How To Overcome Your Fear Of Public Speaking

Whether you are on stage in front of ten thousand people or you are doing a presentation at work, use these strategies to assist you when public speaking.

 We read a great article on Anxiety and Public Speaking here https://www.mastersincommunications.org/being-better-public-speaker/ and wanted to give you the summary of it, so if this strikes you read the article in full at Masters in Communications.

Confidence is a significant factor that can contribute to our success in anything we as men try. What about public speaking? What about standing up in front of a group of more than just the guys and having to say something. Does this strike fear and anxiety in you? Fear of public speaking is one of the most common types of stress.  Being nervous or anxious about public speaking is perfectly reasonable.

So let’s look at a summary of what can help you face one of the most daunting types of performance fears out there. Did anyone say stage fright?

Four Critical Things To Do To Master Public Speaking

1. Engage Your Audience

Engaging with your audience Ask (non-basic) questions and encourage folks in the audience to answer or ask questions. Engage in dialogue even the best monologues are a conversation where the second person (the audience) is responding in their head.

2. Calm Down, Breathe, and Pause

If you talk too fast, the audience may have trouble processing what you’re saying. Some of the best public speakers take non-natural pauses; this is to show the audience that you believe what you are saying is important and needs to be considered. Silence in a public speech can be compelling and thought-provoking.

3. Use Notes, Not A Script

Do not read word-for-word from your slides, cards, or notes. Remember, you’re engaging with your audience in a conversation. In order to engage you need to make eye contact and to read word for word, you will have to break eye contact if you even make it at all. 

4. Stay Positive

Maintaining positive energy is a key to great speaking. Positive thinking can help you stay focused and avoid traps like negative self-talk, such as What happens if I mess up? Alternatively pumping yourself up with positive self-talk like I’m going to crush this, or I’ve studied this, I know this, I can do this will introduce confidence in you that will help you present well.

Meditation or biofeedback techniques can help you calm down before going on stage.

Quick Tips to Improve Every Speech

Here are some helpful reminders from the professionals:

•         Deliver a performance, rather than a speech.
•         Use the power of eye contact.  
•         Don’t hide behind the podium.
•         Maintain an excellent posture to demonstrate your level of confidence.
•         Tell compelling stories.
•         Vary your cadence.
•         Passion matters, Speak about what you know and care about.

No matter how well you do at the above anyone mistake can bomb a whole speech. Here are some things to avoid when you are speaking in public:

•         Tailoring your message to the wrong audience. People will get bored if it doesn’t matter or apply to them
•         Distracting mannerisms. Ever try to listen to a talk given by a guy with his hands in his pockets playing with his keys? Yeah, don’t do that!
•         Lacking energy. Lack of enthusiasm in you will produce boredom in your audience.
•         Lacking stories. Don’t rely on stats to make a speech give us a story.
•         Lacking inspiration. Drive home your passion for the topic with emotional appeals to the audience.
•         Lacking pauses. Don’t cause your audience to stress, they want you to succeed!
•         Lacking a powerful opening. Hook them.
•         Lacking humour (or too much)
•         Lacking the belief that your audience can read. Aka do not read from your slides.
•         Lacking a positive tone. If you were running late, offer an anecdote: “A snow delay at a Midwest airport in February – who’d have thunk it?”
•        Lacking pauses for Questions throughout the speech.

Final Thoughts

• Be well prepared
• Offer anecdotes and humour if the audience is receptive
• Use notes as tools rather than a straight read
• Keep your posture up to show your confidence
• Do not allow your fight or flight mode take over the speech and find your courage

See here for the original basis for this post: https://www.mastersincommunications.org/being-better-public-speaker/