Public Speaking

Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking: A Step-by-Step Guide

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Anxiety and fear of public speaking are very frequent. When it comes to speaking in front of a crowd, more than 75% of people experience some level of anxiety or nervousness. This fear is often ranked higher than spiders, heights, and death by those polled. The first thing to remember is that you are not alone in your dread.

Glossophobia is a more intense form of dread that can vary from mild uneasiness to paralyzing terror and panic. Many people afraid of public speaking either avoid them completely or suffer through them with trembling hands and a quavering voice. To be successful in several fields, you must effectively communicate and explain your ideas in a public setting. Practicing public speaking may assist you in advancing your career, expanding your business, and forming strong relationships. Promoting ideas and motivating people to take action on issues that directly affect them and society as a whole may be useful. You’ll have to present a pitch, an idea, or a body of work in front of a group of people to do any of these things well. And fear might be all that separates you from your audience at times.

Glossophobia: More than just a fear of speaking in public

When speaking in public, most of us have had apprehensions. Glossophobia, on the other hand, is a condition in which a person cannot control their anxieties and has a severe dread of public speaking, often to the point of panic.

Uncontrollable trembling, perspiration, and a fast heartbeat might accompany this. In addition to speaking in front of large groups, people with glossophobia may find it difficult to talk in meetings, classrooms, and other smaller groups. Patients may find it incredibly challenging to convey their thoughts and ideas clearly and straightforwardly due to this. As a result of glossophobia, the patient may find it difficult to attain their academic, social, or professional goals.

When giving a speech, a presentation, or performing on stage, most people are nervous or anxious. Even though they aren’t enjoying themselves, they manage to cope with the situation. On the other hand, people living with Glossophobia may purposefully avoid circumstances in which they would have to speak in public.

What Makes Us Afraid of Speaking in Public?

Fear of public speaking has less to do with the quality of a speech than how the speaker feels, thinks, and behaves when they are in front of a crowd. People are terrified of speaking in public for a variety of reasons. Four elements have been recognized as related to the fear of public speaking in theories:

1. Physiology

The stimulation of the autonomic nervous system in reaction to potentially dangerous stimuli is involved in fear and anxiety. Our bodies prepare for a fight when presented with danger. Our ability to perform easily in front of audiences is hampered by this hyperarousal, leading to an emotional feeling of terror. It eventually discourages people from seeking opportunities to speak in front of a group of people.

According to several studies, those who have greater anxiety levels in a variety of scenarios are also more likely to be uncomfortable while speaking in public. People who are more prone to anxiety may find it more difficult to overcome their fear of public speaking and would choose to avoid it. The physiological indications of terror they experience as they anticipate, prepare, and perform in public are comparable to others, but their worry is confined to public speaking circumstances.

Furthermore, some persons have anxiety sensitivity, or the dread of fear, as described by researchers. Worry sensitivity indicates that people are concerned about public speaking and their anxiety about public speaking and how it will impair their capacity to communicate effectively in difficult situations. In addition to worrying about whether their speech will achieve their goals, people with high anxiety sensitivity are also concerned that they may appear shaky in front of their audience if they are very stressed.

2. Thoughts

People’s attitudes about public speaking and their abilities as speakers are another element to consider. When people exaggerate the risks of speaking in front of a group of people, they see the event as a danger to their credibility, image, and chances of reaching an audience. Anxiety and dread of public speaking can be exacerbated by negative opinions of oneself as a speaker (I am not good at speaking in front of audiences, I am not a good public speaker, I am dull, etc.). There is a contrast between a communication and a performance focused on certain ideas.

You perceive public speaking as something that requires special talents, and you see the audience as a judge evaluating your ability to convey effectively. The major focus of communication orientation, on the other hand, is on conveying your ideas, presenting facts, or telling your narrative rather than on expressing your thoughts. The goal for persons with this attitude is to communicate with their audience in the same way that they communicate with others in their daily lives. Consider this in reverse: If you consider each discussion you have in front of another person to be “public” speaking, you have ample evidence that you can communicate effectively and clearly. You’d then approach public speaking engagements in the same way, focusing solely on delivering knowledge and ideas. The anxiety tends to be stronger when the focus turns from being heard and understood to being assessed.

