Speak With Confidence - Managing Public Speaking Anxiety

To be a persuasive and effective speaker a person needs to speak with confidence. Where anxiety and nerves overtake the speaker, the listener will not be confident in what they have to say. If the speaker can't manage themselves, how can they be effective and persuasive?Public speaking anxiety and fear is one of the most common fears. It is regularly rated higher than death in surveys of people's fears. But, it is learned response, because at birth we only have 2 fears - the fear of loud noises and falling. Therefore, it is possible to manage and overcome public speaking anxiety with some application and the right attitude. Here are 8 techniques that will help you overcome stage fright.

1. Visualize a successful outcome. Visualize yourself on stage successfully delivering your speech with as much intensity and passion as you can muster.

2. Speak about something you really care about. Do it from the heart not the head. The more you care about something the easier it is to talk about it.

3.Thoroughly prepare and practice. Know your topic thoroughly and practice frequently. Practice in front of the mirror and friends to get used to speaking. The more prepared and the more practice you do the more you will build self confidence and belief in yourself.

4. Perform the following speech drill. Choose your favorite hobby. Demonstrate and describe it to an imaginary audience. Put as much zest and passion as you can into your speech. Go completely over the top. Express your feeling in your face, eyes and gestures. Believe that your imaginary audience must share your passion now! Repeat often. This is also a good drill to do with a friend.

5. Many speakers who speak with confidence today suffered from stage fright when they were starting out. They overcame this by speaking at every opportunity. Develop a short speech and deliver it as often as you can in as short a time as possible.

6. Adopt the attitude that you are giving your audience your best. It is the best you can do at the time. When you have finished the delivering your speech, put all your energy into thinking about and practicing your next speech rather than the one you have just finished.

7. In your mind, down play the importance of your speech. Who will remember it next year or in a hundred years? Most people find it difficult to remember something as important as last year's football scores.

Public speaking anxiety can be overcome. Confident public speaking is an attainable skill for most people. By having a positive attitude, and thoroughly preparing and practicing it is possible for the nervous speaker to speak with confidence.