“The only way to learn to speak is to speak
and speak, and speak and speak, and speak and speak and speak.”
-Elbert Hubbard
According to Wall Street Journal,
the number one fear in America is public speaking and the fear of death is
ranked number two. Yes, that’s right and we seem to be more afraid of public
speaking rather than death, heights, bungee jumping, etc.
Fear of public speaking is also a
kind of fear of death-emotional death. People who have fear of public speaking
tend to have sweaty palm, feel nervous, speaks not clearly and don’t want to do
public speaking bur rather do anything instead.
The fear of public speaking could
affect your professional as well as personal life. However, there are tips and
techniques to overcome your fear of public speaking.
Tips for reducing public speaking
nervousness
1. Don’t
expect perfection from yourself: You must know that nobody is perfect. Some of
us tend to be carried away by a simple mistakes rather than handling it
effectively. Even the most successful professional speaker also makes mistakes
in their public speaking or speech but they handle it quite well and move on
gracefully. Keep this in mind while doing public speaking and don’t expect too
much from your speech and all will be well.
2. Avoid
being nervous about your nervousness: People who lack confidence or practice
become nervous and on top of that feel anxious on the fact that they are
nervous. The flow of our adrenaline is nervousness and successful speakers know
how to convert it into their energy. It is okay to be nervous and all the
successful speakers also get nervous. So, don’t be nervous about your
nervousness instead find a way to convert it into enthusiasm and charisma.
3. Avoid
equating public speaking to your self-worth: Public speaking is only a part of
your professional life. Even if you are not good in public speaking don’t let
it depress you and don’t think that only the public speaking ability determine
your worth in public. There may be other things that you excel most in and
through which you can be successful and be popular in public.
4. Avoid
trying to memorize every word: There is no need to memorize each and every word
of your speech. Most of the audience can easily recognize if you have fear of
public speaking or not and whether you are giving speech by memorizing each and
every of word or not. Trying to memorize and giving speech is just stressing
and can cause more nervous if you forgot just only one word of speech.
5. Avoid
reading word for word: Don’t read each and every line and its words from slide
while doing public speaking or giving presentation. There is a vast difference
between reading and speaking. Even though the audience might get information
from your reading but they might lose interest in hearing your presentation.
Speaking makes an impact on the audience perception of your personality and the
content or topics on which you are speaking. If you are only reading you won’t
know whether audience have understood your ideas or not and you will never
reduce your nervousness of public speaking just reading only.
6. Work
on your breathing: Some people having fear of public speaking often have
abnormal breathing which may also stir their voice and the audience easily know
that he/she is nervous. So, work on your breathing as it will help your voice
to be more resonance and you will relax. Breathe calmly and just go with the
flow.
7. Record
your speech, listen and improvise: Record your practice speech in your recorder
or in mobile phone. Then, listen or watch it and find out what are bad and good
part of your presentation and improvise the part on which you are lacking
something.
If you think that there are others
ways to reduce nervousness of public speaking then please let me know in the
comment section below
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