public speaking

I don’t know about you, but public speaking makes me very nervous most of the time. A lot of people have trouble with public speaking, which is a problem if you’re a communications media major, because one big part of communications is learning how to speak with people orally. The reason so many people have problems with it is that they are afraid the audience won’t care about what they have to say, they won’t take them seriously, and the speaker will do something embarrassing in front of everyone. So how do you solve the problem and be able to handle public speaking more efficiently? One of the ways so many people have sworn works is to picture the audience in their underwear. I don’t really recommend this though, because it may just make you more embarrassed to be picturing something like that, or it may make you start laughing, and if your presentation isn’t supposed to be a funny one, no one will know what you are laughing at, which is another issue.

So what does work? One thing I think works much better is to imagine you’re talking to the person you care most about. If you imagine everyone that you are talking to is a close loved one, then you will feel a lot more relaxed about speaking because you wouldn’t be nervous if you were just speaking to them. Another easier way to handle public speaking is to talk about something that you really are passionate about. Obviously this doesn’t always work, because in life you have to give many presentations about topics that aren’t always of great interest to you. But if you are fortunate enough to be able to give a presentation on something that does interest you, remind yourself before your presentation how much you love and care about the topic. You still may be a little nervous, but you will really want to talk to everyone about your topic because it is something you love, and you want to share that amazing thing with everyone. So these ones are some ways to stand up to the fear of public speaking.

What about you? Is public speaking something that has always scared you? What helps you get thru it? And if you’re someone that isn’t fazed by public speaking, why do you think it is so much easier for you? What is it about public speaking that makes you think it’s not that difficult to do? Post your answers in the comments. I look forward to hearing from you 🙂

Don’t forget to tell all your other friends who are pursuing a communications career to visit this blog for the answers to all their issues!