Fear of Public Speaking – Preparation is a Key
Don't let fear of public speaking keep you from being successful.
Many people have a fear of public speaking. It’s understandable and affects many of us. But, if you’re going to get involved in your community or government, or you simply want to get ahead in your business life, it’s a skill that is often necessary. It’s essential to make sales presentations, hold a meeting, conduct training, or anytime you need to be persuasive with a group of people.
With this article, let me start a ten part series to help you overcome what can be a debilitating fear when it comes to public speaking.
Preparation is Key
One of the biggest fears in public speaking is the general idea that you’re going to “mess up” somehow and be embarrassed. Of all the ways one might mess up, it often boils down to not knowing what to say, and “drawing a blank” when trying to respond to questions. Both of these concerns stem from being unprepared, so they can both be addressed thorough preparation.
If you think about a job interview, asking for a raise, or arguing a case in court, you’d want to be well prepared for what you might consider to be an “eventuality” in the matter. In other words, be prepared for what you might expect to be discussed, questioned or challenged. It’s one way to remove some of the unknown elements of the activity. Even if you don’t know exactly what questions might be asked, if you’re prepared for them, then it won’t matter.
Your fear of public speaking will start to melt away if you simply make certain that you’re well prepared. If you believe that half of the challenge to an activity is being prepared, then be prepared and you’ll be halfway towards eliminating your fear of public speaking.
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Clair Schwan doesn’t speak in public very often, but his experience as an instructor, presenter and business manager will come in handy when he needs to. He contends that the most important part of public speaking, like anything else, is being prepared.
3 Responses to “Fear of Public Speaking – Preparation is a Key”
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Preparation, practice and breathing are the things that work for me. Breathing keeps me from rushing and from using fillers “Um_” “er” etc.
knowing your subject is key. Words flow when you know what you’re talking about-
The difficulty with the practice, practice, practice advice is that if you are scared – you could just be locking in the fear. There are steps you can do to make public speaking easier before you get into practicing.
There seems to be a secret about public speaking that shouldn’t be a secret. It is understanding blank faces. As a speaker if we are not careful we carry on using normal conversational skills when we are speaking to a group.
When you have a standard conversation – you normally get nods, smiles, agreements back from the listener however when we speak to a group ALL that changes. All you see is blank faces.
So we start speaking to blank faces and they don’t usually smile (at least not very often) or nod their heads (some people will but again not a lot) so we are left struggling with critical thoughts about our performance. But blank faces are normal in audience – they are just listening faces.
So try not to read people’s faces when you speak publicly because your brain will interpret any sign as negative.
Of course there is more to getting your head around public speaking but when I teach public speaking this is the point that helps a lot of people.
John, good points, and the one about blank faces is something specific that I plan to provide a solution for in a future article. Blank faces are only part of the concern, it’s also the number of blank faces that often presents a problem. People are usually intimidated by speaking to a small group of perhaps 12 people, but it’s a different ball game altogether when they step up on stage and face 250 people. Yikes!!!