3. Situations

When it comes to public speaking, while some individuals are naturally worried or don’t think they’re good at it, there are specific conditions that are likely to make most of us feel more uncomfortable.

It’s a lack of knowledge. Experience, like everything else, gives you a sense of self-assurance. You are more likely to develop a fear of public speaking if you don’t have much stage time under your belt.

Graduation of grading. The terror is heightened when there is a genuine or imagined component to the circumstance. You may be more nervous if you speak in front of a group of people who are already filling out assessment papers.

A distinction in status. You may experience a bigger dosage of anxiety tingling through your body if you are about to speak in front of individuals of higher prestige (e.g., people in higher positions at your business or groups of successful professionals in your field of work).

Ideas that aren’t familiar to you are welcome. You may be more concerned about how people will react if you express thoughts you have not yet discussed in public. When you’re presenting something new in front of a crowd, it’s more difficult to state your stance, answer queries from the audience, or deal with individuals who try to find holes in your argument.

New audiences. You may already have some public speaking and public speaking experience. You may, for example, be accustomed to speaking in front of experts in your field of expertise. When the target audience changes, there may be a sense of fear. Your confidence may be a touch unsafe if you’re speaking to a group of individuals who aren’t like the ones you regularly speak to.

4. Skills

Finally, how well-versed you are in public speaking is another aspect that adds to the fear of public speaking. Even though many individuals believe they are inherently good speakers, there is always space for improvement. Speakers who concentrate on their talents rather than depending on their innate abilities are the ones who stand out the most. There are various ways to improve your public speaking ability and improve your skillset. An effective antidote to dread is increasing competence, which leads to increased self-assurance. On the other hand, confidence isn’t enough to make you a good public speaker.

Wrapping it up!

The many advantages of sharing knowledge and thoughts in public exceed the fear of speaking in front of a group of people. The next natural question is: how can we get rid of this apprehension? Fortunately, various methods are effective in skill development and confidence building.

The keys to overcoming your fear of public speaking are preparation and experience. If you’ve done your study thoroughly, you’ll feel more confident in your ability to present a clear, fascinating speech. You’ll feel more at ease with the whole process and won’t be as nervous as you used to be. To combat your fear of public speaking, volunteer to speak at a conference, practice in virtual reality, or try any other method to get out and talk in public a few times.

How to Write the Greatest Speech Ever Simple Tips

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Writing a speech is a challenge. Writing the greatest speech is an even bigger challenge. When you want to talk, it means you have something to say. You have a message you want to convey. And many times you must be able to convey that message. But how to write the greatest speech ever?

Every person has experienced a moment in which they have a lot to say but are unsure of the best words to use. Words become mixed, and the main idea is lost as a result. In such a case, it’s common practice to write down your thoughts on a piece of paper first. However, if this is also challenging, you can get services like write my speech from expert writers, who can help you properly express your thoughts and seem more confident in your speech.

Delivering a speech is full of emotions. Even the most experienced public speakers have emotions when they speak. And it’s normal. When you give a speech, a group of people who want to be inspired listen to you. And this pressure to say something valuable to your listeners creates emotions.

But there is a trick with which you can significantly reduce the emotions of speech. This trick is to write your speech in advance. And an even better trick is to memorize that speech. Of course, it’s good to leave a place for improvisations.

It is good to know this trick, but how do we write the speech. How to write a good speech. Moreover, how do we write the greatest speech ever? Fortunately, there are some tricks here as well. Little secrets that if introduced, the speech becomes a powerful inspirational message. Find below a list on how to write the greatest speech ever:

How to Write the Greatest Speech Ever

1. Add Power Words To Your Speech

Add between 8 to 10 strong words to your speech in a conscious and intentional way. Check the list of positive words and take some strong words from it and add them to your speech. Write the speech around these words. Repeat these strong words several times during the speech. People remember only a few words at the end of a speech and those are usually the strong words repeated more often.

