A Guide to Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking
Public speaking is a common type of anxiety and fear, with over 75% of people experiencing it to some degree or another. Speaking in front of others is stressful for most of us. People who were surveyed would commonly rank the fear of spiders, heights and death pretty high, but not higher than the fear of public speaking. It may range from something as simple as slight nervousness to panic and paralysing fear, with the more end being known as glossophobia. A lot of people with this extreme fear of public speaking tend to avoid situations where they have to speak at all since they express it with quavering voices and shakes, sweating, a racing heartbeat and so forth.
The good news is that you can overcome that fear with experience and a bit of preparation. This anxiety may not be only confined to speaking to larger audiences, you can have issues speaking in a classroom, meeting or even smaller group settings. Needless to say, this can make it very difficult to express your ideas verbally. Glossophobia may hamper your ability to further your career, academic or social life.
What Fear Does to Us
Being nervous during a public speaking event will affect the way you come across your audience, as well as the quality of your delivery. When you’re nervous, you tend to speak too quickly, or ignore the audience, focusing too much on the presentation, the floor, the ceiling, anywhere but the people you’re supposed to connect to. Most people will speak in a flat voice, with little excitement or switch in vocal pitch, and they will try to get through the experience as fast as possible without committing to the presentation or speech as they should.
Speaking Too Fast
Rushing through the presentation will not only require you to speak too fast but doing so will interfere with your breathing patterns. Instead of breathing at your regular pace, you will likely breathe in short, shallow breaths or even hold your breath between sentences. That will quickly give you the sensation of running out of air, which amplifies the common fear in this situation, as well as your fear of public speaking. Talking too fast will also impact your audience’s chance to understand or enjoy your speech and chosen topic. It will create a barrier between you and the audience, as they are attempting to understand you. To sum things up:
- You won’t breathe deep enough to support your vocal range
- You will sound monotone due to said lack of air
- You will sound nervous
- The audience will find it difficult to understand you
You should remember that the human voice is capable of playing 24 notes on the musical scale, with most people using about as little as three in their everyday communication. You can expand that when you train yourself to become a more engaging and confident public speaker.
Ignoring the Audience and Avoiding Eye Contact
Fearful speakers will often attempt to ignore the audience, hoping this will decrease their anxiety and issues with public speaking. A lot of speakers tend to avoid eye contact with the audience. This will unfortunately prevent you from noticing the reactions of the people you’re speaking to. You will fail to notice if they’re interested, or whether they have any questions.
If you’re not focusing on the audience, you’re focusing on your thoughts, so if you’re a nervous speaker, chances are you will fall into a negative mindset at the moment. You will need to slowly challenge yourself by attempting to keep eye contact. Try to do that in the mirror at first, mentally placing yourself on stage.
