Mark Schlarbaum

 Overcoming Public Speaking Stress

Author Sean Kenaston

From Janet Schlarbaum

For most of us, public speaking is a common source of stress and nervousness. Many people may never overcome their fear of public speaking, which can have a negative impact on their careers and overall success in life. It’s an unfortunate reality that if we wish to succeed in our professional and personal life, we will be forced to speak in front of a number of people at some time or another.

Public speaking does not need to be so hard and stressful. If you put in a bit of effort and learn its secrets, it is very possible to overcome the stress of public speaking.

Speaking in front of large gatherings doesn’t need to be too stressful, difficult, and demanding; clear your mind of this negative opinion. Every great speaker started as a novice. It was through intense effort and dedication that they turned out to be the best in the business. With the same kind of commitment, you can be just like them.

To succeed in public speaking, you do not need to be the most brilliant person on the planet. You just need to give it an honest effort. Your audience doesn’t expect you to be a master of all things known to mankind; all they want from you is dedication and determination. You’re there to present some relevant information in a way that’s easy for the audience to understand. They’re not expecting a brilliant and polished speech.

It is important to assert yourself. You want your audience to know that you understand what you’re talking about. If you feel a bit nervous and jittery when you first stand up in front of your audience, don’t worry! It is quite common and natural. All speakers feel that way, even the best! Just take a deep breath and try to relax. Try to establish eye-contact with your audience. Wait until you’re ready. Once you’ve achieved this, you’ll be well on your way to a powerful speech.

A lot of the stress of public speaking is caused by the feeling that you won’t be able to perform well when the time comes. To prepare for this, start practicing various speaking techniques in front of small groups of people during your daily routine. Tell a joke or story to a group of friends. You can even practice your speaking when talking to a sales clerk when you’re out shopping. After a while, you’ll begin to feel more confident speaking to larger and larger groups of people.

By Edward Hope

If your presentation is not organized in a useful way it will lose the audience’s interest. Your listeners will be confused and stop listening. Organizing your speech will make it clearer to the audience and strengthen its impact on them.

A well organized speech assists in the speech writing and the delivery of it. As with most endeavours in life a well thought out structure make the achievement of its objectives easier.

There are 3 components to speeches – introduction, body and conclusion. Each component has a different objective in supporting the purpose of your speech or presentation. Proper organization of each component will help achieve its’ objective, and the speech achieve its purpose.

1. Organizing the Introduction

The objective of the introduction is to catch the attention of the audience. It sets the stage for the main event – the body of your speech. The following are the steps usually found in an introduction

(i) Preliminaries – This is not always necessary. It is used when you need to respond to the master of ceremonies or acknowledge the organisers of the meeting etc
(ii) Attention Step – used to grab the attention of the audience through the use of attention grabbers e.g. a shocking statement, a funny story or joke etc
(iii) Benefit Step – a statement outlining how the speech will benefit the listeners e.g. it will make them more money, make their job easier
(iv) Preview Step – a brief outline of the speech to follow.

What is said in the introduction should be relevant to the main body of the speech and it should be brief. If the introduction is too long it can bore the audience.

2. Arranging the Body of Your Speech

The body of the speech should be arranged around main headings because this will break the speech up into manageable components. 2 – 5 main headings are the ideal numbers. If more than 5 headings are used, members of the audience will struggle to remember them all.

The main headings are best arranged in one of the ways that people commonly think about the subject of the speech. The most common patterns of thinking that people use to arrange a speech are:-

(i) Time – Divided up in the chronological order that events occurred
(ii) Location – Headings are arranged by their geographical location
(iii) Topical – arrangement by logical parts, divisions or components
(iv) Problem and Solution – the problem always precedes the solution.

Your topic will not always fit into the usual patterns. In this case the theme or central idea should be divided up into reasonable headings that support the theme. The information that you have gathered should be listed under the heading it supports. The arrangement discussed for the body of the speech applies equally to the supporting information, by the use of sub-headings.

3. Conclusion

The conclusion is important to you because this is where the audience will form a lasting impression of you. The following steps are usually found in a conclusion:

(i) Summary Step – summarize the main points of your speech
(ii) Benefit Step – it is useful to repeat this step from the introduction to remind the audience and reach the individual who may only have just started listening
(iii) Call For Action Step – this is only when an action is required from the audience. It is a last strong statement that evokes the response wanted from the audience.. Your conclusion is best when it is brief and does not introduce any new material. Otherwise you risk losing and confusing your listeners.

