Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking

Whenever a survey is published on biggest fears you can always guarantee that public speaking will be towards the top of the list. Itâ??s easy to why this is the case – youâ??re stood up in front of a group of your peers purveying your thoughts and ideas. The nerves and anxiety felt by many just thinking about being in this situation is enough to put them off public speaking for life. However with correct preparation public speaking can actually be very easy and create an adrenaline rush unequalled by anything else. Whether you just have one speech to deliver as a best man or matron of honour, or youâ??re a businessperson who wants to make confident presentations to enhance your position in the company then ask yourself the following questions to fully prepare for your speaking duties.Who Will The Audience Be?Before you give a presentation or a speech you should carefully consider exactly who the audience will comprise of. This includes how many people you will be speaking to and the relationship between yourself and the audience. The more you learn about your prospective audience the easier it will be to prepare your speech. What Do Your Audience Want To Hear?If youâ??ve been asked to give a presentation to upper management types then theyâ??ll want to hear a lot of stats, facts and ideas for the future. On the other hand a best manâ??s speech will be a lot more humour based with a couple of stories and is generally best kept to a short length of time so that the festivities can continue. How Long Do You Need To Speak For? Always ask how long you need to speak for. â??Just get up and say a few wordsâ? isnâ??t specific enough, push for an exact length of time. The vast majority of public speaking doesnâ??t last much more than five or ten minutes. What Should The Tone Be?Depending on who the audience are and the purpose of the speech you should be able to grasp what the tone should be. If youâ??re making a short speech at a close friendâ??s birthday party then you can afford to be a little more risqué than you could giving a eulogy at a funeral. Similarly when youâ??re giving a business presentation there are circumstances where you can be more informal than usual depending on who the audience are. Where Will You Be Speaking? Always consider where it is youâ??ll be speaking as it makes a big difference. If you have access to a laptop and a projector then you have the option to use visual aids which makes public speaking easier as you no longer have to worry about the audience visually focusing on you. If youâ??re making a wedding/party speech then thereâ??s a good chance youâ??ll have a lot of background noise to contend with. Will you have a microphone or will you just have the power of your voice? The more information you have the better. With clear guidelines you are much more likely to make a speech that stays on point and serves the purpose it was intended to.

Oh my God! You have to give a speech to an audience of strangers. Speaking in public is up there at the top of most people’s list of things to be avoided at all costs, along with spiders, snakes, dentists and lawyers. But why is it so frightening? After all the audience is on your side. Even stand-up comedians know that the toughest audience just want to laugh and all you have to do is give them what they want. Audiences are not like the baying crowds at the Colloseum in Rome, there for blood and death, or the little old lady knitting between beheadings before the guillotine.

In truth public speaking, for the speaker is all about fear, pure and simple. All they have to fear is fear itself. Fear of failure, such as drying up completely and forgetting whatever it was you wanted to say. Fear of dropping all your prompt cards and wetting your pants in public. Fear of the heckler in the audience who will publicly humiliate you by knowing more than you, about your chosen subject. Fear of the microphone failing or the slide projector breaking or everyone getting bored and getting up and leaving.

So the question becomes, “how can I convert fear into confidence”? There are 3 steps to confidence in public speaking. Step 1 is to PREPARE. Get on a training course, make a list of top hints and tips, practice your speech with all the tips in place until you are word perfect and then practice again. Step 2 is to get into your CIRCLE OF CONFIDENCE. You remember a time when you felt confident right? Well recall that time. See what you saw then. Feel what you felt then. Hear what you heard then and imagine a golden circle of confidence into which you can step at any time.

Step 3 is to get a subliminal message CD or MP3 for public speaking. Use it to persuade your subconscious mind that you are confident and capable and ready to deliver a great speech. Use the subliminal messages of confidence to reinforce your ring of confidence and get out there to blow them away with your brilliance.

