Fear of Public Speaking
By Robert Lane www.aspirecommunications.com
Some time ago, I confidently waltzed into a conference room, ready to give a small group presentation in front of a gaggle of professors. We sat around talking, and then I got up to speak on the benefits of interactive presentation, something I’d done countless times before. All of a sudden my voice became constricted and my head began to swim. Nervousness hit me out of nowhere like a tidal wave … and for absolutely no reason. This audience was congenial. The stakes were important, but not exceptionally high. The talk should have been a cake walk, but there I stood, struggling to get the words out.
I made it through the appointment by plowing ahead and letting the biological chemicals in the brain gradually subside, but memories of that day (and other bouts with nervousness) still mystify me. I’m not an expert at avoiding nervousness. I do, however, recommend exploring Olivia Mitchell’s blog, where she explores the subject in depth, along with a number of other interesting presentation-related topics. See:
http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/
In particular, Olivia conducts a comprehensive review of ten methods for reducing terror in front of audiences. See PART 1 and PART 2 posts. Additionally, I like the fact that she strives to document her conclusions as often as possible with book recommendations and study references.
The only thing I would add to Olivia’s analysis is an emphasis on the power of maintaining full control over content while performing. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in his classic book Flow, points out that fear often is a direct result of the opposite—not feeling in control of life’s situations.
Speakers using presentation software in traditional ways have surprisingly little control over what they show—and when. Think about it. What if, while delivering a normal linear presentation, someone asks a question and the answer waits somewhere 20 slides away? There’s no way to jump smoothly and precisely to that material. If something goes wrong, such as running out of time, there’s no graceful way to adjust. If you think of extra detail that would be nice to show, but it’s over in that other slide show, good luck finding and opening it in a timely manner. If you forget which slides are upcoming … well, you are at the mercy of the software as it force feeds you the remaining slides—whether you want or need them or not.
All these situations lead to a feeling of being out of control—and fear—situations you definitely don’t need while in front of an audience. Being able to adjust content flow according to the realities of time constraints, unexpected variables, and audience questions is immensely valuable. Such strategies instill confidence. Strongly consider integrating appropriate navigation devices into your presentation materials so that you can take back control whenever necessary.
Filed under: General Presentation, PowerPoint, Uncategorized on December 29th, 2008
Good info here; If permitted, allow me to offer an additional insight or two:
Take the focus off of yourself in all cases. Analyzing your feelings in the moment are not helpful. Put your focus on the group and feel empathy for them, feel connected to them. If you have religious or spiritual beliefs, tap into them and feel a part of your group and not apart from your group. No matter what your religious or spiritual orientation, imagine that you and your group are enveloped in a golden light of purity. Maybe that sounds silly, but it really works because feeling apart from your group is the root cause of anxiety.
Best,
David Portney
I like the main point you’re making here and I fully agree with you.
That’s the good news – the bad news is that I think you’re wrong on a point of detail, when you say that there’s no way to jump slides when you’re presenting.
Depending on your software there are lots of different ways of doing it (Powerpoint is behind the curve on this one!) but if you’re using Impress it’s just type the number and hit return… even easier is if you’re using Keynote when you can scan your slides visually on your laptop without it changing the stuff that’s shown to your audience.
Even with old versions of PowerPoint you could (should?) lace your slides with hyperlinks if you’re bothered about that kind of thing….
Mind you, I’m of the opinion that if your audience is asking you questins that mean you have to skip around your presentation it’s already too late and you’ve screwed things up by not designing your presentation correctly!
(Or at least that’s what I tell people when I train them! 
)
Cheers…. Simon
Robert:
The sudden ‘tightening’ can happen to the best of us. I’m an experienced speaker and even run an organization dedicated to helping people with fear of public speaking – and I still had an episode a month or so ago.
The critical thing is to know what to do about it so the situation doesn’t compound itself.
Its also important to realize that public speaking skills, whilst extremely valuable are categorically not the key to overcoming serious fear of public speaking – because serious cases come from the nervous system.
The article to which you refer is well researched but is sadly dismissive of the techniques we have taught and used with great success in our practice for many years.
If anyone reading has a serious fear (rather than just needing some speaking coaching) we’d be honored to help.
Seymour Segnit
http://www.ChangeThatsRightNow.com
800 828 7484