How to Overcome Fear of Public Speaking?

First, I want to explain why I chose this topic for consideration. Because this is the most popular question of every person who studies public speaking. But where does such fear come from? And what to do so that this fear is practically absent?

I want to tell you one important thing: such fear is absolutely natural for every person. It exists in each of us and even in famous and successful people.

Now I'll give several people as examples so you understand that such fear is close and natural for each of us. For example, Michael Jackson asked to direct as much light as possible on himself so he wouldn't see people, because he had a wild fear of the public. Warren Buffett, one of the richest people on the planet, says: "I was so afraid that I was vomiting. I organized my life so as to never speak in front of anyone."

Barbara Streisand was panic-afraid of the stage. Once, coming on stage, she forgot all the songs. After that, she didn't perform for 27 years. Bruce Willis suffered from stuttering. Classmates made fun of him, which caused fear of the public. But acting courses and humor, as well as purposefulness, freed him from fear of performances.

King George VI of Great Britain also faced stuttering, about whom there's a wonderful film The King's Speech. This is the father of Elizabeth II. He was also afraid of the public and also had stuttering. He overcame panic fear of the public thanks to special exercises with his trainer and mentor. More than half of Hollywood stars experience strong fear of the public.

As you can see, even famous people suffered and continue to suffer from fear of the public. That means it's quite natural for each of us to feel this fear.

How to distinguish natural and acquired fear?

There are two main fears of the public. The main fear is natural. It manifests primarily in excitement, accelerated breathing, growing tension in the body. But this is all moderate. Noticeable, but moderate.

There's also acquired fear. Enhanced. You can acquire it based on what life experience we have. How we were raised in the family. What attitude our parents had toward us. Our brothers and sisters. What attitude toward us was in school. Then experiences in university. A myriad of things that affect us, throughout our entire life. Such experience can create even more constraints, blocks and further enhance fear.

Signs of acquired fear, that is enhanced, are the same as natural, only they are stronger. Manifestation also in fine motor skills of hands, legs. In such body movement. There can be blushing, trembling in voice, hands, legs, darting gaze. All this demonstrates the panic state of the organism.

Remember this important moment – the audience before whom you'll have to speak is always tuned positively toward you by default. Therefore, your task is to preserve this positive mood and relate just as positively to the audience. If you're nervous, then tension is transmitted to people too. And it turns out that both you and the audience close up, and you have no dialogue.

What to do to overcome fear?

What needs to be done so that this fear is as little as possible? There are three main points: knowledge of public speaking technique, unique knowledge and experience, regular public speeches.

First of all, knowledge of public speaking technique. You need to be prepared. Understand that your speech shouldn't be improvisation. Improvisation is the highest form of development in art or any other activity. Therefore, it's important to learn everything. You need to know technique.

What specifically to develop and what to study? Fear manifests in fine motor skills and nonverbal technique. Therefore, so it's not so visible, it's necessary to develop, improve and control your nonverbal technique. This concerns gestures. Your gestures should be clear, meaningful, considered and justified.

Next – voice. You need to work with voice. This is our instrument that needs to be preserved. It's important to understand how it works. To strengthen it. To use it correctly. For this, there are special exercises from vocalisations to practicing stage speech, as well as special breathing exercises that help make your voice stronger and more pleasant.

A very important topic is argumentation, text structure, and the topic of the future speech. It's also necessary to study arguments, counterarguments. In general, to constructively build your speech first in theory, then in practice.

The second point: to possess unique experience and unique information. We are interesting to other people we possess knowledge that other people need but don't have. Experience is priceless. You always need to expand your knowledge. First of all, deeply know your topic, but also study other topics.

The third point is constant experience of public speeches. If we do something regularly, then our brain perceives it as a standard, ordinary situation. Therefore, there will be significantly less fear.

What to do directly before the speech?

What needs to be done directly before the public speech itself? To relieve some tension, the body needs to be warmed up. First of all, intellectual warm-up. This needs to be rehearsed. You should know what you'll say. Speak through what you'll tell many times. You can't learn by heart. It's always visible that you learned by heart.

Next is physical discharge. This requires verbal and nonverbal techniques. There are exercises for voice, and also physical exercises. For example, yoga exercises. Or breathing exercises. Exercises for warming up hands. These can be light physical loads in the form of squats or jumping rope.

You should have a clear beginning and end. Therefore, I advise you to learn the first and last paragraphs and know them by heart, to begin and end very clearly and with emotional reaction. You can listen to something or watch something for inspiration, so you have a better mood. This can be music, a film that inspires you, a video speech by any person.

What to read and watch for development?

Read things that expand your horizons. If your brain is open and there's a high level of intelligence and erudition, you'll be interesting by yourself. This will make you significantly less fearful.

You can watch films that show topics of public speaking or presentation. These are the film The Iron Lady about Thatcher, The King's Speech about George VI, films about Steve Jobs, the film about Churchill, Darkest Hour. The motivating film, The Pursuit of Happiness.

In conclusion, I want to repeat once more that fear of public speaking is natural for each of you. Our task is to do everything to minimize it. First of all, study public speaking technique. Deepen your immersion in your topics. Expand your horizons. And constantly practice. Look for opportunities for public speaking and constantly improve in this difficult art form.

Mykola Ovcharov