Fear of public speaking is very common, with almost 1 in 4 people reporting being nervous when presenting ideas and information in front of an audience. Being a good public speaker is an essential skill that can help you advance your career, grow your business, and form strong relationships.
Researchers have identified many reasons why we are afraid of public speaking, which you can read more about here. It suggests that the style we feel, think, and act with respect to having to speak in public can raise or lower the amount of fear we experience significantly.
Although fear teaches you to protect yourself in challenging conditions, tolerate that fear stand between you and your audience could avoid you from sharing encouraging ideas, speaking about significant work, and presenting interesting solutions to challenges that affect many people. In short, it is everyone’s loss.
What can we do about it?
The factors that cause fear of public speaking are also the aspect that researchers have targeted to help people overcome it. Various methods exist for conquering the fear of public speaking. Some of them address the physiological aspect of fear, others target on the cognitive aspects, and a few target on the behavioral components that contribute to higher levels of fear and anxiety around public speaking.
Read More: Why Are We Scared of Public Speaking?
1. Learn how to put your body in a calm state.
A variety of relaxation techniques can reduce the expanded physiological activity that the body produces automatically when confronted with an event or situation that causes fear. In the case of public speaking, the motivation that causes fear can range from the actual speaking event itself to the mere thought of having to speak in public. Learning to calm while thinking about, preparing for, or giving an oral presentation reduces the experience of fear and prevents it from interfering with performance. Relaxation techniques involve learning to control your breathing, to lower your heart rate, and to lessen the tension in your muscles. These techniques work best when paired with gradual exposure to public speaking. For example, you start applying these techniques first when you agree to speak, then as you prepare your speech, and eventually when you present it. You could also gradually expand the scale of the events as you learn how to manage your anxiety through relaxation, starting with very small audiences and moving up in numbers bit by bit. You could also start with speeches that are simpler to prepare for or less scary to deliver to master the relaxation techniques, and then continue to use them as you enter speaking situations where the stakes are expandily higher. Relaxation is an effective technique, with immediate, but not compulsory long-lasting results.
2. Challenge your beliefs about public speaking :
Another style to conquer the fear of public speaking is to challenge your beliefs about your ability to prepare and deliver an effective and impressive speech. Cognitive reframing approaches target your negative self-statements, or any irrational beliefs about public speaking . Irrational, in this case, means that your beliefs are not supported by the facts or by your experience. Cognitive reframing helps you challenge negative statements and beliefs and replace them with favorable, supportive, and proactive statements. It is important to note that these techniques are not intended to simply replace negative thinking with vapid and meaningless statements. They challenge you to think more pragmatically and intentionally. In essence, you are teaching yourself to see public speaking as a non-threatening event that you can learn to manage and to see yourself as a confident speaker-in-progress.
3. Shift your target from performance to communication :
A different cognitive approach consist of shifting your perspective from being evaluated to being of value. You train yourself to see public speaking as a situation where you are communicating with people something that you think they will advantage from, rather than thinking of it as a situation where you will be tested and judged. That shift in perspective comfort you of the worry of how you will come across and targeted you on how to best get your message across.
4. Prepare, prepare, prepare :
A public speaking appearance is only the culmination of a thorough procedure of preparing and rehearsing your presentation. The more prepared you are, the less worried you will be about looking hesitant , forgetting your lines, or losing your train of thought. Think about the amount of work actors put into delivering entire scripts in front of audiences. Impending public speaking the same style actors approach operating will help you shift your target from concerned to prepare, and the more prepared you are, the more targeted your message and the less distracted by your fear you will be.
5. Seek out more opportunities to speak :
Whether you are working on your body reply to fear, your view of yourself as a speaker, or your general approach to public speaking, the more experience you get, the more confidence you will obtain. Finding and creating opportunities to speak gives you the chance to practice what you have learned and get better at it. In addition, it helps you learn how to use your own experiences to continue improving your presentation skills. Essentially, you learn from what didn’t work well, instead of punishing yourself for it. And the more generally you speak, the more you realize that what makes a good speaker is a combination of the noble aim to inform or inspire an audience, a positive mindset, and a lot of prep work.
6. Ask for help :
While you can do a lot to overcome the fear of public speaking on your individual, there are many options accessible for a little extra help. Getting help can, in many cases, be a more effective style of achieving results than doing it alone. There are several tested interventions available to help overcome the fear of public speaking.If you want to learn more about how to conquer the fear of public speaking then English speaking course in Chandigarh sector 34 is the best place for you.
We also provide opportunities for building your skills in a non-threatening and non-committal environment. Many people join this course specifically to overcome their fear of public speaking
