Why do people fear Public Speaking?
There are many statistics that state public speaking is our greatest fear. Apparently it is higher than the fear of spiders, snakes, flying and even death itself (though there are not stats on the fear of dieing from a snake or spider bite while flying)
Why do people fear public speaking so much?
It is something that was conditioned into us in school and we live out in the workplace.
As teenagers at school, the teacher forced us to stand in front of our classmates and deliver a book report. We were given no practice or advice on how we should do it. Being self-conscious teenagers, we stood up and immediately thought everyone was judging us – and judging us poorly! Is it any wonder why there is such a real fear of public speaking. Now at work, when we have to stand and speak, we relive those school day fears and tell each other how much we hate public speaking.
But the reality is far from our school experience. People want to see us succeed. After all, who wants to have to sit through a boreing presentation?
Overcoming your fear of public speaking is very easy when you are shown how to do it. Just like learning to drive a car, it was easy to learn how when someone showed you! How do you do it?
- Stop telling yourself and others you don’t like public speaking
- Stop telling yourself you are no good at public speaking
- Give public speaking a go
- Get help from someone who knows about public speaking. You would not go to a mechanic to get legal advice, so go to a speech coach to get speaking advice.
Now, imagine yourself commenting on this.
Cheers
Darren
Executive Speaking Weblog 