Public speaking fears

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jonnytakeawalk

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I have a huge fear of public speaking, every time I go to give a speech my voice shakes like crazy and it sounds as if I'm about to cry. It's awful, often I have to stop talking cause my voice is shaking so much. I know it's not rational to feel like this but I do.

I've got a presentation for uni this week and I'm nervous just thinking about it. I know I have to shake this cause whatever job I get I know it will probably involve some form of public speaking

Does anyone else also have this fear, does anyone know how to get rid of it?! Any help would be much appreciated!
 
I have a really big fear of public speaking. Am a very shy person so it's hard for me to get up in front of a lot of people and talk. Find though that when Im giving my speech making eye contact helps a lot. Look for the ones that I know who will be encouraging. Even a smile provides some confidence where I become more sure of myself. Oh and before I actually give my speech I usually give myself a small pep talk. Keep telling myself that I can do this. Plus I find with me that the more I think about having to give the speech beforehand the more nervous I become. Do you have something that could perhaps help take your mind off of what's coming up?

Good luck hope you do well on your presentation :).
 
I used to be really bad, really nervous. As a business communications student, I do a presentation about twice a week! It's true what they say, it gets easier and more natural the more you do it.

Also, what BonosBaby said, the more you think about it, the more nervous you get, I have that too. However, now that I have so many presentations and so much other coursework to focus on, I barely have time to think about the presentation until the night before or morning of.
 
I do a lot of public speaking for work, giving presentations etc to rooms full of folk. I did a presentation skills course which really helped - it might be worth looking into doing something like this if public speaking is going to be something you will do a lot in the future.

One helpful hint:

When talking to a room of people, when speaking, make sure you look at just one person when speaking a sentence. When you pause in the sentence, or are making a new point, look at someone else. The brain gets confused if it sees too many images to take in, while at the same time trying to get the message or sentence you want to convey out. So, by reducing the amount of information coming - i.e. by not looking at more than one person per sentence, you will be able to speak more clearly.

Other things such as moving your hands around or fidigiting while talking should also be avoided as its a distraction for both you and your audience.

Good luck tho :) It does get better over time!
 
I'm actually teaching a one-credit speech class at my university this semester, so by this point in the year, I'm an old pro at it :wink:

It's funny, because in college, I used to be terribly shy, the kind of student who'd maybe have the nerve to speak up twice a semester, who'd read aloud in class as if something were chasing me and I were trying to run away from it very quickly. As I've moved through grad school, I've still remained somewhat quiet, but more because I only speak up when I really have something to say (unlike many people in academia, who just talk and talk and talk).

The best advice I can offer is to believe in yourself and in what you have to say. It's perfectly normal to be scared, but the more confident you can be, the more confident you'll come across. Have organized notes, but use bullet points or short notes instead of writing your whole speech out, because then you'll be tempted to just read it all, which is a snooze for your audience. If you have friends in the class, ask them to sit in different places in the room so you have a few focal points when you're looking around. Try not to say "like" or "um" or anything like that too often. Don't wear a hat. Don't chew gum. Most importantly, give yourself places to pause and breathe. If you're worried you'll forget, actually put BREATHE in your notes once in awhile.

Also, don't be scared! By this point in your class, you probably know pretty many of the people, and you know they're not going to heckle you out of the room if you make a mistake or two. Use this as a learning experience and a chance to build your confidence up gradually.

Good luck :hug:
 
i hate public speaking too...i took some astronomy classes one time just for fun a few years ago...we had to give a final speaking report to the class. we were in groups of 3 or 4 people. it started off ok cuz we started off with a little slide show presentation and took turns. that part i could hadle ok...but then it came time for me to speak. i knew i'd mess it up...i tried to tell myself to remain calm but that just kept making it worse :mad: i even tried the typical "imagine everyone nude" or "just look at wone person", etc.

even my classmates said afterwards..."you don't have to be so nervous, it's just us!"

i knew that too, i dunno what it is but i just HATE public speaking.

even to this day when i help out at the planetarium shows, i'll help with the star projectors, etc...but i will NOT speak in front of a group :reject:
 
just do what i do and take a few shots beforehand. :lol:

seriously though, it gets a lot easier the more you do it. i used to have trouble with it in highschool, then in college i just had the additude of i dont know these people, what do i care what they think if i would screw up.
 
public speaking is one of the most dreaded and stressful things one can go through.

Once again, I believe it comes down to confidence. Confidence will make you more comfortable.

Also, remember, if this is a preso for school, justremember in the whole scheme of things, it's not a life and death situation.....Just relax and realize that this is not a HUGE deal.

Also, while some folks recommend making eye contact w/ specific people, I always found it easier to jsut look at the people as a whole and not on a specific person. Also, I find looking at the back wall is a help as well.

Good luck.
 
I agree that the more you do public speaches, the better at it you will become....but just getting to that point can take awhile. A friend recommended Toastmasters so I joined - it was a tremendous help.

They're located around the world so maybe you'll find one in your area.


http://www.toastmasters.org/
 
I love public speaking, but I still get incredibly nervous as odd as that sounds. I think of it as more of an excited nervous...particularly if it's a topic I'm interested in.

