Fear
of speaking in public
As I mentioned
in the previous lesson, the audience is not your enemy, on the contrary,
they are there because they believe the speaker can teach them something
and that they are not wasting their time being there.
Therefore,
you should not be afraid when you talk in public, something that,
is usually common.
Being
afraid about speaking in public is something natural, therefore
you should not criticise yourself too much if this happens, or consider
yourself a weak and insecure person.
What you
need to do is analyze the fear that torments you and try to discover
the cause of its origin.
You will
discover that a large part of this fear is irrational, it is not
due to logical motives (fear of looking ridiculous, fear that people
will laugh at you, that you will stutter, that you will fall over,
that you will demoralize your professional image, that people will
boo you...)
These
are situations that are not going to happen and therefore you have
to reject this fear as being absurd.
Another
type of fear can be rational: This fear is due to adverse situations
that can present different problems (your mind could go blank, you
might not know how to answer a question, the projector might not
work, etc).
To get
rid of this fear what you have to do is take possible measures to
reduce the possibilities that these situations rise (for example,
taking notes with you, preparing the speech off by heart, checking
that the projector works, etc).
Sometimes
you can be afraid because you think the audience is going to realize
that you are afraid because you are suffering (sweating, trembling
voice or trembling legs, facial expression, etc) but it is very difficult
for this to happen:
They
are physical reactions that one perceives but are hardly visible
to others. Besides, if in the hypothetical sense the audience was
to notice these things, they would think that these are perfectly
natural reactions, that can happen to anyone.
The best
way to combat fear is with adequate preparation: you need to work
on and rehearse the speech rigorously.
Once
you dominate the presentation the possibility of commiting mistakes
reduces drastically; as this generates confidence and decreaes your
level of anxiety.
It is also
good to think positively, think about the great satisfaction that
you will feel once you are extremely successful.
The speaker
should convince themselves that if you prepare alot then success
is in your reach.
Another
way of getting rid of nervousness is carrying out, a few hours before
the speech, intense physical exercise (a game of tennis, a run, etc).
This
helps you burn energy and generate a physical tiredness that will
help you to calm your nerves.
When the
time comes to present you need to be able to make yourself calm, especially
at the beginning.
If you
manage to make yourself feel comfortable at the beginning, it is
possible to remain like this throughout the speech.
To increase
your clam state you need to not rush, look at the audience while
you welcome them, adjust the microphone, organize your notes....and
start speaking slowly.
You should
never take pills or a few "drinks" as this can cause a state
of confusion which makes presenting extremely difficult.
Anyway,
a certain amount of nerviousness is not a bad thing, as it allows
you to start your speech in a slighly agitated way, giving you more
energy.
