Introduction
Public speaking is not a closed art that has to be mastered only after years of perfecting the voice. It is easy to speak in public! There is no such thing as a born public speaker. The main cause of your fear of public speaking is simply because you are not used to speaking in public. For most people, public speaking is an unknown quantity, and consequently one fraught with anxiety and fear factors. To make this fearful situation simple and easy all you need to do is practice, practice, and practice. You will find, as thousands upon thousands have, that public speaking can be made a joy instead of an agony merely by getting a record of successful speaking experiences behind you.
Face the Public Speaking Fear
So you have been invited to give a speech at an event, or you just want to build your confidence in being able to speak in public? But then you have no idea what to do or where to start. I am here to talk to you 🥰 . The truth is fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world. But then I realized that learning to speak in public is nature’s own method of overcoming self-consciousness and building up courage and self-confidence. Why? Because speaking in public makes us come to grips with our fears.
Facts About the Fear of Public Speaking
- You are not alone: Surveys in colleges indicate that eighty to ninety percent of all students enrolled in speech classes suffer from stage fright at the beginning of the course. I believe that the figure is higher among adults at the start of my course, almost one hundred percent. So it’s not just you!
- You won’t completely lose all stage fright: That stage fright will almost always be present just before you speak, and it may persist through the first few sentences of your talk. This is the price these men and women pay for being like racehorses and not like draft horses.
- Stage fright can be useful: It is nature’s way of preparing us to meet unusual challenges in our environment. So, when you notice your pulse beating faster and your respiration speeding up, don’t become alarmed. It’s normal!
- You can overcome it: The main cause of your fear of public speaking is simply that you are unaccustomed to speak in public. But with practice, you’ll get over it.
Develop the Confidence
I would like to share with you some very basic ideas to help you quickly overcome stage fright and develop confidence in a few short weeks of practice.
1. Be prepared for the talk
Before any public speaking event, you should always take time like days to properly prepare your speech. Because only the prepared speaker deserves to be confident. This would go a long way just so that you won’t become helpless, fumble in your speech, and become more embarrassed on top of your fear. If you are not prepared, you would just be a sad picture on that stage completely overcome by fright, due to almost total lack of preparation.
“I shall never be old enough to speak without embarrassment when I have nothing to say.”
-Lincoln
2. Never memorize your talk word for word
A person who writes out and memorizes his talks is just wasting his time and energy and courting disaster. Just be clear of your ideas because once your ideas are clear, the words come as naturally and unconsciously as the air we breathe. If you try to memorize your talk word for word, you will probably forget it when you face your listeners. Even if you do not forget your memorized talk, you will probably deliver it, in a mechanical way. Why? Because it will not come from our hearts, but from our memories.
3. Arrange your ideas beforehand
Put all these ideas down in writing, just a few words, enough to fix the idea . . . put them down on scraps of paper, you will find it easier to arrange and organize these loose bits when you come to set your material in order. It just requires a little concentration and thinking to a purpose.
4. Rehearse your speech
Rehearse your talk before your friends, family, or mirror just anyone you are comfortable with but just make sure you rehearse. Use the ideas you have selected for your talk in everyday conversation with your friends and family. After you have selected your subject, arranged it according to plan, and rehearsed it by “talking it” with your friends and family, your preparation is not ended.
You must sell yourself on the importance of your subject. You must have the attitude that has inspired all the truly great personages of history a belief in your cause. How do you fan the fires of faith in your message? By exploring all phases of your subject, grasping its deeper meanings, and asking yourself how your talk will help the audience to be better people for having listened to you.
5. Get rid of negative thoughts
Keep Negativity Aside!!! For instance, thinking of yourself making errors of grammar or suddenly coming to the end of your talk somewhere in the middle of it, is certainly a negative projection that could cancel confidence before you started. It is especially important to keep your attention off yourself just before your turn to speak.
Concentrate on what the other speakers are saying, give them your wholehearted attention and you will not be able to work up excessive stage fright. Tell yourself that your talk is the right one for you because it comes out of your experience, out of your thinking about life. Say to yourself that you are more qualified than any member of the audience to give this particular talk. Just be confident and believe in yourself.
6. Act Confident
To develop courage when you are facing an audience, act as if you already had it. Of course, unless you are prepared, all the acting in the world will avail but little. But granted that you know what you are going to talk about, step out briskly and take a deep breath. breathe deeply for thirty seconds before you ever face your audience. The increased supply of oxygen will buoy you up and give you courage.
Draw yourself up to your full height and look your audience straight in the eyes, and begin to talk as confidently as if every one of them owed you money. Imagine that they do. Imagine that they have assembled there to beg you for an extension of credit. The psychological effect on you will be beneficial.
Conclusion
Overcoming fear of public speaking has a tremendous transfer value to everything that we do. Those who answer this challenge find that they are better persons because of it. They find that their victory over the fear of talking before groups has taken them out of themselves into a richer and fuller life.
