A recent study showed that over 80% of people are either scared of speaking in public or even don’t know how to go about the whole process of success. The truth is that this isn’t rocket science as anyone can do it effectively. You only need to discover the right tips on how you can do that.
You have come to the right place as this post will help you to overcome your fear of public speaking. These are simple yet potent techniques that you can use to improve your public speaking skills.
1 Be Organized
One of the primary reasons why people can’t overcome their fears of public speaking that there isn’t any adequate planning before the D-day. Get all the available materials that will be needed for that day and ensure that you aren’t missing anything. Also, take out time to practice some few things such as planning to start the speaking, what to tell them and so on. Planning is essential here.
2 Understanding Your Presentation
You can easily overcome fear once you understand the subject matter which you intend speaking on extensively. It is essential and shouldn’t be taken for granted if you want to be successful at public speaking. The more you can get a grasp of the subject matter, the better your flow will be. Try as much as you can to ensure that you have learned and understood everything that you want to speak on. This will help to boost your confidence and make you sound like an authority in your field.
3 Eliminating Pessimism
The fear of public speaking may arise when you lack the needed confidence in what you plan to speak on. For instance, you have finished preparing for the D – day and get all the required materials. However, you aren’t confident enough that your speech or teachings can make the right impacts on your target audience. This can cause you to develop fear, and you need to get rid of such thought once and for all. A great way of doing this is trying to be positive no matter what.
4 Adequate Rest
Research has shown that you will perform better during a public speaking once you can rest very well. Don’t ever underestimate the power of adequate rest as it can make all the difference between having an excellent performance during public speaking and one which people may not want to remember. Avoid anything that will make you feel stressed before that day. These could be too much alcohol, skipping meals, excessive refined carb, caffeine, and many others.
5 Avoid Memorizing
It is only a recipe for failure during public speaking. Try to avoid memorizing your points as much as you can. Because if you ever miss any one of them, such can make you disorganized. There is something you can do which is picking out the major points and working on them as much as you can.
6 Understanding Your Fears
The more you understand your fears, the better you will be able to devise a perfect plan of dealing within a certain period. It is all about embracing the fact that it is only natural for you to have such fear most especially once you aren’t used to lots of people focusing on you. However, once you can understand that these people are only trying to learn from you, the fear will disappear.
7 Being Human
The earlier you understand the fact that you aren’t perfect, the less fear of speaking publicly you would have. Don’t try to impress anyone in this process as you may likely fail. Also, try to accept the fact that you will make mistakes. It is all about picking up the pieces and moving on. People will appreciate your lesson or speech once they notice that you aren’t trying to impress anyone.
8 Be Jovial
People can sense it once you aren’t comfortable during a public speaking event. This is one thing that you don’t want as it can make you forget everything you have practiced about the subject matter. The secret here is to avoid jumping into the main topic at once. At this point, you should be looking for how to be comfortable in front of the crowd.
There is only one way which is being jovial. Don’t be too serious about the subject. Instead, look for a way to tell jokes from time to time. This will make you feel comfortable.
9 Using PowerPoint
This can be very effective once you’ve tried every other trick and nothing seems to be working as planned. Just get all the content of your speech arranged in the form of PowerPoint presentation. One of the benefits of using this strategy is that it helps you become organized. You will hardly be thrown off -balance regardless of the number of people present in such an event. It can help to get the attention of your audience. Therefore, they will be looking at your presentation instead of you most of the time. Just add some images to make it captivating.
10 Focus on Your Presentation
Usually, most people find it very difficult to overcome the fear of speaking in public due to focusing on their respective audiences. Your focus should be on the material you plan presenting, not on people. To eliminate any form of distraction that causes the development of fear, ensure that you don’t consider the adverse reactions of your audience. Just assume they aren’t there for now and you will be fine.