The master of ceremonies (also known as “MC”, toastmaster or compere) acts as the host of a meeting and has the responsibility for starting and keeping the event on track. The MC should be impartial and there should exercise a light touch to the part they play.

Although content should be king at any meeting, the packaging of it can help considerably to the overall success of the program. The MC role plays an important part in the packaging of the event. When considering the role of MC it is advisable to have had prior experience of speaking in public. The skills and techniques developed in public speaking are the same as those needed to be a successful MC.

An excellent method to prepare you for the role of MC is to observe other skilful MCs and speakers. Study what they do and how they do to. Use these observations as a model for your role.

The 7 tips to be successful in the master of ceremonies role are:-

To Prepare Thoroughly

Meet with the organizers of the meeting to understand the purpose of the meeting and discuss the detailed plan of the day. Uncover as much as you can about the speakers and if possible talk to them about their background and their speech. Also speak to others that will play a role in the day to build up a positive relationship with them.

To Arrive Early

Arrive early on the day to check with other participants that all requirements are in place. If not, take action to correct any problems. Incorporate any last minute changes into your plan. Also check out the facilities, e.g. where are the bathrooms, are the microphones and the visual equipment working? Discuss with the other participants including the speakers the plan for the day.

To Have a Detailed Agenda

Ensure you keep to a detailed timetable as closely as possible. Thorough preparation and discussing the day with the participants will make this much easier. The audience and speakers appreciate an efficiently run event.

Be Prepared for the Unexpected Happening

In spite of all the planning and preparation the meeting can get off track. Although you cannot plan precisely for the unexpected event, you can have some contingencies in place. An efficient MC will have a supply of contemporary stories and anecdotes that can be used to cover up any confusion arising from the unforeseen circumstances.

Opening the Meeting

Prepare your opening based on the information you gathered when speaking to the organizers and speakers. The opening needs only to be brief and cover the essentials such as acknowledging any special guests, introducing yourself, and the reason for the meeting.

Introducing the Speakers

When you introduce the speakers keep it brief. Cover their name, a brief biography and the topic of their speech. After their speech: – thank the speaker and give a quick outline of the speech – one or two lines is all that is needed.

Closing the Day

Thank all the speakers and all who attended. If appropriate make a special thanks to the organisers and any individuals who especially contributed to the success of the day. Include a summary of the day and include any highlights of the meeting.

The role of the master of ceremonies is very important to the success of a meeting or event. By observing successful “MCs” and applying your observations together with the above tips you soon become skilled in the role.

Like a taser gun shot to the butt a fear of public speaking can send shockwaves through your body that will make you feel disorientated and out of control! It can affect you even months in advance if you know that you have to speak publicly and nothing seems to help or shift it. You have tried braving it but got nowhere. You have got out of situations of speaking publicly however feel guilty as you have let someone else or yourself down. You have missed many an opportunity to grow and develop because of this most hideous phobia. Don’t you owe it to yourself to get this sorted out? If so, read on…
So, do you feel like you want the floor to open up and swallow you in when you speak publicly or do not even get that far as the lead up is just too much for you to cope, so you give up before attempting it? Do you feel that it is an irrational fear, however still can’t seem to get a handle on it and begin take control? Do you wish that you could reach your goals without facing your public speaking anxiety, but know that this is just as unlikely as the abolition of taxes? Do you just wish that there were an easy way that you could follow to deal with this – with no pain or embarrassment? Well if you are real serious about getting rid of your public speaking fear then I know just the thing that will help.
For many years hypnosis has been used for entertainment in places like Vegas and high school proms the world over. We see what seem to be amazing results of people acting crazy and doing strange things. Many people think that it is faked and that it is all put on, however I wouldn’t buy into this theory if I were you. Think about it! Have you ever seen in a newspaper and interview with someone that took part in a stage show and said that it was all staged? No? I thought as much and the reason why is that Hypnosis – really is that powerful! Really!
For many years now I, like a lot of other Hypnotherapist have been using the sheer power of Hypnosis to help people with many issues, such as stopping smoking, slimming and also dealing with public speaking anxiety. If you really want to harness the amazing power of Hypnosis and Self Hypnosis then I recommend that you grab some more information on the topic and make a start today! Your resolution could be just around the corner – don’t let this be the fish that got away – make a change today!

