Posts Tagged ‘Fear of Public Speaking’

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?

I recently came across an article about phobias. There definitely are a lot of them - but I have never read about hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.

You can see the article here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/10/nphobia110.xml

Now we can get completely overwhelmed (perhaps even phobic) about the number of fears that are out there. Alternatively, we can draw some comfort from them. After all…

The article also points out that people do overcome phobias. The last point is definitely good news. Phobias seem overwhelming to people (hey, that’s why they’re phobias) – yet with the right help, we can conquer them.

You can start by deciding that you are going to move outside of your comfort zone. Start by taking a small controlled risk. Use the information that I have shared with you to compose and present a small speech. As I’ve said before, you don’t even have to let your audience know that it is a “planned speech.” It could be an introduction, a toast, or some other small action that allows you to set a goal and see some success.

Personally, I don’t have a clue how to overcome hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (ironically, the fear of long words), but I do know about overcoming the fear of public speaking – together, as a community, we can work together and conquer your fear.

Transcript of Audio Article

Practice versus Presentation

This is a transcript of an audio program located in the membership area of EffectivelySpeaking.Com. Find out how you can maximize your efforts at conquering your fear of public speaking by joining for free, at
http://www.EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com

Hi, this is David Mudie of EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com.

And I would like to share with you the difference between preparation and practice.

When speaking in public, there are two terms that we often confuse and they are preparation and practice.

Often times, people don’t prepare. Speaking in public is uncomfortable - so they procrastinate, putting it off until the last minute. They do a poor job and then blame it on their inability to speak rather than their need to prepare and practice.

That however, is not what we’re talking about now. Right now we’re talking about people who take the time to prepare, yet still struggle.

How often have you heard someone speak and then later confess that they were not as prepared as the would have liked.

When asked how much they prepared, they frequently admit that they worked on the presentation for days or weeks. For days? How could they possibly be unprepared?

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And here lies the paradox. What exactly is preparation? Is it effective to prepare for a speech? Can there be too much preparation? And most importantly, can too much preparation increase our fear instead of decreasing it?

Now people will know that I am an advocate of preparation. I have always indicated that being unprepared can be one of the biggest causes of stress.

In fact, I had such an event just recently. Several weeks ago I was the master of ceremonies at a wedding reception. Now that shouldn’t have been a problem. I’ve been a master of ceremonies before.

The problem lay in the preparation. As the master of ceremonies it was my job to keep the program moving and to introduce all the speakers. The problem was, I didn’t know all the speakers.

A few days prior to the wedding I received a list of possible speakers. It went something like this…

John, if he decides to speak
Fred, if he decides to speak
Barb, don’t let her speak to long
Etc.

I needed to get prepared and do it fast. The night of the rehearsal I was meeting, bothering, even stalking each of the speakers. I was trying to get their full names, their relationships to the bride and groom, and what they wanted said when they were introduced.

They were all pretty nonchalant about the whole thing.

I think that most of them were probably procrastinating, like the rest of us. They didn’t want to offend the Bride and Groom by not speaking - but they also, really didn’t want to speak.

As a result, they had not only not thought much about the speech, but they also did not think much about what they wanted me to say when I introduced them.

I eventually did get the information I needed - and I did an adequate job. I would have done a better job if I was more prepared.
Whenever we speak we need to be prepared. That means having:
• The right information at your finger tips.
• Props that will illustrate your points (and if you choose to use them). Incidentally, PowerPoint and other presentation tools are props.
• The right venue for your presentation.

Finally, you need to have at least a frame work for your speech. That is, what is your theme? What are you trying to accomplish? How are you going to present it? What are your points? Etc.

If you need some tips on putting this together, listen to the S.C.P. program that I’ve got on the EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com downloads page.

All of that is preparation, and preparation is good. But can there be too much preparation? Can too much preparation increase our fear?

I would argue yes. Yes when all of that preparation comes at the expense of practice.

There are two equally important elements to any successful presentation - the content of the presentation and the delivery. Back before I was involved with public speaking I believed that there was only one important element - the content. I felt that if the content was profound enough, the audience would forgive a poor delivery. As such, I would sacrifice the delivery and read my notes directly, in a flat monotone voice, to make sure that I did not miss a single point in my content.

It was only later that I realized that if I lost the audience because of my delivery, it wouldn’t matter how profound my content was.

It is only by truly practicing a speech that we can start to get a feeling for how effective the delivery will be and how we can make improvements. As we recite our material we will start to learn it.

Practice breeds familiarity. Familiarity reduces the need to mentally process the speech as we deliver it. So, by practicing, we will l be preparing to deliver the speech in a much smoother fashion. We will develop what most presenters strive for - a conversational tone.

A conversational tone is typically much more effective than a lecturing tone in maintaining an audience’s attention - and isn’t that what we desire.

