Overcoming Public Speaking Fears

Overcoming Public Speaking Fears

The number one fear of most Americans is the fear of public speaking -- about 90% of us say that is true. (It's just my opinion, but I'd say the other 10% are either in denial or have overcome the fear of public speaking.) There was a time when I would have asked, "What ISN'T to be scared of?" I was a very, very, very anxious public speaker, to put it mildly. I was sure that I was going to make a fool of myself and probably forget every single thing that I planned to say. The bad part was that much of my JOB included public speaking. Granted, sometimes it was only to very small groups of people, but the size of the crowd didn't have anything to do with the size of my fear.

Because my job depended upon my ability to speak to groups, I decided that it was a career investment to enroll in a public speaking class at our community college to see if I could be helped. On the first day of class, the professor strolled to the front of the room, turned and looked at the class, and said, "You guys make me nervous…you think I know something, don't you?" We all laughed, and I learned my first public speaking lesson:

GET THE AUDIENCE ON YOUR SIDE!

Of course, I learned a lot of lessons as the course progressed. For example, I learned that videotaping yourself is the single-most effective way of seeing yourself as others see you. You can correct such things as posture and hand gestures.

Audiotaping yourself is also important because you will be forced to adjust your speech speed, the tone of your voice and your inflections.

The second most important lesson that the professor taught my speech class was that there is no substitute for:

PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!

How To Be A Public Speaking Superstar: "Who Else Wants to Dazzle and Influence Any Audience with Super Impressive Speeches by Having Supreme Confidence and Masterful Public Speaking Skills?" Stop wishing and whining! Let's turn that public speaking dream of yours into reality, right here, right now! Now you can become the best public speaker you could ever be. Click Here To See Details...