While public speaking is a key fear for adults, it is also a key component of building a business. As small business owners, we can gain a competitive edge by expanding our marketing mix and sharing our expertise through public speaking. Why is public speaking so effective? Because it endorses you and your business, gives you an opportunity to promote your credibility to many people at one time and shortens the sales cycle. Think about it, you can have a one-hour appointment with a key prospect or you can give a 20-minute presentation to twenty or more prospects at one time. Here are a few ideas to help build your business through public speaking:

Break through the fear – Instead of thinking about speaking as “public speaking,” think about it as sharing your expertise. This always helps me. It’s okay to be afraid – feel the fear and do it anyway. Practice, prepare and know your material. Attend the Florida Speakers Association meetings or Toastmasters to help you develop your speaking skill.

Make a list of what you can speak about – Start by listing what you are good at and then build potential speaking topics from there. For example, if you build web sites, you could create a presentation about how to increase sales through your website. If you own a day spa, you could create a presentation about reducing stress at work.

Create a catchy title – Once you have a general idea about what you can speak about, create a catchy title. For example, I give a presentation about inexpensive marketing strategies and title the presentation, “Marketing your Business for Little or No Money.”

Keep your title brief and to the point.

Develop the presentation – Build your presentation from the title. Microsoft PowerPoint is a great tool to help develop the presentation. Keep each slide simple with just a few bullet points. I would suggest 7-10 slides for a 20-minute presentation. Develop an informative presentation based on your expertise. Be careful not to create an advertisement about your company’s services.

Create a promo piece – This is an important component to pitching the presentation to an organization. This promo piece has three components, the title of the presentation, an outline of the presentation and a brief description of the presenter. Submitting this promo piece and your biography shows professionalism when getting booked for a speaking engagement.

Create a biography – Develop a one-page biography and a speaker biography. The one-page biography will be sent along with the promo piece and the speaker biography will be given to the person who introduces you before you speak.

Have a professional head shot taken– Often when you get booked to speak for an organization, they may want a picture of you to promote you in their brochure about the event. Have your head shot available in a .jpg file as well as picture form.

Contact organizations and offer to speak – This is where a strategy comes into play. What audience is most likely to benefit from your topic? If you sell to businesses than a business-to-business organization will be appropriate. If your market is retail, identify organizations that support a retail market. Look through the business section of the newspaper and identify organizations that have breakfasts, luncheons and the like. These organizations may include Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, Kiwinas Clubs and trade associations. Contact them, find out who schedules speakers for meetings and pitch your topic.

Maximize your marketing potential – Most often, you will be giving these presentations for free and can therefore make a request to the organization in exchange for payment. Depending on what will benefit you, you might request the names, addresses and e-mail addresses of the attendees or ask to write a follow up article for their organization. Another idea is to request selling your product in the back of the room, or having your brochures and business cards at each place setting. Use your creativity in maximizing your marketing potential. Remember to invite your clients and potential clients to your speaking engagement and have fun sharing your expertise.