2. Add Sentences To Be Remembered

Add around 3 to 4 sentences to be remembered by the audience. Intentionally add between 3 to 4 sentences during the speech in order to be memorized and remembered by the public. Include in these sentences some of the power words you have chosen. Do not put the sentences all in the same place or all at the end as a conclusion. Scatter the sentences to be memorized during the speech. Intentionally think about these sentences and write them separately before you start writing your speech.

3. Write From The Heart

Write about 40% of your speech from your heart. The rest can be informational and with things that have been heard before. This 40% will give your speech a vibe full of authenticity. The remaining 60% write it with information that most people know so that you can be relatable and give more value to the authentic parts of the speech. Be bold with your authentic side. Say exactly what you have to say.

4. Write The Speech Structured

Write the speech structured in 3 parts: introduction, middle-content, and conclusion. Try to structure your middle content in 3 large parts. Write in such a way that it is clear what the introduction, the middle content, and the conclusion are. In the introduction, attracts the public’s attention through an intelligent and inspirational statement, but also says things such as the purpose of your speech and who you are. In the end, try not to conclude the whole speech, it is better to write one of the key sentences that you want people to remember. Also at the end be careful to introduce a part in which you tell the audience how to continue on their own the research for the topic of speech.

5. Use a Genuine Sense of Humor

Humor in a speech may or may not be beneficial. Don’t put jokes made by people that you do not personally know in your speech. The best jokes are the authentic jokes that already exist in your family. Those jokes that no one but you and your friends knows. Mention who you were making that joke with. The joke in speeches is better received when you say: my mother joked with me and told me, my father joked with me and told me, my friends and I used to joke and say. But be very careful not to be perceived as racist, mean, stupid, or boring. Limit the jokes to 2, a maxim 3 per speech.

6. Don’t Thank The Audience

Many people advise you to thank the people who listen to you. But Toastmasters, the world’s largest network of people who learn to speak in public, makes it clear in their textbooks not to thank the audience in your speech. You can thank the organizers or mentors who taught you something. In this way, you make the edification of the organizers and mentors who in return build you up. When you thank the organizers and mentors you increase the value of your speech and when you thank the audience you decrease the value of your speech.

7. Frame Your Speech In Time

Every speech has a time in which it must be said. Make sure you know the time you will speak and write your speech for that time. If you have to talk for 10 minutes then you will write another type of speech. If you have to talk for an hour then you will need to write a different kind of speech, in more detail. It is very important that before you start writing a single word in the speech, you know the time of the speech. Whatever time you have for the speech, keep the same structure and follow the same rules that are described above.

Conclusion

Writing a great speech requires practice. You have to accept that the first speech you write will not be the greatest. But with practice, you will improve considerably. Writing your own speech is super awesome. You’ll see. You will feel that you have a voice, that you have something important to say. You will start to feel listened, right from the moment you start writing your speech. Somehow as you write your speech you seem to begin to see the people who will listen to you, and you already feel listened to.

Congratulations on wanting to express yourself. Freedom of expression is a great gift of the age we live in. Always remember that in the past people were not allowed to express themselves authentically. So have courage and speak authentically. Speak from your heart. Because you are allowed and we all want to hear your message.

Positive Words Research – How to Write the Greatest Speech Ever

Write the Greatest Speech Ever

Top 5 Skills I Wish My College Would Have Taught Me

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A person spends the most important time of his life earning the jewel of education and knowledge. It requires decades to obtain a Master’s Degree so you can spend the next decade of your life getting a reputed job to pay your bills.
Unfortunately, college students are still searching for new ways and sources to learn those skills which are important to succeed in practical life.

Colleges are designed to equip students with a professional education which is imperative for the future of a student. However, the ground realities are much different than it supposed to be.
These colleges now are only providing the wealth of information limited to classrooms and college. In the outside world, this is not as required as it used to be. This is due to outdated course material and useless exercises.