Placed by Janet Schlarbaum

Posted by: Janet Schlarbaum

By Tanner Larsson

Public speaking is simply the act of getting up in front of people and talking about a subject. As easy as it may seem, there are important skills that are required in order to keep the audience’s attention while not straying too far from the topic at hand. Developing these skills is vital to becoming a good public speaker.

When speaking in public, it is important not to be afraid of making mistakes. Worrying about forgetting a line or not following a prewritten speech will only make you more nervous from the get go and make it more likely that you will indeed make a mistake. Making mistakes is human and understandable to the audience creating a sense of empathy. It is important to make a natural recovery from mistakes and not get down on yourself for “screwing up.”

Good public speakers usually always use humor in their presentations. Telling jokes can often be good way of “breaking the ice” with the audience. However, if joke telling is not your forte then it is best to avoid doing so. Humor can be used subtly and a willingness to poke fun at yourself makes you appear more human to the audience. Storytelling can be a useful tool for a public speaker. By relating information from the presentation to your own life, you make your topic feel more real and more applicable to everyday living.

A skillful use of the public speaking environment is quite important as well. It is important not to seem rigid when giving a presentation. You should use the space that is available and move around a bit to make you seem more comfortable with what you are speaking about. In confined spaces, public speakers should use more body language.

An appropriate use of notes is also essential when speaking in public. It is important not to read during your presentation and to only use notes as an outline and as a last resort in case you forget some information. Also, visual aids should be used to liven the presentation and in turn make it flow better.

Article submitted by: Janet Schlarbaum

By Douglas Robert

There is a definite link between public speaking and self confidence. You need enough self confidence to be able to get up on stage and deliver a speech. And once you get there and discover that you can actually do it, your self confidence soars. Speaking in public is a powerful way to boost your self confidence.

Public speaking can be used for motivation, influence, persuasion, informing, teaching or simply entertaining. Speaking to a group is a rewarding experience as it allows you to showcase your knowledge or expertise in a public forum. Sharing your thoughts from the podium helps enrich the lives of those in the audience who gain the benefit of your unique experience and insight.

But most of us fear public speaking only because it’s not familiar. Speaking to a group forces you to break out of your comfort zone. When the opportunity to speak is thrust upon you, it takes bravery to conquer the initial sense of fear. But for those who can do it, the rewards are plentiful. Public speaking helps you discover that you’re stronger and more capable than you ever thought you were. Deliver a stellar performance and your confidence surges forward.

When it comes to expressing your thoughts and ideas on stage, self confidence is essential. But for those who suffer extreme shyness or nervousness at the thought of public speaking, it takes some effort. If you’re one who dreads public speaking, try to understand where that fear is coming from. Chances are you’ve never had a bad public speaking experience.

You’ve got to be able to imagine yourself delivering capably and comfortably. Visualization is a huge help in overcoming fear. If you can visualize it, you can do it.

Another confidence builder is preparation. The more you prepare and practice in advance, the more natural it will feel when it’s time to perform. If you find your self confidence low or nonexistent, the best way to boost it is to — practice, practice, practice. When you’re confident about something you can do like drive a car, make dinner, or even speak in public, there’s a feeling of certainty in your capability to perform.

Most fear and anxiety about public speaking is has no basis in reality. It’s just old programming that’s controlling you. Break through the fear and you can change your life as you impact their lives of countless others. All you have to do is break the barrier one time. Learn how to be a better speaker through practice and your self confidence will increase dramatically.

Suggested by: Janet Schlarbaum

 By Jack Flinters

Everyone will have to speak in public sooner or later. For a lot of people, this is easier said than done. Many of us are very scared of public speaking. As soon as they face the audience these people get so nervous that they just freeze. Because of this they may lose business opportunities or promotions and feel very embarrassed. Others however do not have any problems with speaking in public at all. Generally this is due to experience and lots of practice.

The most important thing you can do to improve your public speaking is prepare. Being well prepared will make you feel confident, something your audience will notice. Preparing may also mean making some notes to help you remember the most important points of your speech. Practicing in front of friends or relatives can also be helpful.

The first instructions most people receive when learning about public speaking are: prepare an introduction, a body and a conclusion. This advice is good, but incomplete. There is a lot more to giving a good speech than that.

Something else that may help when speaking in public is using illustrations. This not only helps you get your point across, it may also make you feel a bit more at ease by focusing the audience’s attention on something other than yourself.

One of the most important secrets to being a successful public speaker is being and acting confidently. People who are not good at it usually look nervous and uncomfortable. Experienced public speakers on the other hand always look calm and confident.