You’re asked to go to the front of the class to discuss the angst of Proust’s literary work or to demonstrate how a pulley works. You’re confident about the topic. It’s the thought of speaking in front of the class that terrifies you, yet there’s no escape. How to survive? Here is how.You Can Do It
Learning public speaking is like an attempt to conquer Mt. Everest. It takes some spunk before you can speak to a crowd without quaking or freezing up. Well, it’s a humbling experience to accept that you’re no orator or charismatic speaker, and it takes courage to do something about it.
Eventually, after much effort at learning public speaking, you’ll be ready to take on the world. You won’t be lighting too many cigarettes with one of your Zippo lighters before a speaking engagement. Not anymore.
How to go about it? You have several options. Sign up with Toastmasters International, discreetly look around for speech tutors, or join a drama group. Or, you can purchase e-books on public speaking, which you can learn at home behind locked doors.
With persistence, you can beat the fear factor in public speaking. It may take a while, but people will soon notice that you’re becoming a confident and lively speaker. This development will be good for your class presentations and your chances for future employment, so these should be enough motivation for you.Speech Problems You Can CorrectStuttering has caused millions of people to agonize over this speech disorder. People who stutter find it difficult to get the sounds out, and they end up repeating part of a word. ‘Water’ is ‘wawawater’, and they get all red when they catch knowing smiles. But with speech therapy and the support of your family, you can get past this problem.Cluttering is the opposite of stuttering. Someone who clutters talks too fast in spurts, sounding jerky, or is simply unsure of what he or she wants to say because of the long pauses between words.Mispronunciation – People laugh or feel awkward when they hear a public speaker mispronounce words. A structured session at the speech laboratory with a speech therapist can solve the problem.Unnecessary fillers – If you count the number of times you say “uh” in your speech, you might be astounded at your propensity to dispense with speech fillers.Regional accents – You shouldn’t be ashamed of your regional accent, but sometimes the embarrassment caused is worse than the fear of catching a deadly virus.Weak voice – Finding yourself repeating a word to be heard? Blame this on a small weak voice, but vocal exercises can strengthen your vocal muscles. Having a medical professional evaluate the condition can also detect serious respiratory or other ailments.Nasal voice – You have a nasal voice if you are talking though your nose. Just pinch your nose and speak, if you have trouble releasing your voice, then you are nasal as they come.Where to Go From Here
Get a book about public speaking and join organizations like Toastmasters and Speaking Circles. Joining a speaking group is more interesting than practicing before a mirror.
You’ll meet more people and forge new friendships, learn from the experience of others, and get good advice. In the aftermath of all your struggles, you might start talking non-stop – but that is another disorder.

You’re asked to go to the front of the class to discuss the angst of Proust’s literary work or to demonstrate how a pulley works. You’re confident about the topic. It’s the thought of speaking in front of the class that terrifies you, yet there’s no escape. How to survive? Here is how.You Can Do It
Learning public speaking is like an attempt to conquer Mt. Everest. It takes some spunk before you can speak to a crowd without quaking or freezing up. Well, it’s a humbling experience to accept that you’re no orator or charismatic speaker, and it takes courage to do something about it.
Eventually, after much effort at learning public speaking, you’ll be ready to take on the world. You won’t be lighting too many cigarettes with one of your Zippo lighters before a speaking engagement. Not anymore.
How to go about it? You have several options. Sign up with Toastmasters International, discreetly look around for speech tutors, or join a drama group. Or, you can purchase e-books on public speaking, which you can learn at home behind locked doors.
With persistence, you can beat the fear factor in public speaking. It may take a while, but people will soon notice that you’re becoming a confident and lively speaker. This development will be good for your class presentations and your chances for future employment, so these should be enough motivation for you.Speech Problems You Can CorrectStuttering has caused millions of people to agonize over this speech disorder. People who stutter find it difficult to get the sounds out, and they end up repeating part of a word. ‘Water’ is ‘wawawater’, and they get all red when they catch knowing smiles. But with speech therapy and the support of your family, you can get past this problem.Cluttering is the opposite of stuttering. Someone who clutters talks too fast in spurts, sounding jerky, or is simply unsure of what he or she wants to say because of the long pauses between words.Mispronunciation – People laugh or feel awkward when they hear a public speaker mispronounce words. A structured session at the speech laboratory with a speech therapist can solve the problem.Unnecessary fillers – If you count the number of times you say “uh” in your speech, you might be astounded at your propensity to dispense with speech fillers.Regional accents – You shouldn’t be ashamed of your regional accent, but sometimes the embarrassment caused is worse than the fear of catching a deadly virus.Weak voice – Finding yourself repeating a word to be heard? Blame this on a small weak voice, but vocal exercises can strengthen your vocal muscles. Having a medical professional evaluate the condition can also detect serious respiratory or other ailments.Nasal voice – You have a nasal voice if you are talking though your nose. Just pinch your nose and speak, if you have trouble releasing your voice, then you are nasal as they come.Where to Go From Here
Get a book about public speaking and join organizations like Toastmasters and Speaking Circles. Joining a speaking group is more interesting than practicing before a mirror.
You’ll meet more people and forge new friendships, learn from the experience of others, and get good advice. In the aftermath of all your struggles, you might start talking non-stop – but that is another disorder.

