Posted in Career Advice Generation Y on June 11, 2008 at 4:16 pm
By Laura O’Connell, Marketing Manager & Communication Arts Professor
I often encounter students who claim that they can’t possibly get in front of a classroom and speak because they are shy. I then tell them about myself, a “former shy girl in recovery,” in hopes that they will see a light at the end of the tunnel (the tunnel that they fear because if they speak in it, somebody might hear their echo and that would be public speaking!).
When training to be a college orientation leader several years ago, I found myself in a room of 10 people. The leader asked us each to give a short talk. When my turn came, I felt all eyes focused on me. I opened my mouth… and nothing came out. I started to shake, my heart pounded and I said quietly, “I can’t do this.”
The next day arrived and again we were asked again to give short speeches. As my turn approached, I felt the same physiological effects coming on-fear, nausea, pounding heart. I opened my mouth, and words came pouring out. And they made sense!
How did I overcome my fear in less than 24 hours?
I certainly didn’t lose all of my public speaking anxiety, but I was able to move forward enough to talk to a small group of people. What I didn’t tell you in the above story is that I practiced all night long after that first day. I’ll share this and other secrets to my success in the form of actionable items you can use to ease some of your anxiety and feel better prepared to speak in public:
1. Know that being nervous is normal. According to The Art of Public Speaking by Stephen E. Lucas, 76% of experienced speakers have stage fright. Take comfort in the fact that you are not alone.
2. Get some speaking experience. Much of speaking anxiety is fear of the unknown. So, make the unknown, known. You can take a formal public speaking course, join your local Toastmasters club or get involved in extracurricular activities where you speak frequently.
3. Prepare, prepare, prepare. It’s not practice that makes perfect, its perfect practice that makes perfect. So, be sure to follow these three Ps:
- Practice out loud, as if you are speaking to your audience.
- Practice in the same location where you will give your speech.
- Practice in front of others, so you will have “been there and done that” when you get up in front of your real audience.
Although this advice is just a start, it can be a giant leap for somebody who truly fears public speaking. I do hope that these tips help you to become a more confident speaker. Just remember… I was the shy girl in high school and now I teach public speaking. You can do it, too!
hi there,
I just thought of dropping these lines to add something to the helpful mentiened ideas.every public speaker has to bear in mind that
as a humain being,no one on the face of the earth can proclaim that he or she doesn’t feel afraid of standing in front of a crowd.my point here is that feeling a fraid in such setuation is something purely natural,so we cannot triumph over it,the only alternative that is left for us is to learn how to speak in public while we are afraid.
Laura,
Thanks for this post. I have been doing professional public speaking for many years. Often, I forget those days of early stage fright. Recently, I had a request from a high school teacher. She has a student who won a prestigious award and had to give a 6 minute speech. During her last paragraph she passed out. The child still won the award! She was that good. The teacher wants to prepare her for the statewide competition in the fall and asked me to help her with her stage fright. I gave her a paper I wrote that practically says word for word what you advise. Since we both came to the same conclusions, independently, I know that the advise is good.
I want to underline what you said about making the unknown known. Even now when I speak, I go and check out the place. If I’m speaking in another city or state, I go a night early or a day early so I can check out the location.
I also want to underline the practice part. I told the teacher that this child needs to practice and practice in front of people. They are both coming to see me next week. I plan to videotape the girl while she gives her speech (in front of me and others) and then we are all going to give her feedback. When she sees herself on video, I suspect she will be impressed with her delivery (afterall she won the first stage after passing out).
I once heard someone say, if you aren’t prepared you ought to be scared.
If you’re interested in the material I’ve written on speaking, join on my website or check out my blog: http://www.TotalCommunicationsCoach.com/blog. I also teach a virtual group called Speak Up for Success designed to help people deal with their anxiety.
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Thanks to everyone for the great comments and additional pieces of advice. I’d also recommend the book “Life is a Series of Presentations” by Tony Jeary — an excellent read, although I agree that practice is the key.
- Lindsey
I would stress preparation over anything else. I can still remember getting cut off in my thesis presentation because I went over the time limit, and being so frustrated with myself for not being better prepared.
This is a great reminder that no one should be a victim of his or her own fears or anxieties. Even if it takes longer than 24 hours to master, introverted and/or shy people can learn to “work a room,” people terrified of speaking in public can give a presentation and someone without a lot of self confidence can appear self confident in an interview.
Recognizing that these are skills, like any skill, that can improve with practice is half the battle!
Thanks!
Miriam Salpeter
Keppie Careers
Great advice! It’s encouraging to see that someone has stage fright and yet has found a way to master it. One thing that’s always helped me is to know the material so well I can converse about it. I try not to use notecards and just talk about the information I’m sharing like I would talk to a friend about a funny story that happened to me. It’s helped me quite a bit.
I agree…preperation is key. Sometimes I sort of play a game with myself when it comes to public speaking…I challenge myself to step out of my box and to push past my shyness. Also, I mentally prepare by picturing myself giving the speech in my head. Thanks for the post!
If anyone is interested in Toastmasters they should go to http://www.toastmasters.org/. This website also has free resources for those who will be speaking publicly at http://www.toastmasters.org/MainMenuCategories/FreeResources.aspx.
Thank you for this post. I appreciate the advice, and I’d like to share the unusual way that I overcame my dislike of public speaking. When I graduated from college, I decided to move to China to teach English. To prepare for my adventure, I volunteered to teach ESL at a local adult school. Teaching English forced me to focus closely on my tone of voice, speaking patterns, and other things I had previously overlooked. Now I am back in the US and I use these public speaking skills every day.