Stage Fright? Fear of failure? Don’t be. Become an Excellent Public Speaker

The fear of public speaking may seem unreasonable, because it isn’t as if our actual survival is at stake. Even so, a good public speaking skill can take years to fully develop. Here are things we should do:

1. Take smaller steps: We should take small steps and practice at a location where we will be speaking. If we want to become a good public speaker, we need to practice a lot. When practicing, we should become more acquainted with the situation and our own speech. By practicing at the location, we should be able to minimize different kinds of variables.

2. Understand our own body: Our physiology often mirrors our internal state. As an example, it would be hard to smile when we get upset. By understanding our own body, we should be able to emulate the confident and relaxed physiology. It would also be much easier to overcome fear. We need to use the proper posture. As an example, we may smile, relax our shoulders, quicken our pace slightly, breathe deep and stand up straight. Our internal state could start to mimic our external state.

3. Immediately connect with the audience: If possible, we should arrive 15 minutes before the presentation. By mingling with attendees, we should be able to defuse any jitter. We would be able to learn more about their interests and backgrounds. If we keep our mind occupied, it is less likely for us to get nervous. Depending on our topic, we may need to quickly engage with the audience, preferably within the first few minutes. Giving open ended questions and quick show of hands may eventually break the ice.

4. Talk out our presentation ahead of time: During a public speaking session, every ounce of familiarity to our own material will be quite essential. We may need to talk through our material ahead of time, especially with someone who is familiar with the topic. We should try to get comfortable and during the public speaking session, our knowledge about the topic will flow smoothly.

5. Expect positive outcomes: Anxiety could happen when we have negative expectation. We shouldn’t sabotage our public speaking success by having fear. Instead of being trapped by fear, we should focus our attention on any kind of positive outcome.

6. Mimic successful public speakers and visualize our ideal self: Many people are anxious to speak in front of others. We can overcome speech anxiety by visualizing our ideal self, which could be based on a successful public speaker. Our new public speaking style could become natural to us after a number of repetitions. Beginners can try to speak in front of their closest friends and family members. This will help to diminish fear of public speaking. Things will become a bit easier the next time we do it.

7. Determine the cause of fear: Fear is a mental message and it can manifest in psychological and behavioral forms. After identifying the source of our fear, we could neutralize it by visualizing. We should fake it until we could make it real. This will also become less scary if we meet the audience before the event.

8. Find presentation partners: Partners may co-present with us during a public speaking session. This will help us to lessen the burden and we will be able to deliver the content properly. If we are working with an experienced presentation partner, we could also pick up a few tips.

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