Top 5 tips to overcome the fear of Public Speaking

Why so much ado about Public Speaking?

“Public Speaking is the art of diluting a two-minute idea with a two-hour vocabulary”

– John F. Kennedy.

Public speaking is the need of the hour. It is a skill that is looked up on. Contrary to many believes, public speaking is easy and anyone can get the hang of it. It also comes in handy when you have to inspire and motivate your team, your colleagues, your staff or your friends.

It is an art to express your idea to the world. It helps spread your thoughts and change the world. It is a way to create your own identity. Public speaking is a tool to help others. With this tool you can spread and propagate knowledge, peace, love and shape this world.

Public speaking is often thought of as frightening and difficult rather than a form of expressing yourself, your thoughts and ideas.

Many of us might have heard some speeches or noticed speakers who just captivate an audience as though they were a hypnotist. They give life to words and like artists, create beautiful pictures with their words and thoughts.

I am pretty sure all of us at a point in our lives wanted to present ourselves in front of people and speak out loud in a mesmerizing manner and convey what we wanted to say but didn’t because of that mysterious fear that kept nagging our minds.

Well, here are 5 very useful tips that will hopefully help you to get rid of the fears of public speaking and elevate your speech:

1. Believe in yourself
2. Improve your vocabulary by reading
3. Express your thoughts, don’t suppress them
4. Your audience is your closest friend
5. Love what you do!. Do what you love!!

Tip 1: Believe in yourself

We often confine ourselves to speaking what we have already prepared or memorized prior to the speech in order to prevent embarrassing flaws in the speech. In one sense, that is the right thing to do. But instead, drawing words from your mind at the time of the speech on the stage gives life and excitement to the topic.

A great thing to do is to gather your thoughts before the speech in a quiet environment with a peaceful state of mind. Never get agitated or too nervous. Being nervous is completely natural but that should not affect your thoughts. Don’t try to guess or imagine how your speech would go as that might make you anxious.

Trust yourself and your ability, believe in yourself and be confident because the most beautiful thing you can wear is your confidence.

Most of the time self-belief and trust play a key role in helping you present that extraordinary speech that you’ve always wanted to give. You must have probably heard people telling you that rehearsing in front of a mirror would be helpful. But this is not always true because while looking at yourself in the mirror you might notice and care for your appearances rather than paying attention to the speech itself and improving it. And remember, when you speak out your thoughts there is nothing to fear bloopers or mistakes as long as you trust yourself.

Tip 2: Improve your vocabulary by reading

Non-intuitively, reading has a lot to do with our vocabulary and hence shapes one’s speech and gives more meaning to it. While speaking we tend to use words that are familiar to us in a lot of circumstances.

Reading books of different kinds helps you to get familiarized with different words and get to know the part of speech that they are used in. This will help you in conveying what you want to convey in an elegant manner and in a way that the listener interprets you perfectly.

Many times, speeches are misunderstood or communication gaps may occur in conversation. In order to prevent such situations, one has to have a well-tuned vocabulary, must be able to think, respond and answer quickly yet descriptively. The speaker must be able to make the listener understand him/her without boring them or taking too much time explaining what they already know. In order to achieve this, reading would prove to be helpful.

Ideas, thoughts and content along with perfect words and modulation are the ingredients to public speaking. And reading will give you knowledge and ideas as well as words and vocabulary in order to present your dream speech and to overcome the fear of speaking.

“Today a reader, Tomorrow a leader” read a popular quote.

Tip 3: Express your thoughts, don’t suppress them

Do not let your mind wander or dwell on fears or thoughts of the past or the future. Appear calm and composed. Be open to the audience and do not hide your feelings. Many people would have probably told you not to appear afraid or nervous in front of your listeners. But most of the times by trying to hide your nervousness you might lose confidence or not really pay attention to what you are speaking.

Appear natural. The nervousness will naturally fade when you start speaking and that’s a fact. You will automatically start to focus on the speech and you will no longer feel nervous or afraid. And if you appear natural, you will definitely look confident and focused. Don’t spend unnecessary thoughts on hiding your feelings. Remember, public speaking is a form of expressing your feelings not suppressing them.

Tip 4:  Your audience is your closest friend

Don’t let the audience intimidate you. They are here to support you and you are there to help them or enlighten them by your speech. Sometimes, many avoid eye contact with the crowd. This is a blunder and the audience won’t feel that the speech is directed towards them.

If you are addressing a small audience of say, 20 people, look each of them in the eye and speak in a way that they feel that you are directly speaking to each one of them. If you are speaking to a larger gathering, make sure you look from end to end of the assembly.

Imagine you are speaking to your best friend. You wouldn’t be afraid to speak to your best friend, would you? If you imagine the audience to be your close friends, then you would be able to speak confidently without the slightest fear. Include your audience in your speech. Throw around an occasional question. Crack a joke here and there. Turn your speech into a conversation.

Don’t talk to them rather talk with them. Keep them occupied and entertained while you speak with them. By doing this you would not feel as though you are giving a speech in front of a crowd but fell like you are talking with people you have known all your life.

Tip 5: Love what you do! Do what you love!!

Love and believe in what you do and do what you love. In this case, love speaking to the public. Don’t think of it as a burden. It is an opportunity, an opportunity that many dream of wanting. An opportunity to express yourself. An opportunity to share your story with the world.

Don’t be afraid of being afraid of public speaking. It is completely natural for anybody to possess. But you can turn that fear of yours into happiness and joy.

You can watch other exceptional speeches which will help you learn more about public speaking.

Here is a list of my top 5 favorite speeches:

1. David JP Phillips: The 110 techniques of communication

2. Chris Anderson: TED’s secret to great public speaking

3. How I Overcame My Fear of Public Speaking

4. The science of stage fright (and how to overcome it)

5. Admiral William H. McRaven

Wishing you a great speech always!