Useful Tips To Overcome Your Fear Of Public Speaking

Help you to overcome with the fear of public speaking 

The average person ranks the fear of public speaking higher than the fear of death. The truth is, this fear could be hurting your professional and personal life.

You may have been there before.

You feel nervous, your palms sweat, your stomach ties itself into knots. You don’t want to do it. You would rather do anything else than talk to someone.

Is this you?

In business, it is essentially important for you to be able to get your point across. It is likely that all of us will one day have to speak in public. Whether we are giving a formal presentation to an audience, or simply asking our boss for a promotion, speaking skills are essential to getting ahead in a professional setting.

The fear of public speaking is very real. However, there are techniques to help you overcome your fears. There are even ways to help harness your energy in a positive way.

Keep reading if you want to know how. . .

1˃ GET ORGANIZED

When you organize all of your thoughts and materials it helps you to become much more relaxed and calm. When you have clear, organized thoughts it can greatly reduce your speaking anxiety because you can better focus on the one thing at hand, giving a great speech.

2˃ PRACTICE AND PREPARATION

Nothing takes the place of practicing and preparing for your speech. Write out a script of your key points, but don’t read from the script word for word. Prepare for your speech so well that you could answer any possible question thrown at you.

3˃ ELIMINATE FEAR OF REJECTION

“What if my audience hates my speech? What if they boo me off stage?” Try to eliminate all of your fears of rejection. The audience is there to listen to you for a reason.

4> FOCUS ON PATTERNS

When you speak try to get into a rhythm or a flow. Keep your sentences short and to the point and repeat key points. A short pause in between points can add anticipation to what you are going to say next.

5> MIRROR PRACTICE

Practice your speech in front of the mirror as if you were speaking directly to someone.

Pay attention to:

• Your facial expressions
• Your gestures
• Your body movements
• How welcoming you appear

When you have gentle expressions and a calm demeanor when you speak, you will be more welcoming to your audience.

6> VOICE RECORD LEARNING

Record your speech on your phone or video camera. Record yourself giving the talk from beginning to end. Then listen to it or watch it, and make notes on how you could make it better. Some people do not like listening to the sound of their voice on tape, so it is important that you get used to your own voice and speaking style.

7> Read Eloquence In Public Speaking By Dr.          Kenneth McFarland

McFarland, who passed away in 1985, is also known as the “Dean of American Public Speakers,” and in his book, he didn’t talk about methodology or technique at all.

His central message, which influenced me very strongly when I began speaking publicly, was that the key to eloquence is the emotional component that the speaker brings to the subject.

To put it another way, the starting point of being an excellent speaker is for you to really care about your subject.

8> Know 100 Words For Every Word That You Speak

Ernest Hemingway wrote that “In order to write well, you must know 10 words about the subject for every word that you write.  Otherwise, the reader will know that this is not true writing.”

I personally feel that, in speaking, you must know 100 words for every word that you speak.  Otherwise, your audience will have the sense that you don’t really know what you’re talking about.

9> Avoid Talking Too Fast

Talking fast during a speech interferes with your breathing patterns. If you talk too fast you will breathe less. Feeling short of breath will make you panicked. Practice slowing down when you speak, and you will be more calm and relaxed.

10> Focus On The Material

Focus on delivering your material in the best way possible. Don’t worry about audience reactions.

11> Give Prize And Time To Speak Well

Make a decision right now that you want to learn to speak and learn to speak well. Be willing to pay any price and go to any lengths to achieve your goal.

I have seen people leapfrog over others in their careers by overcoming their speaking anxiety. In the long run the better you are and the better you get at it the farther and farther you will go in your business career.

12> Regular Meditation

Meditating can help clear your head of negative thoughts. In an article in Forbes, Dan Harris, co-anchor of Nightline and Good Morning America discussed his public speaking anxiety and how meditating for 5 minutes a day helped him to eradicate negative thoughts from his mind.

If you’re interested in learning the practice of meditation, Jack Canfield published a very helpful article for beginners. Be sure to check out How to Meditate for Clarity, Intuition, and Guidance for step by step instructions and a free guide.

13> Development Planning

Practice makes perfect. If there is a video of your speech, watch it and make notes on how you can improve on it for next time.

• How do you think you did?
• Are there areas you think you could have improved?
• Did you seem stiff or make any weird facial expressions?
• Did you use a PowerPoint to your advantage? Did it help?
• Did you use “um” often?
• How was your rhythm?

Write everything down, keep practicing and improving. In time you will banish all of your fears of public speaking.

No longer are you one of the people who fears public speaking! I hope these tips were beneficial for you.

How did you overcome your fears of public speaking? Leave a message in the comments and please share this post with your friends.