Proven Techniques to Ease Your Fear of Public Speaking
Public Speaking: your heart starts to race, your voice quivers, and you struggle to breathe. Sound familiar?
Giving a speech in any language can cause anxiety. Giving a speech in a foreign language can be terrifying!
But fear not; here are some activities you can try to help ease your fear of public speaking.
5 Public Speaking Techniques
1. Prepare
The best thing you can do is prepare for your speech in advance.
- Make a list of topics you want to discuss during your speech.
- Find a quote or two to make your speech more interesting.
- Choose words that are easy to pronounce.
The last one is especially important. If you use words you can barely pronounce, you might get flustered and throw off your concentration and flow.
2. Practice
Practice makes perfect. Don’t give a speech without practicing it first. Read your speech often and practice giving your speech without your notes. If you know your speech well, you will be more confident when you have to give it.
Practice in front of a mirror and study how your mouth moves when you pronounce words.
If possible, practice in front in front of other people. Do you have friends who can listen to your speech? Or do you belong to a study group? Get together with your friends or classmates, and ask them to give you advice on how to improve.
3. Record yourself
Record yourself giving the speech, many times. By recording yourself, you can be your own critic.
When you watch the recording, see if you can find areas to improve. Then, record yourself again once you feel like you have perfected your speech. Watch again and see if there are any other areas for improvement.
4. Listen to other speeches
Watch and listen to other speeches about the same topic. Watching other speeches can give you ideas on how to improve your public speaking skills.
- Did he or she provide examples and evidence?
- Did he or she use a quote?
- Was the speech understandable?
- Was it too long or too short?
5. Breathe
A lot of people get anxiety when they have to speak in public; you aren’t the only one. The solution to relieving anxiety while speaking in public is to breathe.
Often times, during a speech, we become nervous and forget to breathe. If you lose your breath, you lose your voice. So, practice taking control of your breath by breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
To calm yourself, take a deep breath, hold for a few seconds, and then let go slowly. Deep breathing can help relieve nervous energy and give you a stronger voice.
