tips on how to become a successful public speaker.

However, it is not impossible to get over this fear. There are things that need to be done in order to get over the fear of public speaking irrespective of how long it has lingered.

Below are some of the steps to take to overcome public speaking anxiety:

Change Your Thought Process: Usually, people are caught up with stage fright as a result of their thought process. Some take up to the stage bearing in mind that public speaking is a big deal and during the process, fear engulfs them and such person can never give the speech its best shot because they have been caught up by stage fright.

Rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, cold feet, shaky lips and the pit in your stomach are all obvious physical effects that come to mind when people think about their fear of public speaking.

Instead of viewing these sensations as nerves and as a negative side effect of having to speak in public, you should change the way that you think about them. They aren’t a bad thing. In fact, studies show that performance actually improves when people are under moderate amounts of stress. It’s true in the workforce, in sports, in the military, and, yes, even in public speaking.

Develop A Passion: Having a passion for what you do helps to provide a more effective result. Popular author and motivational speaker, John C. Maxwell in his book ‘Make Today Count’ explained that he enjoys public speaking because he has a passion for it. This according to him, is one of the reasons why he can stand up all day to address a mammoth crowd without feeling an iota of tiredness.

Apparently, this comes from the obvious fact that he enjoys what he does. When you enjoy what you do, fear and other unnecessary reactions will not rear their heads because you will not give them a chance to brood.

Be Acquainted With Your Topic: Imagine mounting a podium without having any idea of what you are going to talk about. It is the same thing as driving without a destination. In order to perform better as a public speaker, you have to get acquainted with the topic you will be talking about. Try as much to understand the topic so well, embark on rigorous research in order to gather enough facts and make your presentation flow.

For a fact, the better you understand what you’re talking about, the less likely you are to make a mistake or derail from the track.

Even if you miss the track along the line, it will be easier to get back immediately if you have armed yourself earlier by getting acquainted with the topic.

Additionally, while getting acquainted with your topic ensure to take some time to consider what questions the audience may ask in the course of the presentation and have your responses ready so you will not be thrown off balance as they come.

When you are well armed, you exude confidence that even scares some people because you know your onions.

Organize Yourself: Plan yourself very well ahead of the D-Day. Carefully plan out the information you want to present at the speech, including any props, audio or visual aids.

This is because, organization makes you more confident in yourself and allays the nervousness to a great extent.

For example, if one is going to war and is armed with all the necessary weapons, he will be more confident unlike another who just enters a battlefront on an impromptu basis.

To organize yourself better, you can make use of an outline on a small card to stay on track. If you can, try and pay a visit to the venue of the public speech in order to familiarize with it ahead of the presentation.

Also review available equipment if possible and be sure they are in place before the day you will make use of them.

Practice: There is nothing that allays fears like a good practice. No matter what you have done to convince yourself that you don’t need to practice or that you can just give an impromptu message — don’t do it. You need to practice, even if you don’t want to.

An axiom states that practice makes perfect. Even if there are hardly perfect humans, the axiom is a pointer to the fact that practice is very vital in not just public speaking but virtually every sphere of life.

Before making any presentation, ensure to embark on a serious practice of your complete presentation several times.

You can practice by standing before a mirror or before friends and family that will give you an objective feedback on where you need more improvements. These moves sure have a way of boosting confidence.

You can also consider making a video of your presentation so you can watch it and see opportunities for improvement yourself.

Breathe: Taking a deep breath is quite soothing and can also help calm your raging nerves.

No, you don’t have to breathe fast, take it one at a time. Breathe slowly. Before getting up to the stage for your speech presentation, take two or more deep, slow breaths.

Also do same in between your speech, but try as much not to make it so obvious since it will give you away to your audience as a not-so-confident speaker.

Focus: Focus on interesting faces during your speech presentation. Try as much to avoid looking at stern faces as they are highly likely to distract you and give you some negative vibes.

This does not mean that you should totally ignore such people, after all some people’s dispositions are not friendly no matter how hard they try to change it.

However, you need to focus on people who seem so interested and eager to hear from you because it will encourage you to speak more.

Some public speech experts advise that people looked above the head level of the audience but I personally don’t find this a great idea because it doesn’t build that relationship between the speaker and the audience.

Keep It Simple And Straight To The Point: Resist the urge to use complex grammar during public speaking. Keep your language simple and make it easy for audiences to understand. For a fact, an audience will lose interest quickly if a speaker uses words that they find difficult to grasp. It becomes so boring and most of them might either sleep off or walk away in a bid to cool off.

Keep your message straightforward as it will help leave an impression. In verbal communication, simple and straight to the point messages are easier to understand unlike written communication where the reader has the opportunity to check up words in the dictionary.

Be Yourself: A lot of people have failed at public speaking because they attempt to be who they are not, probably trying to talk and act like a popular public speaker.

Originality is bliss. You can only be the best version of yourself rather than try to imitate someone else.

Imitating someone makes you prone to pitfalls because you will need to be extra conscious to be sure you are getting it right.

This is not the perfect time for the maxim of ‘Fake it till you make it’.

Keep It Interesting: Try as much as possible to make your presentation as interesting as possible. Add occasional jokes in between serious stories to engage the audience. Nothing bores people like a straight presentation. Sometimes, a little relief in the middle of seriousness helps people get the point better because while they laugh it off, their minds are in a more relaxed state to grab the message.

But this doesn’t mean you should mess up a beautiful presentation with comedy. There should be a gap, just a little of it to spice it up will not hurt.

Public speaking is not really the monster people have bastardized it to be. It is an interesting venture, all you need to do is to first develop the interest and nurture it and then take to the stage with practice and more practice of course.