The number one fear in the world, ahead of even the fear of death, is the fear of public speaking.
Regardless of what anybody says, the fear of public speaking is extremely common — even the most polished speakers have experienced a fear of public speaking.
Being able to get over your fear of public speaking can have huge impact in all aspects of life.
Here are a few tried and tested ways of polishing your speech.
Practice your speech in front of a mirror
Deliver your speech from beginning to end in front of a full length mirror. Practicing your speech in front of a mirror is invaluable. Speaking in front of a mirror is important because every move you make is distracting.You will notice if you are getting sweaty.
Essentially, the mirror allows you to be cognizant of the subtle distracting actions you make. “Subtle distraction actions” often are the reason a quality speech turns into a terrible speech.
Practice your speech facing a wall
Practice your speech from beginning to end facing a wall. This is the exact opposite scenario as compared to speaking in front of a mirror. Speaking in front of a wall will allow you to block out all distractions and focus exclusively on the content of your speech. Speaking in front of a wall will help you identify the parts of your speech that you are struggling with, in which the content is weak, or that you cannot gracefully convey to your audience.
Practice with a friend
You tend to be more relaxed delivering the speech to a friend. Also, a friend will hopefully be able to understand your topic, ask questions, and give honest and candid feedback.
After you finish delivering your speech, probe your friend to find out what parts of your speech were easiest to understand and what parts were most difficult.
Practice with a non-friend
Delivering your speech to a non-friend peer is useful because it adds some pressure.
It will be useful because you will have the opportunity to deliver the speech under pressure.
Record yourself
Recording your speech and critiquing yourself is extremely important because you will be able to identify and correct any flaws in your speech and stammers in your presentation. This is a simple tip, but very useful.
Do a dry run
Practice your speech exactly as if there was an audience, this includes using the microphone. Don’t show up in flip flops and shorts if your speech will be in a tuxedo. Make your dry run as realistic as possible. The more realistic you can practice your speech before actually delivering it, the easier it will be when you actually have to deliver.
Practicing your speech in various scenarios and under various conditions will make you more relaxed and reduce your feelings of anxiety when speaking publicly. Speaking publicly is no different than any other activity — practice makes perfect! Delivering your speech four to five times privately will not be fun. It will be downright annoying, and can be very time consuming depending the length of your speech. However, it will certainly be worth it. Every time you practice your speech you will notice drastic improvements in the quality of your delivery. Having a well-practiced speech will definitely curb your fear of public speaking.
Regardless of what anybody says, the fear of public speaking is extremely common — even the most polished speakers have experienced a fear of public speaking.
Being able to get over your fear of public speaking can have huge impact in all aspects of life.
Here are a few tried and tested ways of polishing your speech.
Practice your speech in front of a mirror
Deliver your speech from beginning to end in front of a full length mirror. Practicing your speech in front of a mirror is invaluable. Speaking in front of a mirror is important because every move you make is distracting.You will notice if you are getting sweaty.
Essentially, the mirror allows you to be cognizant of the subtle distracting actions you make. “Subtle distraction actions” often are the reason a quality speech turns into a terrible speech.
Practice your speech facing a wall
Practice your speech from beginning to end facing a wall. This is the exact opposite scenario as compared to speaking in front of a mirror. Speaking in front of a wall will allow you to block out all distractions and focus exclusively on the content of your speech. Speaking in front of a wall will help you identify the parts of your speech that you are struggling with, in which the content is weak, or that you cannot gracefully convey to your audience.
Practice with a friend
You tend to be more relaxed delivering the speech to a friend. Also, a friend will hopefully be able to understand your topic, ask questions, and give honest and candid feedback.
After you finish delivering your speech, probe your friend to find out what parts of your speech were easiest to understand and what parts were most difficult.
Practice with a non-friend
Delivering your speech to a non-friend peer is useful because it adds some pressure.
It will be useful because you will have the opportunity to deliver the speech under pressure.
Record yourself
Recording your speech and critiquing yourself is extremely important because you will be able to identify and correct any flaws in your speech and stammers in your presentation. This is a simple tip, but very useful.
Do a dry run
Practice your speech exactly as if there was an audience, this includes using the microphone. Don’t show up in flip flops and shorts if your speech will be in a tuxedo. Make your dry run as realistic as possible. The more realistic you can practice your speech before actually delivering it, the easier it will be when you actually have to deliver.
Practicing your speech in various scenarios and under various conditions will make you more relaxed and reduce your feelings of anxiety when speaking publicly. Speaking publicly is no different than any other activity — practice makes perfect! Delivering your speech four to five times privately will not be fun. It will be downright annoying, and can be very time consuming depending the length of your speech. However, it will certainly be worth it. Every time you practice your speech you will notice drastic improvements in the quality of your delivery. Having a well-practiced speech will definitely curb your fear of public speaking.
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