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How to Overcome the Worst of Human Fears?
Have you ever tried to enter »Ten Worst Human Fears« in your search engine? And if you have, how surprised were you when you realized that the worst human fear is not really the fear of dying, getting terribly sick or going bankrupt, but a rather boring fear of Public Speaking?
To be more precise: 41% of people are afraid of public speaking, 32% of heights and 22% of insects and bugs. To me this is extremely interesting as I am NOT afraid of public speaking. On the contrary. This is my job and I love it.
But if you are one of those or are maybe just a bit insecure of holding a speech in front of different audiences, let me share a few tips with you, which definitely help.
1. “Do Not Be Yourself.”
Don’t even try! I was quite appalled the other day when in one of the workshops one of the participants shared with everybody this tip, given to him by another trainer.
Perhaps this tip was interpreted wrong, but without proper training in public speaking and above all, without proper preparation – on the stage – you’ll freeze. The audience will sense it and you will lose your credibility.
It is my firm opinion that people sometimes take this advice too lightly. If you don’t know anything about the appropriate body language in public speaking, if you don’t know how to hook and motivate your audience, respond to potentially hostile questions and how to conclude your speech powerfully then just – stay at home. You’re wasting yours and the time of your audience.
2. Sweep Them Off Their Feet Right at the Beginning!
The easiest and safest way of starting your speech is telling them what you’re going to talk about. Like they don’t know what they’ve come for. You can do better, can’t you?
There are several ways of how to start your speech, but the most effective of them all is sharing with your audience something personal. By doing that you’ll kill several birds with only one stone. You will:
- reduce the so called rhetorical distance between you and the audience;
- be perceived as a »human being«, as one of your audience, which is essential for building a relationship with them;
- get your message across with less effort and more effect;
Whatever you share with them must, by all means, be relevant to your topic and must not include any discrimination.
3. Look Forward to Q&A Session!
If this is relevant for your performance look forward to it. It doesn’t always make sense. Sometimes you just have a speech and then leave the stage, without inviting the audience to ask questions.
But, the bottom line is that your performance will be more credible if you do the Q&A session. The mistakes that people make at this stage are several and one of them is inviting the audience too casually to ask questions. It looks like you want to run away. Don’t. Mind your body language and maintain it as positive as you can. What usually happens after your invitation for questions is that your upper body gets locked. You either put your arms behind your back and clench your fists, cross your arms in front or start backing. All these indicate you don’t want them to interfere, but this has its price. You have just put your credibility at a stake.
During your preparation for the speech you have probably also guessed what sort of questions people might ask and have prepared answers. If this is so, show them that you CAN.
4. What to Do Before Leaving the Stage!
What do you think about »thank you«? Not very effective, I must say. Also: »That’s all from me!« or »That’s all for today« and the like are too weak and ruin the balance between you and your audience. You as the speaker - lose.
Instead rather say something like:
»It’ll be my pleasure talking to you further during the break.«
»Nice sharing with you and I’m looking forward to meeting you soon.«
»Next week I am having a similar presentation on … in … You are more than welcome.«
If you are interested in an intensive public speaking training, please, contact me by clicking here or fill in this form.
