Many studies have confirmed what most of us already know: public speaking is the number one fear worldwide, even outpacing traditionally scary things like death and snakes. The amount of stress, anxiety, and sleepless nights endured by those faced with a speech or presentation is truly staggering when you consider the fact that all we are doing is talking about something we are passionate about in front of an audience.
Yet the fear of public speaking can be conquered. There are people who not only don’t mind speaking to thousands of people, but actually relish the opportunity. As the founder of MotivationalSpeakerz.com, John Rogan has been giving presentations and lectures for over ten years and has learned three critical lessons of how to deal with this issue.
Would you like to deliver speeches with confidence and poise? Follow the following three steps and you can eliminate your public speaking anxiety forever.
1. Don’t Accept Your Fear
“Most people will never take action to address their fear of public speaking precisely because the anxiety it causes is so widespread” says this keynote speaker. They accept their fear as tolerable because so many other people do the same. The obvious problem with this approach is that you will continue to give nervous and lackluster speeches and presentations for the rest of your life. Instead, view your fear of public speaking for what it actually is: an irrational phobia. You would snicker at someone with trichopathophobia (the fear of hair) or xanthophobia (the fear of the color yellow), but at least their phobias won’t cost them countless professional and personal opportunities.
The truth is that the fear you are feeling all stems from your own thoughts and beliefs about yourself and what you think other people are thinking of you. In other words, it is all in your mind and once you learn how to control your thoughts, it will help you tremendously in conquering them.
2. Videotape Your Speech
Next time you’re preparing for a speech, videotape yourself practicing it to critique your performance. Not only will it help you to correct flaws in your content or delivery, but you will also become comfortable seeing yourself speaking. After reviewing a tape of themselves speaking, the most common response people have by far is “Hey, I’m not that bad!”
The other benefit of videotaping yourself is that you get to see any flaws or ticks you may have and then work on improving them. All athletes, actors, and performers watch themselves so that they can see what they are doing right and wrong.
3. Structure Your Speech
A large portion of your public speaking anxiety will disappear once you learn how to structure your speeches correctly. Talking for a 30-minute span may seem daunting whereas talking about your 6 main points for 5 minutes each is much easier to handle.
Provide a main idea, follow it with supporting evidence, and then repeat the process. Using numbers (like I did in the title of this article) both helps you to remain calm (since you’re focused on a single idea) and makes your speech easier to follow for your audience.
By focusing on these three keys, you can substantially reduce or even eliminate your fear of public speaking. Becoming a confident public speaker will free your mind from the dread of giving another presentation and allow you to communicate your ideas effectively and persuasively.
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