Insanely Smart Tips On How To Overcome Fear of Public Speaking

Are you wondering how to overcome fear of public speaking? Do you have a presentation coming up and you’re desperately needing advice to take the uncomfortable jitters away?

This post will walk you through the exact steps you need to take to elevate your fear of public speaking!

With over 5 years of public speaking experience under my belt, I have won many speech and debate rounds and business pitch competitions all while juggling an extremely busy college schedule. However, I wasn’t always a confident public speaker. I resonate that feeling of crippling fear that results in shaking hands, increased heart rate, and sweaty palms. Honey, take a deep breath because I’m here to tell you it will not always be this way.

This post shows you exactly how I overcame my public speaking fears and the most frequently asked questions I have received as a public speaker.

This post is all about how to overcome fear of public speaking

Audience Doesn’t Pay Attention Nearly As Much As You Think They Do

Helping a friend of mine become a confident speaker, she was really nervous about her upcoming class presentation. Her fear would result in getting horrible nausea just before she’d get in front of a crowd. One day we watched a series of classroom presentations which prompted me to ask her, “What do you remember from the first presentation given today?” She struggled to recall much from the speech other than the basic message, “What do you remember from the last presentation given today?” I’d pressed further for her to recall. Again, she searched her memory and couldn’t come up with much detail other than the general topic of their speeches. Her eyes widen with realization. If we don’t have an engaging speech, then our audience isn’t going to be engaged. Not engaged with you and not engaged in the contents of your speech.

Honestly, there’s a LOT of work that goes into keeping an audience present and tuned into what you’re saying (we’ll cover how to do this in future posts). Please take a sigh of relief as my friend had and know that as a beginner presenter you are not being judged every second of your speech. Your classmates could be thinking about the homework due or they’re probably nervous about their own upcoming presentation. Therefore, the stakes of presenting can be a lot lower than what you originally perceived when you’re first starting out.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The biggest mistake I see from new presenters is they don’t practice nearly enough. Typically, people seem to want to stop practicing after saying their speech anywhere between 3-5 times out loud and that’s not nearly enough practice to shake the fears away.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told, “I’m just not a natural presenter like you are. I could never be a public speaker.” Me practicing my speech 15 + times before giving the presentation is 100% not natural. I merely practiced until I felt comfortable with my presentation. It’s the equivalent of telling someone with 6-pack abs that it’s all in their genes and ignoring the fact that they go to the gym 5 days a week paired with a fine-tuned diet. Abs begin in the kitchen and confident public speakers begin with practice.

DON’T Memorize Your Speech To The Last Word

I’m a huge fan of practicing your speech, but do not attempt to memorize a speech word for word unless you are taught how to do so properly by a professional. One person I presented with attempted to memorize her speech word for word. She couldn’t get halfway through her speech without having to start over again as soon as she’d mess up a word or two. It felt natural for her to repeat her speech all over again when she’d derail from her written presentation in private, but you can’t start a speech all over again when you’re in front of a crowd. They’ll look at you like you’ve lost it. I remember pulling out all the stops to help her break this habit before we had to present in 2 hours.

Socialize With Your Audience

This tip was a game changer for me when I would go to business competitions to pitch our app design. Instead of waiting in the wings until it was show time, I mingled with the crowd and got to know the people. This simple act had me engaging with my audience even more when I was on stage since I felt like I already knew some of them. Most importantly the crowd was faaaar less intimating in my mind! Thus, lessening any anxious feelings I may have about presenting. Interact with the people and get to know your crowd more!

Envision Your Success

Close your eyes and picture yourself giving an engaging speech and the audience is absolutely loving it!Succesful athletes envision making the goal. You need to envision yourself nailing that speech! Close your eyes and picture the audience LOVING your presentation and giving you a loud applause afterwards! Envision yourself giving the speech flawlessly and giving the best presentation in your life.

Know That You Are Worth Listening To

YOU are worth listening to! If no one has ever told you that before today, then hello and welcome because I’m telling you this right now. You have every right to be on that stage just as much as the next person. Don’t ever let anyone take that right away from you. Who I want you to be the most careful of is yourself! We talk down to ourselves in ways we’d never dream of doing to another person. I want you to tell yourself that you are worth being heard!

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Look At Foreheads Not Eyes

Major insider secret here, my friends! When you’re just starting out, look at the middle of the people’s foreheads instead of their eyes. Trust me, my friends, this works! You’re standing too far away from the crowd for them to tell if you’re making eye contact or just staring at their forehead. Internally I’d laugh as the judges would remark on how good I was at making eye-contact with the audience. Now that I’m more comfortable, I do make eye-contact with the audience to create a deeper connection, but you don’t have to do this at the beginning. Ease yourself into it and stare at that forehead! The world may never know! 🙂 – Tootsie Pop commercial

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This post was all about how to overcome fear of public speaking