Are you afraid of public speaking? Don’t feel alone: most people suffer from the same problem. According to a study by the Sunday Times , for 41% of people, speaking in public is more worrying than financial problems, illness and death itself.
This difficulty in communication can become even more tense if you consider that it can affect academic and professional activities. For example, have you ever heard of TCC? At this stage of higher education, it is necessary to present your work to an evaluation panel. This process can take place EAD or in person. Whatever the case, it is clear that the fear of speaking in public needs to be overcome.
Did you identify with the situation? First, calm down! We’ve listed 5 tips that can help you deal with this. Follow along!
1. Practice at home
You are afraid of speaking in public and need to face this situation extemporaneously. On the other hand, there is the possibility of preparing and practicing at home to master the subject. Which situation seems most comfortable and minimizes the fear of speaking in public?
Possibly, you chose the second context. However, some aspects can rule this out. The most common is procrastination. Is this your case? Either way, you need to learn how to get around this to prepare properly.
In practice, this is possible by defining the main points of the presentation to help with memorization, such as developing a mind map, you know? When putting together this scheme, you should present it to yourself or even friends and family as many times as necessary.
When you feel that the subject has been mastered, your self-confidence increases to control your fear of speaking in public. To maximize results, it is recommended to practice out loud at home. This way, you evaluate and control your speaking and body posture, if necessary.
2. Focus on relaxation exercises
If you must have an important conversation with someone, it is natural to prepare for it and ensure the necessary relaxation. After all, without this you can overdo yourself, speak and act impulsively, do you agree? The same logic applies to those who are afraid of speaking in public and must go through this situation.
That is, by doing relaxation exercises, it is possible to control the mind and relieve pre-presentation tension. This can happen with some breathing techniques, listening to music that makes you feel good, talking to friends, watching series , doing physical activities, etc.
This way, you can distract your mind from all the negative factors during public speaking. After all, they influence your behavior during the presentation. On the other hand, the activities mentioned can release hormones that bring a greater sense of well-being and contribute to relaxation.
3. Prepare the script
Some people prefer to improvise during the presentation to make it happen more naturally. Others prepare the script to increase control of the situation and eliminate nervousness when speaking in public. Especially if you are afraid of these moments, opt for the second technique and create a presentation script.
After all, it works like a savior, if you have a blank at the time and forget all the content to be presented. So, put together your presentation with a slide, which should have the main points to be talked about or write it down on paper.
In any case, make sure you understand the presentation scheme so as not to appear insecure. Remember that oratory and body posture are also highly evaluated at this time. For this reason, simply reading the script while speaking does not make a good impression.
4. Perform articulation training
Have you ever started to present a topic and mispronounced a word? It is possible that after this, the nervousness intensified and increased shyness. Did you identify? The situation is quite common. For this reason, it is also important to carry out joint training to avoid this problem and increase safety.
Training may involve tongue twister techniques, like common childhood games. The phrase “The sink drips, the dick sinks, the sink drips, the dick sinks” comes to mind in this situation. This helps to loosen the tongue and make the words come out more clearly and firmly. This way, as you present and perceive good oratory, you begin to feel more pride than shame about your performance .
5. Don’t think about the judgement of others
One of the biggest problems when speaking in public is noticing people staring at you. This is because it is common for all types of possible judgements from others to cross your mind. For example, in relation to clothing, the way of speaking, oratory, body posture, etc. Have you ever thought about it?
In fact, some of this fear makes sense: people do tend to judge each other. However, the fear of this cannot be greater than your desire to evolve in your professional and academic careers. So, focus on preparing enough to ensure that you have mastery of the subject.
Therefore, no matter how much they disagree with your vision, they can hardly say that you didn’t give your best and perform well. Also, don’t focus on making a perfect presentation to avoid judgment, as this is impossible.
That is, your main objective should be to connect with people and transmit knowledge in the area. So, having the humility to understand that it is not possible to please everyone is also essential. Plus, if people notice your nervousness, they might empathize with you. Have you ever thought about it? Keep in mind that the audience may root much more in your favor than the other way around.
So, did you identify with the situations described? Tips on how to control your fear of public speaking can help you minimize this problem. Naturally, it is still important to recognize your level of fear of presenting yourself to define the most recommended strategy.
