Public speaking is a common source of stress for everyone. Many of us would like to avoid this problem entirely, but this is hard to do. Whether we work alone or with large numbers of people, eventually we’ll need to speak in public to get certain tasks accomplished. And if we want to be leaders or achieve anything meaningful in our lives, we will often need to speak to groups, whether they are large or small, in order for us to be successful.
I’d like to share with you the top 10 list of global fears among people
Some surveys and research results show that most people rather die instead of talking in front of a live audience. This is a global fears top ten list that I found:
1. Fear of public speaking (Glossophobia)
2. Fear of death (Necrophobia)
3. Fear of spiders (Arachnophobia)
4. Fear of darkness (Achluophobia, Scotophobia or Myctophobia)
5. Fear of heights (Acrophobia)
6. Fear of people or social situations (Sociophobia)
7. Fear of flying (Aerophobia)
8. Fear of open spaces(Agoraphobia)
9. Fear of thunder and lightning(Brontophobia)
10. Fear of confined spaces(Claustrophobia)
What in the world is causing us to be so scared to speak in front of groups?
You know from experience that the typical presentation is average and not many people remember it anyway, so why are we so scared to give these presentations? I’d like to address this in this post and provide some practical advice that I have used to help me become a more effective communicator.
Let’s face it, people buy you with their eyes and if you are not portraying that you are comfortable and in charge of the presentation, people will question your authority no matter what information you present them.
The reason that I am writing this is because today I have given one presentation already(9am) and am giving another presentation at 3pm for two different classes on two different subjects. The first one I gave I got to incorporate juggling into as a plan of reducing stress during finals for college students. This seemed to have come at the right time for everyone seeing as how finals are coming soon…
The biggest reason for fear of public speaking is not understanding the content
During my college years, I have been asked to do presentations on certain topics that I truly did not understand when I first learned that I would be presenting on these topics. Literally, when I first found out about the presentation I thought to myself “Oh man Chris, you’re in trouble this time”. However, this is one of the first steps to fixing the fear.
What did I do next? I took the time to research and started to make sense of the information that I was to be presenting. After realizing that it was okay that I knew very little about the subject, I made it a point to LEARN about the subject and learn to teach the subject in a simplified way.
Let’s face it, the reason that we are scared to present many times is because we aren’t sure of ourselves with the information. If we take the time to learn it, we will become sure of what we are sharing and will be more than likely to have a presentation that accomplishes our goals.
The best way to learn is to teach…
If you have a presentation that is on juggling I recommend learning how to juggle first and then teach someone else how to juggle! However, if you have a presentation on nuclear physics, then I sure can’t help you with that but I bet that Wikipedia and a few industry experts have already broken it down for you so that you can even teach a certain segment of that to a group in a presentation. Start off by teaching even the basics, the simplest of things and finding a way to communicate these things to another person. We often learn a ton more by teaching another than we can ever learn by ourself.
Understanding the audience
When you are doing the research phase of your presentation, you want to understand who the audience is that you will be presenting to. Do they have any knowledge of the subject? Are they new, amateurs, experts? You need to take this into consideration when doing your presentation however if you are a newbie presenting to experts, you may be in the wrong area :-p
After you realize who your audience is, find out a way to present the information in a way that is entertaining and educational.
Edutainment- “Education through Entertainment”
More often than not, presentations are flat out boring. Snoozefests and non-memorable.
When presenting, find something interesting and fun to keep your audiences attention. For me, I personally try to incorporate juggling into my presentations as much as possible. The reason for this is because the majority of people are interested by juggling and it brings the attention to me at once. You don’t necessarily need to juggle to keep the attention of your audience but you could try some other things, many people incorporate jokes into the presentation and this helps to lighten the mood a little.
Things to remember
You Don’t have to be Brilliant or Perfect to Succeed: If you aren’t the worlds foremost expert on the subject you are presenting, it really doesn’t matter that much as long as you share some relevant information that will benefit your audience.
All You Need is Two or Three Main Points: Don’t try to do too much, remember to Keep It Simple Stupid. Trying to cram too much into a presentation will make it unfocused and you will more than likely lose your audience.
and the last thing to remember is
Your Audience Truly Wants You to Succeed: think about it, the majority of people are happy to see someone succeed and are rooting for you to be a successful presenter. They aren’t out to get you and don’t want you to ultimately fail.
So, the next time you are worried about speaking in public, just remember these few tips! If you have any other tips or questions, I can write up another blog to get more in-depth on the subject 
