How To Cure Fear Of Public Speaking - One Sure Fire Way To Get Up And Get Speaking

By Christopher J Barnett

Are you afraid of speaking in public?
It’s remarkable just how many people want to know how to cure fear of public speaking forever! While there are many suggested ways of the reducing the stress of the moment when you appear in front of your audience it’s my experience that there is only one sure-fire way to even begin to cure the fear of public speaking forever.

Why are you afraid?
Essentially most nervous speakers are worried that they are going to make a fool of themselves in front of an audience, they also believe that the audience are baying for their blood and just waiting for them to make a mistake.I’m an accomplished speaker with Toastmasters International, and in my experience I’ve found that nothing could be further from the truth.
Your audience simply want to be entertained… by YOU! They actually want you to do well, what they don’t want is to be bored and fidgety, they want to be utterly riveted by your speech.
Understand this first point and you are well on your way to knowing how to cure fear of public speaking forever.

Reduce the tension.

There are two moments in any speech that generally cause more stress than anything else:

1) Your opening line.
There’s a simple tactic to make absolutely sure this goes really well, but it’s not something I recommend for the main body of your speech. It’s simply this, learn your introduction off-by-heart, practice it until you can repeat it in your sleep.

2) Forgetting what to say next.
Every speaker has experienced this at some point. It’s usually caused by one simple error that’s just so easy to make. Inexperienced speakers will often try to learn their entire speech off-by-heart, it’s a BIG mistake! At some point you will forget your next line and the ensuing silence is devastating to your confidence. I suggest instead that you break the main body of your speech into three sections. Give each of these sections a summary title (use these titles as your speech notes) and then create a story to wrap around them. This tactic results in a fluid speech that makes you look really confident!

These simple tactics will arm you well in your overall strategy to find how to cure fear of public speaking forever.

There’s only one way!

In my experience as a Toastmaster I’ve found that there’s only one way to actually find out how to cure the fear of public speaking.

The tactics I’ve mentioned so far will help you reduce the effect of stressful moments but that isn’t actually going to cure fear of public speaking is it?

The answer is suprisingly simple…

Get up in front of an audience and speak… Your close family will do.

Then do it again… Maybe your friends and family this time.

You get the picture don’t you?

I can heartily recommend that you join a Toastmasters International affiliated speaking club. The whole purpose of these clubs is to help YOU to cure fear of public speaking forever by creating a mutually supportive environment in which you can practice.

So… you wanted to know how to cure fear of public speaking forever? The answer is simple, stand up, take a deep breath and make yourself heard, before you know it you’ll be doing it with ease!

Have fun, show up, be awesome!
Christopher Barnett,
September 2007.
Chris Barnett - Public Speaking...