In addition, we will discover how the words sound and flow together. We will start making small adjustments to improve the speech.

Finally, familiarity brings comfort. As we become comfortable with the speech, and we know that we can deliver it, we will reduce our fear. We will worry less about stumbling and losing our place because we know that if we do, we will be able to recover it.

So, preparation is key to ensuring that the content of your speech is correct. But make sure that you don’t spend so much time preparing the content that you don’t practice the delivery. By practicing you will improve the speech itself, increase your knowledge of it, and reduce your fear.

This is David Mudie of EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com - and I will have more great articles posted in the EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com articles section for you soon.

This article is available to be heard in the private members areas. Visit http://www.EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com to learn about all the great information that is available to you right now. Start overcoming your fear with less effort than you thought possible.

Your Motivation

If you are in the process of researching presentation skills, then chances are you have a presentation coming up. Few people set out learning these skills unless there is some strong motivation.

Why - because most people in our society have a fear of public speaking? … and people don’t confront fear unless they have to.

When it comes to presentations skills, “have to” usually means that they are required to give a presentation for their employment or a social event (such as a wedding or a funeral).

If this is the situation that you are in, then you have come to the right place.

What are you looking for?

Most people who are confronted with an important presentation/speech are looking for help in a combination of areas:

• Help in overcoming the fear of public speaking
• Help in composing and preparing the presentation
• Help in delivering the presentation

With your permission, I would like to assist you in all of these areas. I would like to show you how you can easily:

• Overcome your fear with less effort than you thought possible.
• Confidently compose a captivating presentation
• Deliver it in a inspirational manner

These skills will not only help you in the short term – dealing with your upcoming presentation. They will also help you in the future.

Can you imagine how it will feel when you are asked to give a presentation because you are a truly skilled speaker. Think about how it will feel as you accept the task with confidence – knowing that in no time, you will be speaking confidently before an inspired audience. Can you imagine what effect this will have on your career?

Picture the admiration and recognition you will receive from others as they acknowledge your speaking skills and confidence.

STOP!

Now I want you stop for a minute. Did you really read the previous section and picture your success? Did you really imagine what it would feel like?

This is more important than you realize. One problem that we have when confronting our fear is that our subconscious keeps sensing danger and taking over to protect us. That’s why we still experience a paralyzing dread every time we have to address an audience, even when we know logically that it is not dangerous.

I cover this in depth in my course, Three Simple Concepts to Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking – but for now I just want to share one small tip from it. You can start to reprogram your subconscious by visualizing what you want it to believe.

So… do you really want to succeed with presentation skills? If so, then just take a moment to “feel” what it will be like to deliver an inspirational speech with confidence. Imagine the audience captivated by every word. Picture them being inspired by your every point.

This little exercise can have surprising results… believe me, I know. I too was afraid of public speaking – and had very few presentation skills.

My first speech was before an audience of 300 people. I was terrified, but I was also prepared (that’s important … as your presentation approaches, make sure that you’re as prepared as you can be).

I learned from that experience that I could overcome my fear and deliver an excellent presentation. I also learned that with a little guidance anyone else can as well. I learned as much about public speaking as I could. I also applied knowledge from other subjects that I know and developed a public speaking system.

I helped a few people on the internet and got tremendous feedback. More people wrote me and I answered them as well.  I ended up getting deluged with questions. People we’re seeking me out because of my unique approach.

I put together a course (Three Simple Concepts to Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking) to teach my system. I also created a membership area where people can view videos, listen to audio programs, read articles and communicate with others about presentation skills.

You can join the membership area for free. Once you sign up you will be able to access
• a series of articles I wrote about overcoming the fear of public speaking
• a couple of audio recordings of me speaking at seminars about fear and presentation skills
• some interviews with former students of mine were they discuss what ideas have helped them the most
• the complete introduction to my course, Three Simple Concepts to Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking.
• a couple of videos that discuss two very powerful techniques – paradigms and social proof.

… AND … my S.C.P. Public Speaking and Presentation Skills course

The S.C.P. course is delivered in short 5-7 minute audio lessons. You receive one lesson per day for 7 days. Each lesson discusses one aspect of composing a winning presentation.

On day 7 you will also receive access to a 40 minute conference call. In it we move on to preparing for the delivery. We also discuss some techniques for overcoming the fear of delivering presentations.

I have had countless people write me and tell me how much this material has helped them

If you are ready to move past the visualization exercises we just talked about, and make them reality, come on over to EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com and join the community of people how are overcoming their fear and going on to deliver excellence in presentations.

The key to an effective presentation is preparation. The key to effective preparation is knowing how to go about doing it. You will find clear, concise information on how to do just that in the membership area.

Sign up for a free membership at http://www.EffectivelySpeakingMembers.Com

To your speaking success