While I'm speaking however my brain tends to get ahead of itself, so thanks for those tips PartyBoy :up:
 
MsGiggles said:
I agree that the more you do public speaches, the better at it you will become....but just getting to that point can take awhile. A friend recommended Toastmasters so I joined - it was a tremendous help.

They're located around the world so maybe you'll find one in your area.


http://www.toastmasters.org/

I recommend this too! I was a part of Toastmasters for 4 years, and it was very beneficial. You learn lots of great techniques, and it's a great environment to practise in.

With time and more experience, you'll get more confident, I guarantee! I was very shy as a child, but now I'm very confident and outgoing. It just takes time.

Good luck!! :up:
 
I used to hate speaking in public but over the years I've done it so much that I've gotten acustomed to it. As someone said above, the more you can do it the easier it gets. As for eye contact, what I usually do is look just above the heads of the audience I'm speaking too. I also try not to focus on one specific thing in my line of sight.

As Numb said above - it's all confidence and always know that this is not life or death situation, the world will go on wether you do well or not. I've given both good and bad presentations and I've seen my share of bad ones over the years to not get too worked up over making any mistakes.

Good Luck to you :up:
 
I am exactly the same. In fact i have found out today that I have to do an hour long presentation for one of my courses :yikes:

From my (limited) experience of presentations and being nervous:

Take a bottle of water up there with you, as if you are talking for any length of time and are nervous then you may need it (but don't be tempted to hang onto the bottle for dear life!).

I also find not making overheads with too much information on is good. Especially if you are going to cover part of the overheads with a piece of paper and move the paper down as you present the information on it. When you are nervous you don't want to be fiddling around moving a bit of paper. In fact too many overheads in general is not good from a nerves point of view as if your hands are a bit shaky you can find you are unable to pick them up easily and this will make you more self-conscious.

I personally find making brief eye contact with a friendly face or one of my mates makes me more relaxed when doing the presentation.

Other than that try to remember to slow down - if you get muddled or lose what you are saying just take a breather and refocus yourself- it will invariably seem like an absolute age to you but your audience probably won't even notice.

Good luck!:up:
 
My take on speaking in front of groups is: don't think about it. Just get on up there. Hope you know what you're talking about. if not, open with, "K, I'm not really sure what I'm talking about, but I'll do the best I can and if I don't have an answer, I'll get back to you." And then I wing it. Works everytime. My talks are rarely more than 3 minutes. And no stress. No promotions either, but "no stress" > "promotions" in my world.
 
UberBeaver said:
My take on speaking in front of groups is: don't think about it. Just get on up there. Hope you know what you're talking about. if not, open with, "K, I'm not really sure what I'm talking about, but I'll do the best I can and if I don't have an answer, I'll get back to you." And then I wing it. Works everytime. My talks are rarely more than 3 minutes. And no stress. No promotions either, but "no stress" > "promotions" in my world.

Well, depends on the context of the meeting - I've had 30 different clients in a room talking about a product which would have about $250,000 a year riding on it. Sometimes you can't just wing it!

As someone else mentioned, if you know the topic and are very passionate about it, thats the best form of presentation skills you will ever need.
 
I am the most outgoing person you will meet but NOT when it comes to public speaking. I used to make excuses in college to get out of them I dreaded it :|
 
UberBeaver said:
My take on speaking in front of groups is: don't think about it. Just get on up there. Hope you know what you're talking about. if not, open with, "K, I'm not really sure what I'm talking about, but I'll do the best I can and if I don't have an answer, I'll get back to you." And then I wing it. Works everytime. My talks are rarely more than 3 minutes. And no stress. No promotions either, but "no stress" > "promotions" in my world.

Yeah, but that doesn't quite work when you have to be up there for 45 minutes basically "selling" a product/advertisement you've created. The last thing the audience wants to hear is that you don't know what you're talking about :huh: Depending on what the presentation is for, you will definitely fail the project or lose the prospective client.
 
Tilli said:


I also find not making overheads with too much information on is good. Especially if you are going to cover part of the overheads with a piece of paper and move the paper down as you present the information on it. When you are nervous you don't want to be fiddling around moving a bit of paper. In fact too many overheads in general is not good from a nerves point of view as if your hands are a bit shaky you can find you are unable to pick them up easily and this will make you more self-conscious.

:yes: An overhead/powerpoint slide should contain no more than 7 lines of text with no more than 7 words per line. The audience should not receive ANY information off of an overhead/powerpoint that they don't also get from you speaking. They should really only be used to remind the audience of the current topic or section of your speech, or a supplement (like if you're refering to actual data, you can put the graph on the overhead).
 
Thanks heaps for all the advice guys :)

I just had my class presentation for uni and it went pretty good, I tried to distact myself before hand but I was still pretty nervous. Whenever I felt my voice start to shake though I just took a deep breath and that would help alot. I don't think anyone could really tell I was nervous. I think being nervous is not a completely bad thing either, it helps you to think faster. After it you always wonder why you were so worried. That toadmasters sounds good too. I might check that out.
 
OMG johnnytakeawalk...you're from Geelong!!!..so am I....is it possible there is another U2 fan here...that is so weird!! Anyway, I go to uni as well and I'm the worst at giving oral presentations...and have been forever...I think its because i get myself so worked up about it...but I'm glad to hear you did well..Good on ya!
 
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