Fear of public
speaking is known as Gloss phobia or Glossophobia and ranks in the top ten of
people’s greatest fears. In today’s world however, it is extremely difficult to
avoid public speaking, whether it be presenting in front of top bosses in a
meeting room, in front of a class in a seminar room or even in front of the
entire school during assembly. This common public speaking phobia can restrict
a person’s day-to-day life and cause a lot of distress. They may be afraid of
speaking in front of others for fear of embarrassing themselves and feeling
humiliated, so will try to avoid doing it at all costs. However, public
speaking skills are vital in the career of many people, so the sooner you learn
how to tackle this fear, the quicker you’ll reduce your anxiety and phobia of public
speaking. Below are some top tips to help you shine and bring out your
confidence when public speaking, so you won’t be rushing for the nearest door
anymore!
A little bit of preparation will go a long way. Look into who you are
presenting to, what age they are, their gender and ranking. Knowing whom you
are facing will automatically quell that fear of the unknown, even if it’s just
a little bit.
Heard of the saying “dressed to impress?” It really does stand true when
presenting to a room full of people. If you don’t look right through how you’ve
dressed, your presentation will automatically have started on the back foot.
Your topic needs to appeal to the audience and relate to them. It needs to
interest them, inform them, educate them, entertain them, persuade them and
inspire them. If you’re speaking from the heart and talking about a subject you
care about it, it doesn’t matter if you lose your way because you’ll be so
fired up in wanting to share your story, you won’t be worrying about where you
are in your notes.
Unless you’re completely confident walking into a room unaided, it’s always
useful to bring some prompts to help you with your speech. Whether it’s a
handful of postcards, a flip-chart or a PowerPoint presentation, have something
that’ll guide you through what you’re trying to say.
Read your
notes, reset your
eyes on the audience and release your
words. Try not to speak when you’re looking down at your prompts and definitely
don’t speak when you’re looking behind the screen, as the audience won’t be
able to hear you – even if you think you have a fairly loud voice!
When using notes and visual aids, it’s important to keep them as short and
punchy as possible. The audience is not interested in long sentences on a
screen – just simple charts, images, or if you really must, bulleted headlines
– but keep these to a maximum of three to four bullets per headline.
0 comments:
Post a Comment