The Fear of Public Speaking!

f Why Not?

Think about it for a moment.
Most of our conversations are one-on-one. Many of those are on the phone where we don’t even have a face to look at while we’re talking. Much of our communication these days is via email and texting.

It’s natural then to feel Uncomfortable when standing in front of a group with ten, twenty, or fifty sets of eyeballs staring at you. You feel naked, all alone, and with nowhere to hide! In that situation, we’re out of our comfort zone. YIKES! Who wants to be Uncomfortable – not me!

We naturally avoid getting out of our comfort zone. That’s too bad, because we know when we get out of our comfort zone – we make it larger! For many, learning begins at the edge of our comfort zone.

The Uncomfortableness of standing in front of an audience will lessen over time with each presentation. It was uncomfortable falling off your bike the first time you rode it, wasn’t it? You picked yourself up, got back on, and tried, again, correct? The same will occur with speaking to an audience. The more times it’s done, the easier it will become.

Less time between those speaking engagements will help, also. Too much time between speaking events will almost feel like starting over. That’s why, if better speaking is your goal, take and make as many speaking opportunities as you can.

There are legitimate reasons to have a
Fear of Public Speaking.

If you don’t know what you’re talking about.

You must know what you’re talking about. You can’t know everything, but must know enough that you’re comfortable delivering the speech and taking questions on what you’ve presented.
There’s real anxiety in standing in front of people and talking about something you don’t know well – and there should be!
Knowing your subject shows the audience confidence in your competence.
The internet is a great tool for finding the information you need to present well.

Be sure to check several sources. Just because someone wrote it, doesn’t mean it’s true.
Set up Google Alerts for your subject so you can get the latest information available.

If you don’t know the structure for developing and delivering a presentation.

The structure of a great presentation is similar to the recipe for a great cake.

Specific ingredients are added at specific times, in a specific manner and lead to a great cake.
There is a specific structure for a speech that, when followed correctly, delivers a great presentation.

Study and work on all of them.

Title
Introduction
Opening
Body
Conclusion

Also know, and how to use, all the Verbal Elements and NonVerbal Elements of Delivery for presenting your talk.

If you haven’t practiced.

Would serious athletes, musicians, or actors just “show up” for their big match, concert, or play? Absolutely Not!

They constantly work out, practice and rehearse.

Practicing is not optional!

The professionals, who speak for a living, practice one hour per minute of presentation. (This is not a misprint!)
Steve Jobs, one of my presentation heroes, would practice weeks for a ninety minute keynote presentation that would introduce a new Apple product or service.

All the above reasons for having the Fear of Public Speaking can be overcome.

Taking and making many Speaking Opportunities will lessen the fear and make you more at ease in front of an audience.
Thoroughly studying a subject, and continually updating your knowledge, will give you the confidence to speak on that topic.
Developing, Practicing, and Delivering a presentation based upon a proven structure, and using all the Verbal and NonVerbal elements of presenting, will help put your best in front of people who came to learn from your presentation.
Practice – Practice – Practice will make you better when the “real” event takes place.

Then there are the What Ifs that contribute to the Fear of Public Speaking.
That’s the subject for the next blog post. Come back next week to find out more!

For reading, and/or listening, this far I’d like to give you a FREE Gift.
Go to: https://nosweatpublicspeaking.com/freegift to receive it!

About the Author
Fred E. Miller is a speaker, a coach, and author of the book,
“No Sweat Public Speaking!”
Businesses and individuals hire him because they want to improve their
Public Speaking and Presentation Skills.
They do this because we perceive really great speakers to be Experts.
Perception is reality and we rather deal with Experts.

They also know:
Speaking Opportunities are Business Opportunities.
Speaking Opportunities are Career Opportunities.
Speaking Opportunities are Leadership Opportunities.
He shows them how to
Develop, Practice, and Deliver ‘Knock Your Socks Off Presentations!’ with –
No Sweat!