3 Tip's to Better Public Speaking

For several years public speaking has reigned as the #1 fear for most Americans. So what is the big deal? Why do we fear something so common and so simple? Well the rational behind this fear may be surprisingly varied, there are three common fear that most people share:

1. Fear of humiliation: the fear that you will mess up or stumble and the audience will mock or chastise you.
2. Fear of transparency: the fear that the audience will see right through you and discredit you as result of any inadequacies. 
3. Fear of chaos: the fear that you will lose control over the audience.

Because this is such a common fear I wanted to share 3 simple tips to combat these underlying fears. While you may always feel a little uncomfortable speaking in public if you can follow these simple steps you will find public speaking will come much easier:

1. Whenever possible, be the first one there. It can be very intimidating to walk into a packed room; however, if you can be at the main entrance to greet your audience as they walk in you will feel more relaxed when you take the stage. Having the ability to personalize your audience and observe the room gradually filling up, will take away the shock-factor when you take the podium.  
2. Don't over prepare! If you over prepare you will become flustered in the occurrence of a slip up or variation. It is better to follow bullet points or main topics than it is try and read through an entire speech. Also, don't try to memorize large pieces of information. Stage fright has a tendency to cause "memory retrieval que errors," basically: you won't be able to access that memory when you need too.
3. Work in audience affirmation. When appropriate you will want to work in humor and audience feedback questions. If you can get the room to laugh at a joke or yell out an affirming "YES" to one of your questions, it will immediately boost your confidence.

If you can implement these suggestions into your next presentation, I guarantee you will feel more comfortable and relaxed. There is no reason why public speaking should be your number one fear. Put these steps into action, practice whenever possible and remember you control your success as a speaker not the audience!