Steps to get over a fear of public speaking

Yesterday I was at a seminar where a member of the audience told me he could never do what the speaker that morning had done - to stand up confidently in front of a group of business people and simply chat to them. He said it all stemmed from the fact that his father was a perfectionist and every time he had to speak as a child, his father would correct him to make sure he was "perfect". As a result he had been wary of public speaking ever since. However, he realised that for his business he really needed to speak in public. So he asked me what were the steps to get over a fear of public speaking. The first step, I told him, was to deal with his attitude. That's often the main problem for people. They consider public speaking to be a problem, so it is a problem. Think of public speaking as something positive and guess what - it is positive. Some psychologists call this "framing"; if we put things into a negative frame, they become negative. So changing that framing is often the most important thing to do and it is the essential first step in just a few steps to get over a fear of public speaking. The next step is careful preparation of your speech or presentation so that it is easy to do and remember. The third step is proper practice - not just going over it in your head.

Labels: fear