The key to becoming good at public speaking is practice. By doing it a lot you will naturally improve and enjoy the experience a lot more.

By: Jim Cassa
One of the most powerful ways to improve your public speaking is with quotes. A quote is a gem of wisdom contained in words. Quotes add power and impact to your public speaking. Here are some tips on the ways you can use quotes in your presentations.

Tip one. Add quotes at the beginning of your speech to get attention and listener interest. This is a great way to start your presentation because it gives you increased credibility.

Tip two. Quotes can be used when you give an example to illustrate your point. Use one from someone famous and successful. This gives your example more testimony.

Tip three. Use a quote that is relevant to your topic. For example if your speech is on computers only use a quote that is somehow linked to computers. The outcome of your speech will help keep what you have to say relevant and on track.

Tip four. Quality is better than quantity. Two well selected and relevant quotes are more powerful than eight poorly selected ones.

Tip five. A powerful yet simple resource is a book of famous quotations. Use it like a dictionary. Dip into it from every now and then. It will strengthen your speaking ability like a dictionary does.

Quotes make your public speaking more powerful. They make what you say more believable when you quote someone famous. Always mention who said the quote. Every good public speaker I know uses quotes. You can too. One extra public speaking tip is this one. Use at least one quote in every speech you make.

By: J. Douglas Jefferys
People with a true command of The Skills know that a large part of engaging the audience is simply being you. For some reason most people think that once you get up to speak, you’ve got to take on an entirely new persona. You have to be an entirely different person at the front of the room, because you’re speaking to a group.

The reality is that people come to a presentation not to hear what you have to say, not to be impressed by your knowledge base. They’re actually there for your humanness. They want to see and hear information delivered by a human. They’re human. They know what it’s like. They want to see what value you can add to information that they could just as easily obtain by getting a copy of the handout.

The more spontaneous you can be, the less “practiced” you seem, the more likely you will come across as the genuine person you are and the more impact you will have on your audience. And when you learn to forget the fact that there’s 500 people out there, or 50 people, or even 5 people, because you’re only ever speaking to one person at a time, well, then, what you realize is that public speaking is no different from having a conversation across a lunch table. Speaking to a group never needs to be any different from talking to your colleague on the same topic.

Do you feel uncomfortable talking one-on-one to people? Most people don’t. Similarly, when you have a discussion with somebody about what’s going on at work, do you prepare for it for three or four hours ahead of time? Do you go into a lunch with a co-worker with a written set of talking points, and a practiced set of word tracks, or do you just kind of let things happen?

You will become a master of The Skills only when you convince yourself that you must approach your presentation not the least prepared way, but the least practiced way. You don’t want to be practiced, because it’s going to flatten out your delivery. A flattened delivery has less passion, and it’s passion that people come to feel and hear.

One last little bit of advice that you’ll begin to notice quickly as you observe people when they speak: people with The Skills know that when all else fails, smile.

If you can’t do any of the things that you’ve learned in your study of public speaking, if you can’t do anything else right, learn to smile. People who are known as great communicators know how effective just smiling can be. People in the audience are hard-wired from birth to be receptive to a smile – and thus more receptive to your message when you do.

Think about the first thing you do when you meet a little baby. “Oh, look. Isn’t she cute? Oh, look, [tickle, tickle] let me see a smile”.

We conducted presentation skills training for The World Bank some time ago, and the group was comprised of people from every continent except Antarctica. Whenever we talk about the way we equate eye contact with veracity, we always preface it by saying, in Western cultures, we assign a lot of value to eye contact because we equate looking people in the eye with telling the truth. Well, a woman from Kenya told us that in many cultures in Africa, a little bit of eye contact is a good thing. Too much eye contact is a bad thing.

She explained to the group that if you avoided eye contact when talking to somebody, they didn’t trust you. If you held eye contact too long, they would kill you. Evidently, the way that you ameliorate the threat from sustained eye contact is by smiling. So if you want to talk to somebody, have eye contact, but make sure that you smile. It disarms people. And when people are disarmed, they’re more receptive to your message.

In our design classes we demonstrate that human brains process different forms of information differently. Speech is a form that our brains don’t readily absorb. When we receive information in the form of speech or text or numbers or sequences, we don’t just absorb them at face value – our brain first filters the information before it stores it or acts on it. So there’s always a wall, there’s always a barrier up there.

You’ve got to overcome that barrier. One way you can do that is smile.