Many people suffer from a fear of public speaking. So much so that it even has it's own name Glossophobia. As you've probably heard it's a lot of people's number one fear.
As a UK-based speaker and a consultant myself I don't personally suffer from this fear. One of the things that helped me was when I used to perform stand-up comedy. Speakers generally see stand-up as their equivalent of extreme sports.
Now I'm not advocating that people get an open mic spot at their local comedy club, what I'm saying is that it's possible to face your fears and then put things into perspective. From my own experience that would have to be something like: "well, I don't have to try and make drunken people laugh, so this will be a walk in the park."
What still amazes me though is that even the bravest of the brave suffer from a fear of public speaking. Take my brother for instance. My brother is a fireman and has the unqiue ability to put the lives of others before his own.
Now, don't get me wrong I cannot take that away from my brother. Given a choice between giving a presentation and running through flames and not knowing if I'm going to come out again, give me Power Point every time. But what I don't understand is why he has a public speaking fear when he has no fear around fire.
What does this mean for you? Well, the first thing you should remember is that if you've been doing the job for a certain period of time you already know the subject. So you don't have to worry about what you're going to say next.
If you know your subject and know exactly what you're going to be talking about then you're way ahead of the pack. This is one of the first things that you can implement to help reduce your fear of public speaking.
Jason Peck is a humorist, speaker and consultant and provides empowering speeches, valuable business training and morale-boosting entertainment to businesses, colleges and private functions. Check out his blog for a free public speaking e-course Pro Humorist |
