How To Get Over The Fear Of Public Speaking In 3 Simple Stages
Does the thought of public speaking make your heart race, hands shake, and palms sweat? Does it make you feel ill just thinking about having to be in front of a group of people giving a presentation?
You’re not alone.
The fear of public speaking, also known as glossophobia, affects close to 73% of the population and is even feared more than death. To put that into perspective, that means 3 out of 4 individuals suffer from speech anxiety. Even professional speakers get nervous — but it doesn’t have to be that way.
As Public Relations professionals, public speaking is typically required at some point in your career. Whether you are presenting a pitch to a group of colleagues or speaking at a nationwide press conference, learning how to control your nerves is important.
With the combination of my extensive class presentation experience and a consultation with this guy 👇👇👇👇
AKA Chris Gallant, Professional Speaker for Skills Canada Nova Scotia (and contestant on ABC’s the Bachelorette season 18), this article will walk you through three stages of speaking that will help you stay relaxed every time;
Pre-pre speaking stage
Pre-speaking stage
During speaking stage;
Let's get into it:
Stage 1: pre-pre speaking (the preparation)
According to Chris, the pre-pre speaking stage is dedicated to preparing your speech and getting mentally ready to speak publicly. Consider the following suggestions when beginning your speech journey:
Be an expert on your topic
The more prepared you feel with your topic, the more comfortable you will feel while you speak. Knowing, understanding, and being comfortable with the topic you are discussing will make the day of feel less stressful.
Consider including a story in your speech.
Adding a story makes your speech more personal and the best part, no one will know if you mess up because it’s your experience.
Practice makes perfect
I know, I know this seems obvious, but practising your speech out loud is a must.
Now, there is no magic number of run-throughs that will guarantee you a perfect speech however, it is recommended to practice your speech fully at least 10 times. For some that number may be lower and for some it may be higher.
The key is to do what makes you the most comfortable.
Start by practising in front of a mirror, or your beloved fur baby — unless they judge you like my cat, Eugene.
Once you achieve the approval of your fur baby, begin working your way up to presenting in front of people you trust. Encourage them to provide some real feedback to assist you in perfecting your speech and delivery.
Visualize your environment
The final step to the pre-pre speaking stage is all about helping you prepare mentally on what to expect day of.
If possible, Chris suggests visualizing your speaking environment; even knowing simple things like how many people you are speaking in front of or where in the room you will be standing will eliminate the shock of learning these things before your speech.
Stage 2: pre-speaking (the day of the speech)
The day of your speech is when the anxiety hits the hardest — you know, that feeling of waking up groggy and nauseous after a restless sleep. Although I have no magical potion to eliminate those feelings, I do have recommendations of small actions that can go a long way in helping manage your nerves, below:
Take deep breaths — in and out
Naturally, when we get nervous when tend to hold our breath, causing our muscles to tighten and ultimately increasing those pesky nerves we are trying to avoid. A simple way to help alleviate muscle tightness and nerves is to take a minute and focus on your breathing.
Big breath in… Hold… Big breath out
Taking this minute to focus on breathing, distracts your mind from thinking about the nerves, while also delivering more oxygen to your brain and relaxing your muscles.
Stick to drinking water
As humans, when faced with a “fight or flight” situation such as public speaking, our body’s go into a natural state of survival; the nervous system slows all body functions that are not necessary to immediate survival and focuses on providing increased blood flow to the heart and major muscles. One of the body’s functions that slows is the digestive track.
Now I know what you are thinking, “Kate, why are we talking about the digestive track slowing in and article about public speaking?”
Well, part of the digestive track is our salivary glands and when the digestive track is not functioning at full capacity we produce less saliva; Less saliva = dry mouth. To combat this hurdle, the hour leading up to your speech stick to water, anything else will dry out your mouth even more and make it harder to speak.
A quick pro-tip from Chris:
Don’t chug the water because the human body will kick in, and you will be more focused on the washroom than your speech.
Think positively
The most important part of the pre-speaking stage?
Don’t think about what could go wrong.
Think positively. If you picture yourself failing, your speaking anxiety will spike. When you picture yourself wow-ing the audience, your body will follow.
Stage 3: during speaking
The time has come.
You are speaking in front of the crowd of people.
The key now is to remember you’re prepared and show the audience you are confident in what you are saying.
How do you do that?
SMILE.
*Imitate this doggos smile during your speech*
Smiling changes your nervous feelings into positive ones. Once you start to feel positive and confident about your speech, the audience will take notice. When the audience sees a confident speaker, they engage and smile back, boosting your confidence even more.
Have some handy dandy water
Even the most skilled and experienced speaker still need moments to breathe and regroup their thoughts. However, we can all agree that stopping mid-speech and staring at the audience would be a tad uncomfortable. A simple solution is to bring some water up with you — A rule that Chris lives by.
Having the water to sip allows you to take mini breaks to catch your breath or regroup your thoughts without creating awkward pauses. It will also prevent your mouth from getting dry mid-speech.
Conclusion
Having nerves about public speaking is a normal reaction for everyone. Knowing how to handle these nerves is what sets apart a great speaker from a just-okay speaker.
Remember:
Being a great speaker does not happen overnight, it takes time and practice.
