Fear
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Fear of Public Speaking. Toastmasters Better Speaker series.
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Fear
- 9. Bame, M. (2011). 6 Facts about Public Speaking Anxiety. Breaking Down Barriers. http://bdbcommunication.com/6-facts-about-public-speaking- anxiety/
Editor's Notes
- Good Morning! Who here thinks they’re afraid of public speaking? (raise hand) Looks like we’re statistically average! 3 out of 4 people suffer from speech anxiety. Public speaking remains the #1 phobia, above death and spiders Social phobias, regardless of which they are, begin with shyness in childhood and only get worse if not addressed. Fear of public speaking leads to a lack of success when not addressed. But YOU can change all of that and become a confident speaker. Experienced speakers also have speaking anxiety, but the benefit of practice and time is that they’ve learned how to take that negative energy and channel it towards a positive outcome. It’s creating the illusion of confidence. The first step is to recognize signs of speaking anxiety.
- It’s important to be able to recognize the biological symptoms. These differ for some people but can include: Increased heart rate Increase blood temperature (so you’ll start to blush or feel flushed) A rise in body temperature Dry mouth (which is why we often give speakers water) Voice trembling Sweaty palms Shortage of breath (little breaths contribute to the feeling of hyperventilating) Shaking limbs There are some very good reasons that people don’t naturally like public speaking and that we have all of these biological reactions. It’s instinctual. Matthew Haughey (HAH-HEE), the founder of MetaFilter, wrote an article on why we don’t like speaking in front of crowds, why it causes fear and these often painful bio reactions.
- It’s because we feel like we’re on the bottom of the food chain and the crowd is going to eat us. Matts explains it that in the normal course of human existence, any more than 5 or 6 pairs of eyes on you means trouble. If there are something like 300 pairs of eyes looking at you, you are about to be ambushed - you’re someone's dinner. This is why your palms get sweaty and you have butterflies in your stomach. Your audience isn’t there to kill you. They aren’t lions and you aren’t a camel. We have to learn to manage that aspect of our biology.
- So now we know that it’s just biology, we can do something about it. We’ve already look at symptoms to recognize and understand why we are feeling that way. There are three main ways of managing the anxiety we feel when speaking. With Experience, Visualization, and Relaxation.
- Experience. Be a know it all. Be confident in your knowledge, this will give you authority to speak and confidence that you know what you are talking about. You feel stronger when you know your stuff and other people will react positively to your confidence. To gain experience, you also have to practice. For big presentations (Think corporate) start a couple months out. For smaller presentations, such as this one a month or so should be good. Develop a draft, work on your slides and give the speech to your partner, your friends, coworkers who tolerate you. The more you work on your delivery the smoother and more confident you become and with that comes many revisions and polishing of your speech. Once you’re confident in your speech. (NEXT SLIDE)
- See it. Research shows that vividly imagined events are recorded as memories. Help your brain see you being successful until it believes that you are! Mentally rehearing employs thought processes to achieve positive results. So Close your eyes and see yourself going through the motions of your speech, vividly imagining each action. TALK ABOUT HOW YOU VIZUALIZED THIS SPEECH GOING WELL, walking up, opening remarks, anxiety symptoms You are introduced to the audience. You walk up to the lectern confidently, smiling to people as you pass You breathe deeply several times before beginning to speak (pause and breathe deeply) You speak clearly and forcefully, remembering all of the points you wanted to make You captivate your audience with your words, gestures, and vocal variety When you finish, the audience applauds in appreciation Now that we know our material and we’ve convinced the brain that we’re successful it’s time to RELAX.
- RELAX. Mind and body are connected, how we feel affects the body. We’ve seen that in the biological symptoms. As we become more mentally anxious about public speaking our physical stress levels rise People often feel like their muscles are tight, shoulders creep upwards, and breathing becomes shallow which makes our voices breathy. Relaxation and breathing techniques help alleviate some of these physical symptoms and help focus the mind. Focus on areas of concentrated tension, such as the shoulders (tap shoulders) Tighten your muscles there for a few seconds and then release. Repeat this throughout the body. Another great relaxation exercise is to stand, feet together, inhale and stretch your arms toward the ceiling. Then exhale as you bend to touch your toes, keeping your knees straight. On of the most important things when speaking is to breathe from the diaphragm. (point to it) This reduces shortness of breath and supports your voice for better projection and resonance. When you breathe from your diaphragm you should be able to feel your stomach expand and contract.
- There you go. You’ve now gained the necessary experience about your topic, seen the speech go down successfully, and relaxed so you can almost ;) enjoy the process. Becoming comfortable as a speaker takes time and effort, but the simple steps are to KNOW IT, SEE IT, and RELAX ABOUT IT. Audiences don’t often notice speakers nerves, and as long as you present yourself with confidence they won’t see you sweat.