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.

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.

- Lindsey

Recognizing that these are skills, like any skill, that can improve with practice is half the battle!

Thanks!
Miriam Salpeter
Keppie Careers