Public Speaking Fear: Coping Skills are Learned

Sep 10, 2024

Public speaking fear is common, affects most of us at some time and drives many of us out of the public speaking arena. Fear denies us "communication leadership" opportunities.

Yet few actually step out and deal with their fear of public speaking, preferring to see it as a personality trait, or fearing exposing it to someone who can help.

Stage fright knocks on the door of most public speaking lives and can be dealt with by learning some coping skills and techniques.

The reality is you will enjoy the process of speaking and look forward to it with excitement and anticipation, the alter ego's of fear and anxiety, if you:

  • know your material and have prepared your speech
  • have an audience that has no reason to be antagonistic
  • You are able to harness fear and trepidation

Shutting fear down is not the answer; suppression causes it to shout out and manifest in all sorts of physical and psychological ways. Fear left untethered is an amazing beast.

I have found the transmuting of fear into excitement and anticipation requires cognitive and behavioural changes on a number of platforms. It is an integrated approach.

Preparation of your speech assumed, then StageFright can be dealt with through dealing with the following areas:

  1. Finding Purpose & Setting Goals
  2. Building your Public Speaking Character
  3. Establishing Your Speaking Presence
  4. Calming Emotional Conflict
  5. Creating Audience Benevolence
  6. Using Constructive Self Criticism
  7. Warming/relaxing the body & voice
  8. Integration of the first 7 steps

Integrating these 7 steps helps you limit where the public speaking fear comes from, deals with your cognitive (mind) and somatic (body) fear responses, strengthens your sense of self and your right to be in front of your audience and prepares you to connect with your audience.

Rarely will a warm up work on it's own…...setting goals only helps your fear of public speaking if it is bedded into other elements of self preparation…. the solution lies in an integrated approach.

The steps bind you into a holistic approach of diminishing any current and then inoculating any future fear of public speaking.

Paradoxically they are also steps to release leadership attributes through public speaking.

None of these steps are talent based and yet they account for the dissolving of the vast majority of fear and anxiety when speaking or communicating in public.

Andrew Lloyde is a Corporate Trainer and Facilitator, specialising in Leadership in Communication: Performance Practise

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