Fear of Public Speaking - Methods That DON'T Work
You know what just makes me furious? You know what just makes my blood boil and veins stand out on my forehead?
It's bad and useless advice when it comes to getting rid of stage fright or fear of public speaking.
How many times have you heard the following:
"Everyone gets nervous about public speaking, so don't worry"
BALONEY!! First of all, I've taught a lot of public speaking classes in my day, and I can tell you that there is about 5% of the population (give or take) that never, ever had any fear of public speaking whatsoever. More importantly, for most of us, just knowing that other people get nervous really doesn't make a difference in how you feel.
"Breathe deeply..."
Okay, I'm about to throw something across the room... breathing deeply is great for before you go on stage or get up to do your speech or presentation, but how the heck are you supposed to breathe deeply when you're talking?
"Picture your audience in their underwear or naked"
Now I'm really going to go ballistic. Sure, the idea is to make the audience, in your mind, more nervous than you. But the experience of hundreds of my students is that simply does not work, and in fact, it's quite distracting (or even disgusting).
Bad advice like that just makes me want to scream. I never teach such useless baloney in my workshops.
What other bad advice have you heard?
Dedicated to your public speaking and seminar success!
David
It's bad and useless advice when it comes to getting rid of stage fright or fear of public speaking.
How many times have you heard the following:
"Everyone gets nervous about public speaking, so don't worry"
BALONEY!! First of all, I've taught a lot of public speaking classes in my day, and I can tell you that there is about 5% of the population (give or take) that never, ever had any fear of public speaking whatsoever. More importantly, for most of us, just knowing that other people get nervous really doesn't make a difference in how you feel.
"Breathe deeply..."
Okay, I'm about to throw something across the room... breathing deeply is great for before you go on stage or get up to do your speech or presentation, but how the heck are you supposed to breathe deeply when you're talking?
"Picture your audience in their underwear or naked"
Now I'm really going to go ballistic. Sure, the idea is to make the audience, in your mind, more nervous than you. But the experience of hundreds of my students is that simply does not work, and in fact, it's quite distracting (or even disgusting).
Bad advice like that just makes me want to scream. I never teach such useless baloney in my workshops.
What other bad advice have you heard?
Dedicated to your public speaking and seminar success!
David
Labels: fear of public speaking
posted by David Portney at
4:37 PM
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