A survey conducted by Dr. Laurie Rozakis, author of the book Idiot’s Guide to Public Speaking, revealed that many people are afraid to speak in front of a group.
“It is the number one fear of Americans,” says Dr. Rozakis, “and fear of death is number six.”
Even people who have spoken in front of a lot of people before still get nervous. But you can learn to control and use this fear to your advantage. This topic tells us why people get nervous when talking in front of a big group and how to overcome that fear.
FEAR OF THE CROWD
People worry about being turned down by their audience. As a result, many people are afraid to speak in public because they do not want to be judged by the crowd for how they appear or what they say.
On the other hand, when a speaker has stage fright, the audience is very understanding. When your fear of the crowd grows, you get more nervous.
Here are some things you can do to get over your fear of public speaking.
Choose a subject that you are interested in and know a lot about. The more you know about the topic you’ve chosen, the more comfortable you’ll be talking about it.
Pay attention to your topic. Pay attention to your topic, not to yourself. If you stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about what you’re talking about, your fear of speaking will probably go away.
Tell yourself, “I’m in charge.” Have faith in your ability to give your speech. When you show that you are in charge, your fear goes down and your confidence in dealing with the situation goes up.
Don’t think of the people listening to you as a threat. Fill in the gap between you and your audience. Carefully analyze to build a relationship. It would be best to consider their age, gender, and skill level. Don’t forget to think about your audience.
FEAR OF FAILURE
You can get over your fear of failing in two ways.
Think about yourself doing well. You probably will if you think you’ll stutter in front of many people. But if you can picture yourself giving a good speech, you will.
Don’t be afraid. You can’t get over your fear if you don’t show it and say you’re afraid.
BE AFRAID THAT YOUR SPEECH WILL BE BAD
Write well. Spend time writing out your speech. Read it over and rewrite it if you need to. If you are sure of your speech, you will be less scared to speak in front of a crowd.
Work on your speech and ask people for tips on improving it. Ask a friend or family member to be the audience. After you’ve talked about your topic, ask for their thoughts.
Don’t be scared to listen to what they have to say. Their comments can help you figure out what works and what doesn’t in your speech.
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