The college which is supposed to teach us skills for the future like speaking and communication led us down, and students are searching for custom dissertation services from outside to keep their education in the right flow.
That is why I and other people like me had to make efforts on our own to learn those skills which were the responsibility of colleges to teach us.

We know how much effort we put in to learn these skills. That is why I don’t want others to suffer the same struggle and I wrote this post for their assistance. I am going to list down some major skills that every college should teach their students so they would not have to face embarrassment in practical life.

1. Research

Researching is one of those skills which are really hard to acquire. It requires only one thing, and that is patience. Nowadays researching has become much easier due to the ever-growing intelligence of Google.
We have specific queries through which finding things have become much easier than ever. Though it is important for the query generator to know what he is searching for and which relevant keyword can take him to that desired search result.

Albeit, these queries and all other internet researching hacks are not enough to fulfill the needs of researching required in practical life. It is the routine job of professionals to collect data and information. Not just from the internet but by digging libraries or interviewing people too. Due to different academic services, students have become dependent on these companies and colleges have failed to develop their research skills in them. Which is critical as I mentioned before.

2. Critical Thinking

Without having the skills to find a pin within the bag of sand, you cannot analyze the pin. Without having research skills, it is almost impossible for a person especially a fresh graduate to develop the skill of critical thinking.
Research teaches a person numerous outside things which ultimately connect at some point of research. This becomes the core point of critical thinking.

Critical thinking is one of the most demanded traits in the corporate world. This skill allows a person to view another side of things that most people without critical thinking are unable to see.
If any student develops this skill in his college days, he or she would not only capable of gathering information but can also analyze the collected data from a different perspective.
Through this, students can solve their problems through creative and much more effective ways. Is a plus point which employers always want to see in their employees.

3. Time Management

Most of the problems that students of this era are facing are due to a lack of time management. A billionaire and a homeless both have an equal number of hours in a day. It entirely depends on how a person utilizes these 24 hours and manages them. Once again, college is supposed to be an ideal place to teach you this skill.

Time management is a code that helps you maintaining balance in everything personally and professionally. This is another skill that is hard to acquire but one must-have.
Students can learn this skill on their own too just by bringing discipline into their life. Allotting time for each act of the day and then sticking to this routine can help a student in achieving this skill.

4. Public Speaking

Public speaking is the trait of leaders.
Every leader in the world is a public speaker first and then something else. Colleges try to develop these skills in students by arranging different events and conducting presentation sessions. Students can take out the fear of speaking in front of an audience. However, these efforts can only make you brave enough to speak in public but not capable of speaking the right words.

Public speaking is not only about having a loud voice and being resounding to everyone in the audience. It is more about organizing your thoughts, choosing the right words and the tone that touch the heart of the masses.
This skill is imperative especially when it comes to leadership positions in companies. A person who is a manager or in an authoritative position in the company is responsible for speaking up for his team and to his team to keep their motivations high.

5. Teamwork Skills

Being a professional, one has to be a team player and adaptable to every group. This skill has now become imperative to have since the advent of technology in almost every field of life that requires a team to manage.

Conversely, colleges are working against this trait. Most of the colleges prefer their students to work individually. That is why the grads colleges and universities are producing, are unable to adjust and to cope with all the ups and downs a team faces while working on any project. This skill determines either you are a positive inclusion in any company and a horse of a long race.

Author’s Bio

Joe Pirest is an Entrepreneur and a student of Business Management who likes to work on everything related to media including production, design, and media ethics. He also works with a writing company and gives dissertation help to students in need.

skills

How I Joined Toastmasters IDEST The Public Speaking Club

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It is said that fear of public speaking is one of the biggest human fears all around the world. In my case, it was on top 3.

At the workplace, I was able to frequently avoid the times when I had to speak in front of an audience. That’s an art! But, of course, there were situations when I couldn’t do this and I was forced to present a speech.

These situations pushed me to face my fear of public speaking and to join the program TOASTMASTERS, one year ago.

