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Fear Of Speaking Prevention
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New speakers often find themselves hitting a wall in their speaking. They start attending Toastmasters club meetings or attend a Speaking Workshop and see improvements, but at some point they will hit a wall and stop improving as quickly as they did early on in the learning process. Though a slowing of improvement is to be expected as you gain speaking experience, I want to share with you one thing you can do to break through the improvement doldrums and kick your speaking into high gear.
In Toastmasters during the first few months of the year, many clubs are getting their speakers ready for the International Speech contest. The International Speech contest is the only contest that Toastmasters requires all of their districts to perform and it gives speakers the opportunity to compete for the title World Champion of Public Speaking. Through six grueling levels of competition, speakers are challenged to deliver their best five to seven minute speeches. Only the best speakers make it to the final competition where speakers from all over the world compete at the International Toastmasters Convention. One key to breaking through the wall of improvement is to compete against your peers and enroll in the contest.
For the first year that I was in Toastmasters, I didn't compete. I was happy to give my speeches, perform a role, and slowly move up the improvement ladder. However, at some point I got stuck and I didn't know what to do in order to get unstuck until I attended a District 40 Spring Convention. There I saw Darren LaCroix, the 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking and got to watch my first district level speech competition. After seeing Darren's keynote and watching the competitors, I knew that competing was something that I had to do if I wanted to get better as a speaker.
So the next year, I prepared my speech, practiced, and then won my club contest. I then went to the area contest and got eliminated. So what did I do next? I didn't give up at that point and vowed to continue to improve my speaking and my speech writing skills so that this year I would be able to compete at a higher level. Competition forced me to be devoted to writing, practicing, getting feedback, and finding resources that helped me improve my speaking.
That is the magic of the International Speech contest for improving speakers. The level of the competition continues to get better every year, so it encourages speakers to get better as well if they want to succeed. You can't float though the competition. A speaker has to write, practice, get feedback, write, and practice more at every level in the competition in order to be successful. This makes you improve as a speaker and forces your to break through the wall of improvement and become a much better speaker.
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The fear of public speaking can grip even the most experienced public speakers. I was recently speaking to someone who has given many many speeches but still has a strong fear. He explained that he speaks at a local speaking group (Toastmasters). He's comfortable while speaking in front of his group but still has reluctance to giving speeches outside of his "comfort zone". I like to think of the word fear as an acronym: Feel Emotion And Respond. This means that feeling fear is good, and it's what you do when you feel fear that matters.
Even though you may be comfortable giving speeches in your own comfort zone (at work, at school, etc.), the trick to being a great public speaker is to be able to feel the same level of confidence and comfort no matter where you are speaking.
I was recently at a local beach. As I was walking up from the water, I noticed a very large man. He was tall, very muscular, bald, and extremely intimidating looking. I noticed that he had a large retractable dog leash. By the size of the handle, I figured the dog had to be part pit bull, part horse (I had a picture of a 80 pound pit bull with a spike collar). As I walked closer to the man and his "beast", the dog came out from the sand dune his was "marking". The dog was an overweight Chihuahua no bigger than an average house cat. This struck me as pretty funny since I assumed that the dog was as massive and intimidating as the man walking him. Once I got to the sidewalk, the man and "beast" were now beside me. Without even thinking, I said to the man "With a leash like that, I figured that you were walking a huge uncontrollable monster!". The man turned to me, gave me a weird look, then smiled, and said "Then I guess you don't know much about Chihuahuas". I smiled and looked down at Beast and said "You're probably right. He looks pretty vicious." Then we walked our separate ways.
The point of my story is that I spoke to someone who looked pretty intimidating and didn't give it a second thought. I tend to do this a lot. I try to talk to everyone I meet.This is one of the ways that I overcame my fear of public speaking. By speaking to strangers, I am able to do the following:
Break the ice
Think on my feet
Feel comfortable with people I don't know
Meet fun and interesting people
If you start small, you should be able to get to the point where you can talk to anyone you meet. Start by saying "Hi. How's your day going" to the next grocery clerk, bank teller, or anyone else you encounter during your day. You'll find that people are more friendly when you start a conversation, especially one that is about them. From there you could start taking to people on the bus, at a grocery or book store, or anywhere else that affords you some time to talk. Before you know it you'll be talking to everyone you meet. It actually becomes fun to see how people react to a conversation with a stranger. Then, the next time you have to get up and speak, you will feel like your just starting a conversation with someone you just met. Your nerves and fear should be at a minimum.
So, the next time you feel uncomfortable thinking about your next speech, go out and start to talk to people. You'll find that your comfort level will rise and you'll start to look forward to meeting new people.
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