How to Become Better at Public Speaking and Overcome Fears

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By godfather25
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It can be challenging to overcome fear of public speaking. This is something a lot of people struggle with, and it takes some public speaking exercises along with overcoming mental adversity. I remember when I was in school, I used to dread when we had to read an assignment out loud, in front of the entire class. I'm thinking why do teachers want to humiliate us like that? Speaking in public has it's challenges, funny thing is people don't care how we look. The public isn't sitting there thinking, "man they look really bad up there", no it's more like "thank god I'm not the one up there". I'll give some public speaking tips as well, to help you become a better public speaker.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

courage

Step 1

Practice these speaking exercises at home. Get some family together, or practice in front of a mirror. Once need to establish some kind of routine, then it becomes easier. Practice your mannerisms in front of a mirror, as well as eye contact. Speaking in public, is not the same as doing so privately. Have these daily speaking exercises that you work on. Let family and friends play the audience as well, and let them give you tips on what you need to improve on. Maybe you're speaking too much, too long, not being loud enough for those to hear. Also you can work out the nerves, by practicing so it becomes routine, like brushing your teeth.
Step 2

Find your confidence. The art of public speaking starts with confidence. You want the public to buy into what you are saying. So have a confident tone in your voice, which can't be that difficult. Practice the pitch tone you use, because it's very important. Pitch tone matters, and sometimes those nerves you feel truly help. It gives you a sense of excitement and your public will follow along then. Speaking in public requires getting your audience to listen. They will either listen, or tune you out. It comes down to pitch tone, more than interesting stories. They're not going to sit there and laugh at you, if you mess up. When speaking, try not to go too fast. When someone if nervous, they tend to do this. Also, to help kill the tension, maybe start off with a little joke.
Step 3

Realize the audience doesn't care. I think everyone makes a much bigger deal out of public speaking, than what it really is. The public will either listen to you, or tune you out. They don't care if you're nervous, because they honestly understand and can relate if you are. If you stumble over a word, no one cares. One time in high school, I was so nervous my hand started shaking. No even noticed, or cared, or looked at me weird. Everyone hates public speaking, and no one holds it against someone if they screw up. There was a study done, speaking in public is more scary to Americans than death. It's the number one fear that we have.
Step 4

Take public speaking courses. This is a great way to truly not only get better, but overcome fear of speaking in public. Try taking a public speaking course. They'll give some useful public speaking tips that can help you quite often.

Comments

guerrahih said

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on 9/14/2009 This is something I need to work on. Thanks. 5* and recommend.

mommyhen42 said

on 9/5/2009 Great advice, Once you get used to it public speaking becomes no big deal! I did reptile educational presentations for several years and learned to love the adrenalin rush that public speaking creates!