The Mind of a Speaker
There is virtually no person on earth where he/she has never been afraid of speaking before a group of people, often giving some kind of speech or a presentation. You will be surprised to know that one of the greatest fear known to humankind is the fear of public speaking, being ranked before the fear of dying! In a nutshell, it is perfectly normal to be afraid when comes to speaking. In fact, you should start worrying, if you do not feel any butterfly in your stomach, that means you are not doing the best as you can! BUT, don't be paralysed by it either. As long as you keep breathing, you will realize that you are still alive.
None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear -Ferdinand Foch
Get your fear works for you rather than against you, and by doing so, you would have projected a courageous you! How do get' fear' works for me, you ask? Well, it's practice, practice and more practice, until you do not need to rely on your sript anymore, until you could exude your confidence and feel great while delivering the speech. Hoping for a different results by doing the same thing is insanity, I'm sure you have heard of that cliche. So do invest time in your speech NOW, before you really freak out on the stage! Back when you were sitting for your college's exams, did you feel nervous? Absolutely! But if, just if, you were sitiing for pre-schooler elementary Math exam, would you feel the same thing? Never! Why so? Because you have learnt enough over the years to tackle it! You get the idea? Learnt enough!
Buy a cheap webcam or a camcorder to make a record of yourself while delivering the speech in your practice time. See yourself fidgeting around, fumbling through your notes and stammering while speaking. It's perfectly normal! But don't be contented with it, do something. Change it! Do something NOW! to improve it. Little by little, and you'll be amazed what you will become over the time.
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than doing nothing-George Bernard Shaw
If your job involves you to give speech occasionally or making presentations or whatsoever, I have found this method to be quite interesting, give it a try if you would. It is called the visualization . You visualize yourself standing in front of the multitudes of people, cheering at your name. And you start speaking... imagine how well and yet wonderful you deliver the speech, you audience literally nodding their heads in agreement to everything you say... Imagine! ...when you are speaking...trying to add humour to your speech... LOOK! ...look at your audience, the way they laugh, the way they enjoy listening to every word you say!... Imagine!... People all around you, they are as excited as you are,... as enthusiastic as you are...LOOK! at the joy beaming out of each of your audience, even the security personnels are equally amazed at the way you talk. They clap, they cheer, they laugh... Oh what a speech! As you come toward the end of your speech, you can't help but feeling wonderfully good. You tell youself, "What a great speech indeed!"... Come on, breathe in , breathe out, IMAGINE! VISUALIZE IT... inhale, exhale, relax... Vizualize as much as you could each day, and as time progresses, it will impact upon your subconscious, and before you realize it, "Wow!, what a wonderful speech I delivered!" If you wish to get to know more about visualization, I would personally recommend books by Shakti Gawain in her 'Creative Visualization' series.
I would visualize things coming to me.It would just make me feel better. Visualization works if you work hard. That's the thing. You can't just visualize and go eat a sandwich-Jim Carrey, Oprah Winfrey Show, 1997
Of course, I don't deny the fact that there are times where you'll have butterfly in your stomach, even if you do feel that way, unfortunately, at the very precise moment when you step up onto the stage, try to stay cool and remains confident. Never, ever tell your audience how nervous you are, because you will only risk losing your credibility as a speaker. If you cannot exude a confident you, how could they possibly trust what you say! Act confident, and you'll be confident... sounds familiar right?Even if you feel like 'dying' on the stage, follow this mantra; Keep Breathing & Remain Confident... Don't freak out! Your audience will never know how terrified you must be feeling inside, most of the time, they will never know, unless of course you are speaking to a group pf telepathic!
Self confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings-Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)