A fear of public speaking affects many people because the results of a bad performance create some of the worst feelings you will ever experience: humiliation and shame. It feels like the eyes of the world are upon you, judging you, scrutinizing you in every detail and it can feel very intimidating. You can’t help but imagine that if it all goes badly wrong then people will laugh, point and throw rocks at you. It’s natural to feel that way, but thinking about those bad consequences is a large part of what causes a speech to go bad in the first place.

Generally speaking, when you give a speech most people want to hear you and they want it to be good because a good speech can be useful, entertaining, and even inspiring. Your audience will be supportive and receptive at the beginning. Most people know that public speaking can feel very daunting and so most of them will be thinking, “Rather you than me.”

An audience responds to the manner in which you present yourself. If your body language is confident and if you speak clearly and loudly then that will carry you a long way in the minds of other people. If your speech is well-structured then it will be easier to engage the audience and keep them focused. When an audience is interested and engaged they will reflect back with attentive body language.

When a speaker looks uncomfortable and speaks poorly and is disorganized in preparation then the audience will pick up on all of this and they will reflect this back by looking bored. They will fidget and lose concentration. They will look vacant because their minds have wondered off onto other preoccupations.

If you, as the speaker, respond to a bored audience with hesitation and a faltering performance then the whole thing can fall apart quite rapidly. It is your responsibility to develop the skills necessary to carry off a good performance when speaking and the good news is that all of those skills can be learned and developed.

Your fear is supported by a belief that states something like this, “If I stand up alone in public and speak in front of people, then I will definitely end up humiliated and embarrassed.” The connection between cause (public speaking) and an effect (humiliation) that will occur 100% of the time is entirely imaginary. You can overcome your fear through performing public speaking a sufficient number of times so that you build up a stock of good results. When you do this you can change the belief and say to yourself, “If I stand up alone in public and speak in front of people, then I will definitely give a good performance and come away with a successful result.” Your good results will prove that your belief was unfounded and the fear will shrivel up. It might not go away completely because uncertainties will always exist, but you can overcome those butterflies through a reliance upon technique.

You can generate great confidence through having great competence at whatever it is that you set out to do. You attain great competence through learning about the theory, methods and techniques in the chosen field of endeavor.

The essential techniques that will carry you through every informative speech that you could ever wish to give will be covered in part two of this article.

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