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Are you afraid of speaking in public?
It’s remarkable just how many people are afraid to speak in public and
want to know how to cure their fear of public speaking forever!
In my experience as a member of Toastmasters International I have
discovered that while there are many ways of reducing the stress of the
moment when you appear in front of an audience, there’s only one
sure-fire way to actually cure your fear of public speaking.
Here’s how to do it.
Why are you afraid?
The first thing to do is analyse what it is that you’re really afraid of.
This is the key thing to understanding your fear and developing a strategy
to cope with it.
Most nervous speakers are worried that they are going to make a fool of
themselves in front of their audience. They also believe that the audience
are baying for their blood and just waiting for them to make a mistake.
In all the time I’ve been a regular public speaker I’ve found that nothing
could be further from the truth.
• Your audience WANT to be entertained by YOU!
• They DON’T want to be BORED.
• Your audience actually WANT you to do WELL.
• They WANT to be utterly captivated by YOUR speech.
Understand this first point well and you are on your way to curing your
fear of public speaking.
Reduce the tension.
There are three things in any speech that generally cause more stress
than anything else:
• Talking about a topic you know very little about.
• Saying your opening line.
• Forgetting what to say next.
I mentioned earlier that there are many ways to reduce the stress of the
moment when you appear in front of your audience, here’s a few tactics
that will get you by. Combine them to build a strategy that helps you gain
control of your fear and get more comfortable with your public speaking.
1) Pick a topic you love to talk about.
There’s a really easy way to sound confident and knowledgeable when you
deliver your very first speech. It’s a simple tactic; make sure that you
pick a topic that you know REALLY well and can get really PASSIONATE about.
This gives you a wealth of information to talk about AND the knowledge is
already there in your head!
2) Ace your opening line.
The very next hurdle arrives at the very moment you appear in front of your
audience. The greatest fear is that you will open your mouth and nothing
will come out! There’s a tactic that will make absolutely sure your opening
line goes really well and it’s as simple as it gets:
• Write it down.
• Learn it off-by-heart.
• Practice it until you can repeat it in your sleep.
Remember though that this is a tactic for your opening line ONLY it is NOT
something I recommend for the main body of your speech.
3) Tell a story.
Every speaker has experienced this next scenario at some point, it’s usually
caused by one simple error that’s just so easy to make. It goes like this:
An inexperienced speaker will try to learn their entire speech off-by-heart,
it’s a BIG mistake! At some point they will forget their next line and the
ensuing silence is devastating to their confidence, the added stress causes
them to stumble through the rest of the speech which just makes things worse.
I suggest instead that you use the following tactics to get through the main
body of your speech:
• Break the main body of your speech down into a few sections.
• Give each of these sections a summary title.
• These titles become your waypoints in the speech.
• Write each waypoint on a card and use them as your notes.
• Number your cards so you can keep them in order.
• Create a story that wraps around the waypoints.
• Add short notes on each card for relevant parts of your story.
• Now stand up and tell a story instead of delivering a speech.
You see it's much, much easier to tell a story than to remember and deliver a
whole load of written content. Using this tactic results in a fluid speech
that makes you look, sound and feel really confident!
These simple tactics will arm you well and help you create a strategy that will eventually
help you find out how to cure your fear of public speaking.
Get a head start.
I recommend that you join a Toastmasters International affiliated
speaking club. The whole purpose of these clubs is to help YOU
to cure fear of public speaking forever by creating a mutually
supportive environment in which you can practice.
Find a local club here www.toastmasters.org
There’s only one way!
Following the advice above will help you stand up and deliver your
first speech. The very same tactics will help you deliver your
second and third speech too! These tactics will help you reduce the
effect of the stressful moments but that isn’t actually a cure fear
of public speaking is it?
In my experience as a Toastmaster I’ve found that there’s only one
way to actually CURE the fear of public speaking.
The answer is suprisingly simple…
First, get up in front of an audience and deliver your first speech.
Your close family will do as an audience or even a VIDEO CAMERA
if necessary.
Secondly, do it again; Maybe with your friends and family this time.
Thirdly, do it again….
You get the picture don’t you?
The answer to “how to cure your fear of public speaking” is repetition.
The more often you speak in public the easier it will get, the more
confident you will look and the better you will sound. Until one day
you do and find that you actually ENJOY the experience and look forward
to doing it again!
So… you wanted to know how to cure your fear of public speaking? The
answer is simple, stand up, take a deep breath and make yourself heard,
before you know it you’ll be doing it with ease!
Have fun, be all that you can be!
Christopher Barnett
January 2008
http://www.christopherbarnett.co.uk
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