People who get paid well to speak all share one of two traits: either they’re famous, or they own “The Skills”. To be able to move people who don’t know you as a celebrity of some sort, you must know how to keep your audience focused on you and your message, and how to keep them on the same page, on the same wavelength, every step of the way.
Keeping an audience with you is simply not possible with the way 99% of all public speakers behave when at the front of a group. When you speak the way most of us have been taught to do from an early age, you engage in behaviors that send the wrong signals to your audience – in many cases exactly the opposite of what you would like to signal. Worse, these standard behaviors actually reduce your cognitive capacity at the time you most desperately need it.
If these statements seem sweeping, please understand that we at PublicSpeakingSkills.com have been training people from business, politics, the military and the clergy for over 12 years in The Skills.
During that time, we have had the privilege to work with over 10,000 people from all walks of life, and here is what we have learned: 99% of speakers engage in exactly the same behaviors, and consequently produce similar results when it comes to the quality of their speaking.
In fact, in every one of our on-site programs, we begin with an exercise that “benchmarks” how each student speaks prior to training, and we are able to predict to the second what each and every participant will do during their initial delivery. To the second!
Good News!
But that’s the good news. It’s good news because we also know that most people speak the way they do simply because they’ve never been shown the proper way. And though many people take courses in public speaking in high school or college, the format of those courses tends to emphasize the content part of speaking rather than the actual physical behaviors one needs to understand in order to acquire The Skills.
If you have ever taken a course in school, we bet that your assignments were to create a series of different types of speeches: The Informative, The Inspirational, The Motivational, etc., etc. Sound familiar?
But what were you taught about the actual delivery, other than to look at everyone in the audience and watch your umms and ahhs? Worse, during your speaking career you probably have been receiving positive feedback for your behaviors no matter what you’ve been doing by people either too polite or simply not knowledgeable enough to tell you otherwise.
Speaking well: talent or training?
When people learn the proper way; when they understand what the audience expects of them as human beings; when they embrace the idea that it’s OK to go into a presentation without having spent hours and hours rehearsing it; when they become comfortable with not knowing what they’re going to say until just before they say it; and when they come to accept that often the most powerful thing they can say is nothing at all, they never engage in the old behaviors again.
They approach every opportunity to speak to a crowd with desire and enthusiasm, and the larger the crowd, the better. They actually see speaking to a group as one of the most relaxing things they can do, as it is one of the few times left in life where they are free to do only one thing at a time. These people have The Skills.
And we can’t emphasize enough that The Skills are, indeed, a set of behaviors that you learn, and not something that you are born with. Only a very small subset of people is ‘born’ with the ability to move a group to action with their words and actions. Those people have what the rest of us don’t: it’s called “charisma”. Charismatics have been known to lead thousands to action by the power of their spoken words, often for good, and sometimes not.
But charisma alone didn’t get Bill Clinton to the top job in the world. Bill Clinton, believe it or not, was not always a great speaker. What he had was both charisma and the brains to know that he did not know everything – and that becoming a great speaker was both an essential job requirement and something that someone could be taught.
Bill Clinton was one of only a handful of men who was elected president of the United States without great personal or family wealth. He got elected on his ability to motivate people to listen to him, work for him, follow him and support him all the way. He was successful because he didn’t simply speak; he spoke with a manner and a style that caused people to not only listen to his words but also to hear them, remember them, and to believe them. Bill Clinton has The Skills.
The Skills supersede genes, culture, background, heritage, and to a large extent even education. Many clients come to us because they want help with their accents or they feel their voice needs correcting in some way.
Although we grant that there are some people with a speaking voice better suited to silent films, for the vast majority an accent or unique pitch only adds to the level of interest they can create as a speaker. That’s because, as we’ll learn, these traits simply add to one’s “humanness”.
It’s about being you
People are not moved by messages delivered by speakers whom they don’t feel are “real”. And yet most of us were taught behaviors that cause us to adopt completely alien personas when we speak to groups. We try to become “Presenterman!” or “Presenterwoman!”. Sadly, Hillary Clinton does this. Could you imagine spending dinner across the table from Hillary Clinton and having her speak to you the way she does to crowds? Pretty painful thought! Yet you could pretty much imagine that if you were sharing dinner with Bill, or Ronald Reagan, the conversation would be not unlike how you know them to speak in public.
Alas, Hillary does not have The Skills.

