Public speaking fear can incapacitate you and stop you from doing all you’re capable of.
Perhaps you have to go for a job interview and you want to impress the interview panes with your expert knowledge and skills…
…or you give a professional, accomplished and expert speech to your work team or to
management in your company in an engaging way…
…or you even speak to a large audience with passion and self-assurance…
Public speaking is a key skill that you will need to get a rise or even land a job. And ideally, you want to be relaxed, confident and persuasive.
In reality, though, you may not be feeling quite so assured, confident and relaxed. Your nerves may be playing up, or you may be terrified of public speaking while just contemplating your presentation.
Perhaps you’re very accustomed to public speaking fear if you’ve given any presentations or done any public speaking. You’re standing in front of your audience and all of a sudden you observe all sorts of strange things in your body.
I have often wondered why it was that when I was standing in front of people some years ago, my hands started to sweat, my knees threatened to give, my stomach was a bunch of knots, and when I was finally speaking I didn’t breathe anymore. And then I was breathless after a couple of sentences, and I had to stop and take big gulps of air.I was aiming for a professional, calm and relaxed impression, and I got anything but.
When I went to interviews the same thing happened.
And even when I attended training courses and we had to give a short introduction to ourselves, our names and why we were there, I felt the same.
In those situations, I used to sit there, listening to all the others being so confident, and thinking desperately what great things I could say. And when it was my time, in a split second I got hot and cold, my breathing stopped, and my voice was croaking.
It was not surprising that I used to hate training courses, workshops and especially introductions at the start.
Well, not anymore, because I learned to get over the fears that come over us when speaking to an audience.
One of my big fears was that everybody listening would be judging me. I was worried what they would think of me. I would look at all their faces, when I wasn’t gulping air and being a quivering mess, and would notice that some people would watch me closely and critically.
What a relief it was when I noticed that my audience was listening intently to what I was saying and were waiting for more.
And I realised that when I was focusing on my audience and what they are interested in, and I was able to engage them with what I was talking about, it became easy and very enjoyable to talk about something I was passionate about.
It wasn’t important anymore that I was feeling a little nervous, that my hands trembled slightly, or that I forgot what I was going to say. Because I knew my audience didn’t actually notice.
The next time you need to give a presentation, or you go to a job interview, one key tip to reduce your public speaking fear is to prepare beforehand. You will feel more confident when you know what you’re going to say, even at an interview.
Another thing you can do to stay calm is to remember to breathe. And take a couple of deep breaths before you start. Slow down when you talk and pause at the end of the sentence.
It may sound too slow for you, but for your audience it will be just right because they will have time to understand what you’re saying. And it will give you time to breathe.
These two effective methods, and many others, will help to reduce your public speaking fear and you will feel much more assured and in control of what your saying and how you say it.
The other thing that will help you immensely, of course, is to do any one of a number of good public speaking courses.
