Speech anxiety - brutal

Think of the audience naked. This is common advice given to speakers. Personally I would find that more distracting than helpful, and possibly a tad scary. That is unless you’re speaking at a Naturalist convention or something and in that case everyone will be in their birthday suits so it would be the norm. Or it could be distracting in another way if you fancied someone in the audience (blush).

Public speaking - successes and failures

The advice given by Toastmaster International is rather different, and kinda dry in comparison. They suggest:

• Be prepared. Your audience is giving you their time and consideration, so rehearse enough to be confident you'll leave a good impression.

• Start strong. Begin your speech with a powerful opening that will grab your audience's attention, such as a startling fact or statistic, an interesting story or a funny joke.

• Be conversational. Avoid reading your speech word for word. Instead, refer to notes or points from an outline to help your speech have a more free-flowing, conversational tone.

• Speak with passion. If you're truly invested in what you're saying, you'll be better able to keep your audience's attention.

• Be patient. It's easy to get frustrated if you make a mistake. But remember that public speaking is not easy and it takes time to hone your skills. Keep practicing and you will reach your goals.

Yeah – um nice advice but boring and obvious. 

Whereas, Sidney Sinek (one of the most viewed TED talks presenters) talks about being successful speaking as result of facing fears and  erasing them, trial and error and tireless practice, on and off stage. 

That advice rings true for me. 

The knowledgeable University of Pittsburgh breathes a realistic breath of reality into view. They talk about how most people feel speech anxiety. Yes – I’d agree with that. Experiencing symptoms like shaking, sweating, butterflies in the stomach, dry mouth, rapid heartbeat, and squeaky voice. Speech anxiety is normal. Really? Hoorah – does that make me normal? That would be nice.

Pittsburgh University gives advice on pin pointing what your anxiety is about. Is it that you feel you’ll look stupid? How so? They suggest to drill down to what is trigger the anxiety and then you can work with that. 

One sterling piece of advice is to talk about something you are passionate about. It makes research and delivery much easier. 

I’ve never been a fan of speaking in public and have suffered from speech anxiety in the past. I recall the time I was doing a reading on Remembrance Day in the Wellington Cathedral. I have never worked so hard in all my life to learn something so I could deliver it well. That was the key for me – familiarity with the text. Similar to the advice Sidney Sinek talks about.  

Once I was comfortable with the text I could breathe a little more, relax just a tad, just enough to get through it. And I did. I was the first and youngest female to be invited to do a reading so it was quite an honour at 19 years old. 

I think now in my ‘old’ age that I might be more comfortable speaking. More comfortable in my skin. More comfortable in my ability. Just a bit. Well, as long as I know what to say… otherwise I foresee speech anxiety kicking in, and kicking in hard!