What are the common anxieties of public speaking? What symptoms of public speaking anxiety do you suffer? What did you write down when doing the tasks on page 1? The picture below may capture how you feel. No audience is the best audience. But that isn't realistic. As business people, we need to face these fears, real or imagined.

The Best Audience to Speak To!

The Mayo Clinic website discusses this issue. Here is a direct quote from their help page on public speaking:

"Fear of public speaking is a common phobia. It can range from slight nervousness to paralyzing fear and panic. Many people with a fear of public speaking avoid public speaking situations altogether, or they suffer through them with shaking hands and a quavering voice. But with preparation and persistence, you can overcome your fear."

Jerry Seinfeld put it in context in a way that only he can, "This means, to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."

I have had to face these fears many times. My history with public speaking is extensive. Mentoring and training people to achieve skills at public speaking has been part of my life for the past 25 years. I have given presentations of up to 45 minutes in length to crowds from 30 to 3,500. Fear and anxiety come for a visit each time. But there are strategies that we can put in place that will assist us. We want to look those fears in the eye and say, "Hello, you're my public speaking anxiety, but you are not going to stop me from making a difference to this audience."

Megan Washington

Megan Washington is an accomplished singer / songwriter from Australia. She has sold countless albums and toured extensively. She had a fear public speaking yet faced that fear. Her talk, Why I Live in Dread of Public Speaking is popular on TED.com. Click on the following link and be moved by her experience: http://go.ted.com/CbGf

Key Strategies

How can we do be like Megan Washington? What strategies could we use? The afore-mentioned article from the Mayo Clinic highlights, among others, the following points to put into practice:

• Know Your Topic
• Get Organized
• Practice and then Practice Some More
• Focus on Your Material Not Your Audience

This training is going to help you put some of those strategies in place. What you can do to look the fear in the eye and conquer it!

The next topic is, Know Your Topic. Before you start that training page, complete the exercises below in preparation for the topic.