4 straightforward steps to conquer your fear of public speaking

“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”

-Jerry Seinfeld

Does Seinfeld’s joke ring true for you? Do you get hyper-nervous at the prospect of speaking before groups of people?  As someone who was very shy as a child and who absolutely dreaded public speaking when I was in my teens and twenties – and who now is roundly regarded as an effective and entertaining speaker – my 4 steps  – the “4 P’s of Presentations” – can help you.

STEP 1:  PREPARE

“The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital.”

-Joe Paterno

Often the anxiety we experience over public speaking stems from the fear of embarrassing ourselves or looking stupid. The BEST way to conquer this fear is to have a total command of your subject matter.  You absolutely must know your topic inside and out.  If you do this, it’ll help you be at ease.  If you’re winging it, if you’ve skimped on preparation, if you’re likely to be stumped by a simple question – the opposite will be true…  you’ll be much more nervous.

So how to do this?  Here are a few simple essentials:

• Start preparing EARLY – do NOT leave it till the last day or so!  Doing so will seriously increase your anxiety level
• Outline your speech – keep your audience in mind at all times – what do they want to learn from you?  What are there concerns and how can you address them?
• Write a rough draft
• Edit and refine
• Gather supporting facts and data – write them out in longhand wherever possible – doing so will help you commit them to memory
• Write a second draft
• Polish that draft – and make sure it flows logically and is appropriate for your audience
• Just as important as writing an effective speech:
  • ANTICIPATE QUESTIONS.  Think about your audience and what specifically they might ask about.  Ask a peer or mentor what questions you might encounter.  And then develop airtight, solid answers for every conceivable question
• Prepare a “final” draft at least a week before your presentation

STEP 2:  PRACTICE

“Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.”

-Martha Graham

We might rarely achieve perfection in speech making, but it’s a simple truth that anyone giving an important speech MUST practice.  Without practice you simply won’t be as confident in your delivery.  By practicing you’ll become even more comfortable with your material, will have a sense of the flow and the rhythm of the speech, and most importantly you’ll know exactly what you’ll say and how you’ll say it.  As you practice you’ll no doubt tweak and revise your “final” draft – hence the quotation marks around the word draft.  Practicing will enable you to truly finalize your speech.

A few basics:

• Find a quiet spot and practice out loud
• Time yourself.  Allotted 10 minutes?  Make sure you’re not way short or way long!
• Record yourself. When you play back the recording you’ll be able to see how you sound, check for excessive “ahs,” “ums,” and “you knows,” and listen to your phrasing
• Develop notes that you can bring with you to your presentation, should you need to refer to them.  The more you practice, the less likely it’ll be that you’ll need them – but having them available will be beneficial
• If you’re game, practice in front of a friendly audience.  I once had a boss who in effect practiced every key presentation for a couple of weeks beforehand…  he’d bring one or two of us into his office and go through his basic points.  He didn’t call this practice – he’d just grab one of us and say he wanted to talk about something – but he was basically just getting his rap down.  He’d do this any number of times with different members of his staff, and when done would ask where his logic was wrong – or what questions we had.  It was time consuming for him, but it enabled him to hone his argument and his pitch.  Practice…  even for the President of a large firm.
• The good news?  The more you practice, the more comfortable you’ll become… and your anxiety level will go down

To review thus far:  1) Know your subject like no one else; 2) Practice like a madman (or woman.)  What’s next?

STEP 3:  PERFORM

Not specific to an individual presentation but with regard to speech making in general:  if you’re uncomfortable with something, tackle it head-on.  If speech making is important to your job or career path, consider joining Toastmasters. It’s a great place to practice giving speeches and getting helpful advice and guidance.

If there’s no Toastmasters near you, consider taking a course in public speaking at night school or perhaps signing up for a Dale Carnegie course.

In any event, like anything else in life, the more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll be doing it. If it’s important to your life and career, look into one of these organizations and/or take a course or two.  It will help.

STEP 4:  PERSPECTIVE

“You can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying about the future.”

-Anonymous

Finally, another key to reducing your anxiety is to keep things in perspective.  If you’ve done a great job of preparing, have practiced effectively and are honing your speechmaking skills through performing, you should be set.  Take a few deep breaths, don’t rush and enjoy your performance.  …and keep things in perspective:

• Most of the people in your audience themselves don’t like public speaking.
  As a result they can relate and want you to do well.  Don’t forget this simple fact!
• You will be much more aware of any little verbal slip-ups you make than your audience will.  Don’t obsess, pause a bit, and enjoy your presentation
• And although this may seem contradictory, remember:  it doesn’t matter. No, I’m not saying you don’t need to care and shouldn’t work hard to prepare – you must.  But in the grand scheme of things, a year from now – or perhaps sooner – your audience will have completely forgotten if you stumbled over a few words, weren’t certain in answering a particular question, or lost your place at one point. No one will remember these things. Including you. It doesn’t matter. What seems nerve racking today will be of little consequence in the future. Relax and let it go.

A few final tips…

• Take a few deep breaths as you approach the podium, pause for a few seconds, smile and begin
• Don’t rush
• If at all possible, start with an intriguing question or (brief) story
• Make eye contact – look around the room – don’t just focus on the seniormost executive
• Slow down!
• If using PowerPoint, keep your PowerPoint slides simple
• Don’t pace or shift about nervously
• Vary the pitch of your voice to convey different emotions or to vary the pace of your presentation
• Have fun.  You’ve worked hard. You’ve prepped carefully. You’ve practiced effectively. It doesn’t matter – relax and have fun.

Finally, a quick video which touches upon a few basic speech making points (pls. ignore the typo right at the end!) –

Please share the techniques you’ve employed to conquer your anxiety over public speaking by commenting; thanks for visiting!