Overcome
the Nerves of Public Speaking!
“Would you give speech to Joe who I
leaving the company on Friday?”
Or perhaps, “Thanks for being ok for
my best man. Now I want your
wedding speech to be funny, not too
long and don’t talk about any bad
parts in our history together.”
And the fear kicks in.
“I can’t do this!”
I must be crazy!”
Public
Speaking creates a great deal of anxiety in most people and
arises
when they face the prospect of
giving a speech, particularly for the
first time.
The truth is that public speaking is
always a mixture of terror and exhilaration.
For everyone.
It’s just like snow skiing!
When you start, all you can think
about is how awkward you are, how dangerous
it is and how you’ll never
be able to do this.
You get one turn right, get up a
little bit of speed , the snow starts to fly in the
sunshine and a tiny
bit of
excitement pops up.
Later, as you become a more
accomplished skier, the balance between terror
and exhilaration changes.
Now you are zipping down the slopes,
carving those turns and feeling like an
Olympic Champion!
But there is always that little bit
of anxiety lurking, as you speed across the snow.
Typically for beginners in public
speaking, all we experience is the terror.
Waiting for our turn to come,
starting our speech, the terror remains.
This seems to consume us, makes us
irrational and we often feel paralysed.
Then somehow we get through
the presentation, come from the stage and as the numbness wears off,
the
next feeling we have is relief
that the ordeal is over.
However, we still retain a sneaking
regard for our courage in making that speech and a small glow of
exhilaration starts to burn
within.
Particularly if we
can stop saying to ourselves, “how bad we were.”
With more practice, the amount of
terror reduces and the amount of excitement
increases.
Now you do another speech, another
presentation and pretty soon you actually
realise that you are
enjoying this and you become amazed .
And slowly you become hooked on the
excitement of giving a speech.
So much so that when you go to fridge
in the night for a drink, the fridge light
comes on, and you
give a 5 minute presentation!
And then the fun starts to creep in.
And by the way.
If you do not have any nervousness or
excitement just before you speak, you will come across to
your audience as flat.
Did you know that some of the
greatest orators in the world have been known to be sick, before
giving a stirring speech.
So, always be kind to yourself.
You will get better, with every
presentation that you make.
But you have to make the
presentations.
So learn the information and then
simply “do it!”
To leapfrog over the barriers so that you get incredible exhilaration
click here.
Or:
To your growing confidence and success.
Roger Bourne
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