The fear of speaking in public is one of the most general and universal that every human being experiences when he feels exposed to the opinion of others. Communication skills for public speaking are essential from the first stage of life. Remember that moment when, as a school student, you raised your hand to ask a question.
How many questions have you stopped asking for fear of ridicule? In the adult stage, public speaking is a necessary skill in a work meeting, in the networking, in a professional event, in a job interview and in so many personal situations.
In this Psychology-Online article, we tell you how to overcome the fear of public speaking through the power of practical experience that is the most important school.
Although it can be difficult at times, here are some tips on how to lose your fear of public speaking and not get nervous:
- Adopt a proactive attitude to seek experiences in which you can develop your public speaking skills. For example, challenge yourself to come up with a new idea at the next business meeting. Attend a lecture on a topic you like and ask the speaker a question in the question round. Take a public speaking course. In short, set concrete and specific objectives.
- Observe others speaking in public: just as a good writer is also a great reader, to overcome the fear of public speaking, you can also enhance your learning by observing other people. You can watch YouTube channels and TV shows paying attention to this aspect.
- Specify your fear: In what area is your fear of speaking in public contextualized? It may happen that you feel safe in one area but feel insecure in another. For this reason, limit your fear, as this gives you personal empowerment.
- What can you do to face that fear? Imagine the case of a person who is afraid to defend her doctoral thesis before the court of specialists on the day of the defense. What can the doctoral student do in this case? Prepare your speech, rehearse it, know the place of the defense to position yourself in the real context of the moment... Apply this example to your own case. Take care of what you can do to prepare for that moment when you are going to speak in public.
- Take nervousness for granted: many theater actors explain how, beyond the experience, shortly before going on stage they feel the nervousness of the responsibility of a new role. However, nervousness usually disappears after a few minutes.
- You can't like everyone: if by exposing yourself to others, you put the weight of constant approval on yourself, then you suffer because this impossible blocks you. Connect with yourself, with your inner truth and, in this way, when you flow with your own essence, you also connect with other people.
- Record yourself on video: imagine that you are presenting a new project in a work meeting. Record that moment on video and then visualize that moment. Through this exercise, you can see yourself facing the challenge of public speaking.
- Create a mantra: do not condition yourself with the power of the amulets that feed superstitions. Look for the strength of language as the engine of a mental attitude. Create a phrase that gives you the strength to live those moments of public speaking with confidence. You can choose a message from a famous author that you love.
- Theater classes: the theater is an activity that can not only have the professional objective of being an actor. Interpretation is therapy through which you can learn about your emotions, understand your body language, and encourage a sense of humor to laugh at yourself. The theater can also help you to relativize the nerves of an exhibition by imagining that you are playing a role.
- Breath deeplyTo overcome the fear of public speaking, you have to start by taking care of your own breathing to calm your nerves.
Beyond the tricks to lose your fear of speaking in public, the most important is to believe in yourself. It is natural to feel some unease in a new situation, however, fear increases when you avoid it, on the contrary, it decreases when you face it. You will gain self-confidence when speaking in public thanks to the power of your own practical experience. It is positive that you add situations and experiences in which you have exposed yourself in some way to the challenge of interacting in public. Every experience is different. However, all of them can provide you with learning.
Be careful what you say to yourself, that is, control your inner voice if you tend to judge yourself with destructive criticism and start by changing this inner voice because this Change can make a difference not only in the experience of public speaking, but in life in general. If a situation has not developed as you would have liked, instead of saying "I am a disaster", change the message to a hopeful one, "next time, everything will be better".
Specify your presentation: What do you mean? What is the main idea you want to express? Reduce the power of improvisation and prepare your message.
Take inventory of those situations in which you have spoken in public throughout your life and you will realize the experience you have in this field. Trust yourself and your ability to be your best version. In the following Psychology-Online article, you can see some tips to increase self-esteem.
How to lose the fear of speaking in public? Giving you the opportunity to experience the personal satisfaction that is the natural consequence that you experience when you have faced a situation of this type.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
