A fear of public speaking, known as Glossophobia, is the #1 phobia in the world—10% of people suffer from a genuine fear of pubic speaking, while 80% experience some form of anxiety before speaking. And why wouldn’t Glossophobia be #1? Standing up in front of a room full of strangers or executives and giving a speech doesn’t happen everyday. But when it does, all eyes are on you and you need to deliver.
Public speaking comes naturally to the fortunate few. For most other people, however, public speaking is a nerve-wracking experience, in which the day of the presentation (or interview) is preceded by sleepless nights and stress-eating.
It’s tempting to try to write down your whole speech in a Word document and then try to memorize each sentence, but this leads to dull presentations, and is a root cause of glossophobia.
No matter how much you’re afraid of public speaking, it’s a necessary skill that you need to master. Rising up the ranks in your company is often accompanied with an expectation that you’ll need to manage a team of people, meet with clients and potential clients, or even be able to speak to the media—all of which require a level of comfort with public speaking.
If the thought of speaking to an audience turns your stomach to stone, here’s what you need to do quell those nerves and become a better public speaker:
1. Practice Your Power Poses
Timid posture is often the cause of nervousness and anxiety—not the other way around. If your poses are timid and submissive—hunched shoulders, legs closed together—then you will feel timid and submissive.
To get over your public speaking anxieties, you need to get in the habit of practicing your power poses before each presentation. Your goal with power posing should be to take up space—be dominant. Five minutes before you need to deliver a presentation or a knockout interview, head to the washroom or hallway and reach for the starts—throw your arms in the air and to your sides, spread your feet far apart, and take up as much space as possible. Try a few other power poses while you’re at it, and then you’ll be filled with the confidence you need to speak your heart out.
2. Know Your Subject
Self-doubt when it comes to public speaking often has to do with simply not being confident about the subject you’re presenting on.
If you’re fully prepared for a presentation—you’ve done all your research, know you can answer any question from the audience, can speak from a place of knowledge—you’ll be confidant when speaking in a room full of people. Why? Because you are the expert. There’s nothing to worry about—you know your subject through-and-through. Anything that comes your way during the presentation won’t jump on your nerves and ruin your confidence.
Remember: when it comes to a presentation, it’s better to be over prepared rather than under prepared.
3. Don’t Memorize a Script
It’s tempting to try to write down your whole speech in a Word document and then try to memorize each sentence, but this leads to dull presentations, and is a root cause of glossophobia.
You start to lean on it so heavily during the presentation when you try to memorize a script beforehand. But what’s worse are the, “What happens if I forget my lines?” questions that pop in your head before delivering the presentation. Instead of being focused, you’re walking on a tightrope, carefully trying to remember each word, each sentence, step-by-step. The fear of public speaking, in this case, is due to a fear of messing up while speaking.
To deliver effective and confidant presentations, try to memorize key talking points, or even write down these talking points on a cue card you can refer to. By using talking points instead of whole scripts, there’s less pressure for you to memorize your entire presentation, you still have a proper structure to guide you, you can engage with the audience better, and, if you do make a mistake during the presentation, you don’t have to scramble to remember where you left off from—it’s a more open and unstructured way of presenting that puts less pressure on you.
4. Understand That Everyone Makes Mistakes
Another cause of a fear of public speaking is being worried about doing something wrong during the presentation, like realizing you omitted a PowerPoint slide (a quick note: relying too much on PowerPoint is like memorizing a full script—don’t let PowerPoint run your presentation). There are two things you need to remember if this ever happens to you.
First, remember that what feels like hours to you, standing up in front of everyone trying to get back to the slide you overlooked, is actually seconds. If you’re worried about everyone looking at you because it feels like forever, you’ll start to panic, scramble, and rush to fix the problem (and you’ll also panic, scramble, and rush through the rest of your presentation).
Second, you need to know that everyone has been in a situation where something was overlooked or omitted during a presentation. It happens to the best of us. If you start to focus on mistakes during your presentation, you’ll end up breaking your confidence. Don’t let a small mistake stop you from marching forward.
5. Understand That You’ll Get Better Over Time
Here’s the truth—and an unfortunate truth for those wanting a quick fix to their public speaking anxieties—the best way to improve, and for your fears to disappear, is to actually stand up and speak in front of people as much as possible. Much like dipping a toe in a cold lake, the first step is always the hardest, but the deeper you go, the more comfortable you’ll be.
This means that next time your manager surveys the boardroom and asks if anyone would like to present on the next topic, you should be the first to raise your hand. It’s a hard thing to do, but speaking in front of people is the best way to get over your fears.
If you’re looking for a bit of outside help, Toastmasters is a group specifically for public speakers—it’s a safe and supportive environment in which people of all comfort levels with public speaking can join.
What about you? Have any tips that you put into motion that have helped you overcome your own fear of public speaking? Drop a comment below and let us know!