There was once a time when I had no fear. I was 11
years old and I entered a story telling competition. I
was confidently telling the story and captured
everyone’s attention until suddenly I heard a voice
from just in front of the stage commenting about my
nose. It’s totally disastrous from that moment on. I
lost focus and forgot the script altogether. That’s
the exact time that I began to have a certain fear of
public speaking.
Over the years, I finally overcome my fear of public
speaking. I can now speak at any function
unprepared and even though the nervousness is
still there, I am able to control it. It was not easy but
I made it with some help from books and a few
techniques I develop myself.
Hopefully these tricks will be able to help you as
they had helped me in overcoming fear of public
speaking.
1) Admit nervousness
All you have to do is admit that you are a bit
nervous speaking to your audience. When you do
this, the audience will be more forgiving if your
nervousness shows up later on. More importantly
you will feel more relaxed now that they are not
expecting a world-class presentation. Imagine their
surprise when you gave them the best presentation
ever despite your nervousness.
The best way to do this is by joking about it. Here’s
an example of a good one. “On the way here, only
God and I knew what I will be presenting. (looking a
bit nervous) Now, only God knows.”
2) Redefine your audience
Redefine your audience generally means changing
how you see your audience. Instead of seeing them
as lecturers who are evaluating you, maybe you
can convince yourself that they are all fellow
students who are in queue to present after you.
They are all equally nervous so there is no reason
why you should be too.
Or perceive them as long lost friends that you
haven’t seen for 10 years. This way you can
maintain eye contact trying to figure out where you
have seen him before. To the audiences, they will
see a very friendly and personal presentation.
Do not try to convince yourself that they are babies
in diapers or that nobody is around as suggested by
some books. It is very hard to convince yourself
that no one is around when you are actually
speaking to them.
3) Invest in visual aids
Imagine a presentation with beautiful PowerPoint
slides and even more impressive notes given to
each of your audience members. Half of the time,
their eyes will not be on you. They will read through
the notes and your fancy slides. This will help a lot
as you can then speak to the people who are not
looking at you. When they look at you, you just
change your focus to other people who are not
looking. Giving a speech to people who are not
looking at you is always easier.
4) Make mistakes intentionally
This is another trick I encourage you to try. Once I
“accidentally” dropped my notes on the floor, and
while picking them up, I warned the audiences that
the presentation will be more confusing after this. I
heard some laughter from the floor.
The idea is to gain control of your audience. If you
can make them laugh and be more interactive with
you, your presentation will have that casual feel to it
which will make it more memorable than others.
Ultimately you will find it easier to do.
5) Speak to one person at a time
One of the most terrifying things about public
speaking is the crowd. Just by looking at the crowd,
all in silence just to hear you speak, will send
shivers down your spine. To overcome this, you
just need to speak to one person at a time.
Choose one member of your audience and dedicate
your whole presentation to him or her. Just assume
that everyone else is not paying attention. When
someone asks you a question, change your focus
to that person and answer the question as if the two
of you are in a coffee shop chatting away. Isn’t that
the most relaxing way to handle a crowd?
6) Be impressive with personal opinion
Just like blogging, everyone can copy an article and
paste it onto their blog. However, people read blogs
not only to know about things happening but to
know what that particular blogger’s opinion is on
the matter.
When you speak or give a presentation, try to
squeeze in a few of your personal thoughts on the
matter. Of course these should be prepared early
on. However, you should make it as if the ideas are
“just in” while you are presenting. That will
differentiate your presentation from the rest, and
when you see the interested look on the faces of
your audience, it will elevate your presentation to
another new level, a level where you start having
fun.
7) Have fun experimenting
This is the most important tips of all. Have fun with
the crowd. Try new ways to give the best
presentation to your audience. Maybe experiment
with a new funny approach, or walk around the hall
instead of being static on the stage. Have fun with
experimenting on human behavior and you will see
that public speaking is not that bad after all.
Remember that there are no failures, only different
results.
Have fun!