Overcoming A Bad Public Speaking Experience

Fear of public speaking also known as glossophobia is ranked higher than the fear of death by an average person. This fear could be hurting your personal and professional life. It is essential for you to get your point across if you want to be successful in your career.

Perhaps you have had a bad public speaking experience in the past, maybe it was simply asking your boss for a promotion or a formal presentation to an audience. And this bad experience is now hindering your progress. Your palms sweat, you feel nervous, and your stomach ties itself into knots and you don’t want to do it. The fear of public speaking is a huge problem but you can overcome it. Here are some tips which will help you in doing so.

Tips For Overcoming A Bad Public Speaking Experience

1. Get Organized. When you organize all of your materials and thoughts it helps you become much more relaxed and calmer. When you have organized and clear thoughts, it can help in reducing your public speaking anxiety because the more focused you are, the better will be your speech.
2. Practice and Prepare Extensively. Nothing can replace preparing and practicing for your speech. Consider writing out a script of your main points but don’t just read from the script word for word. You must prepare your speech so well that you are able to answer any possible questions.
3. Focus on Patterns. When you speak try to find your flow or rhythm. Repeat your key points and keep your sentences short. Adding a short pause between points can add anticipation to what you will say next.
4. Watch Yourself in the Mirror. You should practice your speech in front of the mirror as if you are speaking directly to someone. When you have a calm demeanor and gentle expressions while speaking then you will appear more welcoming to the audience. If you want to improve your public speaking skills then you should pay attention to gestures, facial expressions, body movements and how welcoming you appear.
5. Record Yourself and Learn Your Voice. Record your speech on a video camera or your phone. Record yourself while speaking from beginning to end. Then watch it or listen to it, and make notes on how you may improve yourself. Some people don't like to listen to their voice on tape, so it is important that you get used to your own speaking style and the sound of your voice.
6. Public Speaking Classes. Find a great mentor or coach. There are many public speaking groups which you can join to improve your skills. Public speaking classes are a great way for you to interact with struggling speakers like you and improve your skills. It will allow you to overcome your fear of public speaking and you will get better at delivering your speech.

The Takeaway

At the end of the day, if you have one of those inevitable poor public speaking performances, it's not the end of the world. You can recover and learn from it. If you use it as a learning experience, you'll become a stronger speaker the next time that you give a presentation.

Contact me today! Perfect Pitches by Precious is qualified to help clients solve their pitching, presentation, and communication challenges.