How to Overcome Nervousness when Public Speaking
Nervousness: is it 'fear' or 'anxiety'?
Fear and anxiety are both used when talking about Public Speaking. Both convey the same feeling. Both identify that same feeling of being uncomfortable. But does one of them help us to discover a cure better than the other? Can we become less uncomfortable and more confident?
Fear. Fear is one of our survival emotions. It alerts us to danger. And this is important, the dangers are outside our bodies. We see, hear, smell, touch or taste something in the environment. The danger exists. It is outside our bodies. We did not create it. We did not initiate the experience. We reacted.
Anxiety. Anxiety, or being anxious, is initiated by us. We start the ball rolling. The danger is inside us. We begin to imagine danger. The danger exists only in our minds, not in reality. It is an imagined danger. We concoct all sorts of scenarios that could go wrong. "What if I drop my notes?" "What if I forget my speech?" Our imagination runs riot. All the mishaps are in our imagination. They are not real.
In a public speaking situation, it is anxiety that causes the most problems.
How can you overcome anxiety?
Anxiety exists only in our minds. It is the result of imagining all the bad things that can happen. What should I be thinking about before my presentation?
To be confident before you present you should:
Think only of helping your audience
Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse
Visualise succeeding and seeing and hearing your audience's applause
Practice, practice, practice +
visualising success
are common themes among gurus of public speaking.
Conclusion
I hope this session on overcoming nervousness, when you give a speech, has been helpful. Visualising success and rehearsing your speech frequently is a common theme among gurus who speak about overcoming public speaking anxiety.
Think about your audience as you
rehearse your speech and
visualise success.
end
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