“The number one fear in the world, ahead of even the fear of death, is the fear of public speaking”
The fear of public speaking is extremely common, most polished speakers experienced it. Facing your fear is a huge advantage in your career especially if you catch your boss’s attention. It shows you have communication skills.
Some tips to help you get over that fear and jump start your career:
Practice in advance in front of a mirror:Yes, in front of a full length mirror. it has a great value.The mirror will make every move you make distracting, you will notice if you are getting sweaty,if you spit while you speak. More important, you will notice if you move back and forth, if you say “um” ,”ah” and “you know”. in brief, the mirror allows you to be aware of subtl distractiong actions you do. Those actions are the reason why speeches go bad so often.
Practice your speech facing a wall: The opposite scenario as compared to the practice facing a mirror. Speaking in front of a wall will allow you to block out all distractions and focus exclusively on the content of your speech. You might feel silly at first (it’s fine and a lot of people feel that at first) but this practice will help you identify the parts in your speech that you are struggling with, where the speech is weak. Go on, hammer your way around the house.
Practice with a friend: Amore relaxing way to deliver in the presence of a friend. He will understand your point of view, ask questions and should give honest feedback (what parts were easy to understand and where he struggled to follow you). If a friend will only tell you what you want to hear, find someone else.
Practice with a peer (non-friend): A useful technique because it will add some pressure. The pressure of actually delivering the speech is much higher but this is an opportunity to test a non-friend pressure.
Record yourself: Asimple tip but very useful. Recording your speech and critiquing yourself is extremely important because you will be able to identify and correct flaws.
Do a dry run: Get to the venue before the big presentation, have a feeling of the place and do a dry run. Make sure to practice your speech exactly as if there was an audience. Make it as realistic as possible (yes, use the microphone). the more realistic your dry run is, the easier it will be when the big day comes.
So by now you should know that the key to overcome that fear is practice. Doing it under different conditions and various scenarios will make you more relaxed , more confident and will reduce your anxiety. Practice however could make you feel bored and time consuming but it’s worth it. The more you practice,the more improvements you will see.
Practice makes perfection!
Now, if you think delivering a speech is a hard thing to do, try Stand-up Comedy!
