If you feel nervous before presenting in front of a group of people, you’re not alone. According to Presentation-Pointers.com, fear of public speaking, or laliophobia, is something everyone suffers from--it even beats fear of heights and death to the number one spot. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do something about it. In fact, by performing a couple of simple exercises, you'll be able to make presentations with increased confidence in no time.
About Laliophobia
Fear of presenting is part of your body’s natural fight-or-flight response to stressful situations. According to Psychologist World, when you feel stressed or threatened, your body issues a surge of adrenaline, which kicks your nervous system into overdrive, and the result is those old familiar feelings of a pounding heart, butterflies in your stomach, sweaty palms and a general feeling of unease. All of these responses are designed to make you hyper-alert in order to fend off danger or flee from it. However, neither of these actions is particularly appropriate when you are giving a speech, so the trick is to keep these natural reactions under control.
Face Your Fear
If you’ve ever asked someone out on a date, you know that the anticipation is usually worse than actually doing it--the same can be said for public speaking. Our imaginations tend to conjure up the worst possible scenarios, which is why the Sykes Group--run by award-winning motivational speakers Ed Sykes and Joy Fisher-Sykes--says that the quickest way to get over a fear of presenting is to face it. Easier said than done? Not at all--start small by speaking up in team meetings or striking up conversations with people you don’t know at parties. Once you’ve built up your confidence, you can move on to giving group presentations--remember, there’s strength in numbers--before trying a solo speech.
The Sykes Group suggests that you think of your public speaking skills as a muscle and every time you take another step, you’re building strength in that muscle. It’s also helpful to have a goal for each event: the first one might be to stop saying "um." The next goal might be to smile a bit more or to make a joke. Before you know it, you’ll be worthy of addressing a large audience.
Know Your Stuff
You probably remember math class when the teacher picked you out to solve an algorithmic equation in front of the whole class, but you had no idea how to do it. Compare that feeling to the one you had when you really knew the answer. Being prepared and knowing your stuff is an automatic confidence booster, so never go into a presentation without doing the groundwork. If you know what you are talking about, who you are talking to and even what environment you will be giving the presentation in, you can eliminate a lot of the fear that comes from facing the unknown, says Write-out-loud.com, an online guide to writing for oral presentations and speeches. Write-out-loud.com also recommends finding out how long you are expected to speak for, practicing your presentation beforehand and even asking how many men and women will be in the audience. Armed with all of this information, the situation will become familiar to you and there will be much less need for your body to trigger the fight-or-flight response.
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