You might think that you are the best speaker and despite could not manage to grab the attention of the audience you ever spoke before. You might have prepared your presentation after a week long grueling effort but the impact was only 10% or so. This leaves you wondering why have you not been successful at public speeches and presentations although you possess enough knowledge and also do have the required skills. The introduction, the body part and the conclusion all have been spoken in an orderly manner but little it did to captivate the audience.

It can be said then that saying a word is one thing and how it affects the audience is another and the only thing to win over your audience. The great industry speakers often use contemporary jargons and the quotes by famous authors so as to allure the audience.  But looking back at the history of these leading speakers tell us how to avoid the common errors which often a speaker commits and how to develop the art of public speaking. No doubt, a lot of effort goes into the public speaking and the perfection is achieved after a continuous practice and systematic learning.

Often a speaker gets amazed at how the people react to the speeches made at a conference or a seminar. A listener may either nod his head in your favour or shake showing his disapproval and may even doze off if the speech or presentation is not liked by him. At times, it becomes difficult to appease the entire crowd of listeners.

By paying heed to the following common mistakes which often a speaker commits, you can win over the audience.

•Starting without saying “thank-you”: Many speakers especially who are novice commit this mistake. They start with the subject without saying thank you.  The people  like to be given importance and they feel great when they are being told “thank-you”. Contrary to this, if the speech is being delivered internally within the organization, there is no need to say this word.

•Not maintaining an eye-contact: There are speakers who are good and can influence the audience but somehow during the speech can not maintain an eye-contact with the audience. The speaker reads out the lines of entire subject from the projector screen or somehow while speaking is not able to make eye-to-eye contact. This is the biggest mistake one can commit and must be avoided at all costs.

•Taking long pauses while speaking: Many speakers take long pauses because of the reason that they miss out on words. They are not very good communicators and also do not convey the right message while speaking. The use of right words is very-very important. This can be effected by taking up breathing exercises and also practicing to speak for long. In toto, the speaker should be able to say a sentence by maintaining a continuum.

•Shaking or moving while speaking: Often speakers are seen to be moving their hands and body while speaking. The body language is an asset and this should be utilized to make the best use of your opportunity as a speaker. Be comfortable and maintain your posture by standing straight. This is especially so when you are using a podium.

•Speaking the by hearted text: Some speakers just speak those words which seem to be by hearted. Never do this as it creates a negative impression. Speak in either a conversational tone or in a such a manner that it should seem to be authentic and spoken straight from the heart. Aditionally, have your own style which should look original and also do not imitate any other speaker.

The voice-modulation is also very important and maintaining clarity in your voice will lend you credibility whenever you stand up to speak. Above all, in order to be a good speaker, you also need to be a good observer too.

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