For those of you who don’t know, Toastmasters International is a top global organization which has the purpose to develop the ability of public speaking and leadership all around the world.

Through its clubs, Toastmasters International helps people to learn the art of public speaking, active listening, and critical thinking, in order to increase the personal development and leadership potential.

I have chosen the club Toastmasters IDEST  https://m.facebook.com/toastmastersidest/  due to its members who create a friendly and supportive environment at every meeting. Firstly I have visited the club, just as a guest, observing the roles and the speakers, but I wanted so much to find out of what I am capable in this domain, that I became a member. I have scheduled my first speech and when that day came, the panic didn’t let me think of something else. Surprisingly, with all my emotions, the speech was appreciated by the audience. I know that because every speaker received from the public a ticket with their feedback. So the appreciative, but also constructive feedback I have received, made me continue with speech after speech. After only one year I have presented 10 speeches, in which I have practiced organizing a speech, gestures, vocal variety, research or persuading the audience. At the end of these 10 speeches, I have reached the level of „Competent Communicator” and I have received a certificate from Toastmasters International. I was so proud when I had it in my hands!

Meanwhile, at some meetings when I didn’t deliver any speech I assumed the leadership roles, like Toastmaster of the meeting, Grammarian, Timer, Evaluator. This leadership part is the other branch offered by the Toastmasters program, near the public speaking.

From the beginning, I liked these leadership roles and my favorite is Toastmaster of the meeting, the person who presents and leads a meeting. I like this role because I can choose the meeting theme and I can bring something new from one meeting to another.

So, very soon, my effort of assuming leadership roles will be rewarded with another certificate from Toastmasters International: „Competent Leader” and I can’t wait!

Although I feel the improvement on my public speaking, and also on my leadership skills, my journey doesn’t stop here. I have a long road until I became „Advanced Communicator” and „Advanced Leader”.

If you are also interested in personal development, public speaking or leadership you can visit the club Toastmasters IDEST, every Monday from 19.30 at the address Lt. Ionescu Balcan Street, no. 24, 2nd district, Bucharest, Romania.

Toastmasters IDEST Members

Participation at meetings, as a guest, is free.

This program helped me a lot and even if I still have emotions, now, I don’t run from presentations at my job anymore. I know I will always have emotions, but I don’t have to hide them, just to control them, because this is what defines me!

About the Author:

Andreea Titirisca is a member of Toastmasters Idest who likes working with people, both in this club and at her job. Her quote is “Never let a bad day make you feel like you have a bad life”.

PS: Leave a comment below and tell me about your experience with public speaking.

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Outsmart Outlast: Inspirational Words For Your Inner Bully

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These two inspirational words Outsmart, Outlast was the title of the speech that won the 2016 World Championship of Public Speaking at Toastmasters International. Darren Tay, the winner, tells the story of how he met a childhood bully as an adult, and how this reformed bully surprisingly taught him valuable insight in dealing with inner struggles.

Positive Words Research – Outsmart, Outlast ~ Two Inspirational Words for Your Inner Bully

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Most Inspirational Speech I Have Heard in Years To Enjoy

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“I See Somethings” is the inspirational speech with which Dananjaya Hettiarachchi became the World Champion of Public Speaking in 2014. Watch this inspirational speech from Toastmasters International, the World Championship of Public Speaking. You will hear in this video how difficult is to feel special, but when people look at you and say with enthusiasm “I see something in you, but I don’t know what that it.”, amazing things will happen for you. 

Dananjaya Hettiarachchi World Champion of Public Speaking 2014 – Full Speech

Enjoy at Positive Words Research our list of nice words.

Inspirational Speech

Power of Words: World Championship of Public Speaking

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“The Power of Words” is the speech with which Mohammed became the World Champion of Public Speaking in 2015. Watch this inspirational speech from Toastmasters International, the World Championship of Public Speaking. It will show you how words have the power to save or take a life.

2015 World Champion: ‘The Power of Words’ Mohammed Qahtani, Toastmasters International

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Power of Words