You may think effective speakers are born that way. You'd be wrong! Public speaking is a set of skills that can be learned.

Most influential public speakers have worked hard to master effective speaking skills and good public speaking techniques. They have spent hours practicing, working with a coach, or taking speech courses.

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Learn to overcome your anxiety:

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Public speaking is considered a social anxiety disorder and is the most common of all phobias among humans. It's a form of performance anxiety in which a person becomes very concerned that he or she will appear visibly anxious, maybe even have a panic attack while speaking to a group of people. The underlying fear is judgment or negative evaluation by others.

 

Evolution psychologists believe that there are primordial roots to this phobia. Our prehistoric ancestors were vulnerable to large animals and harsh elements, so living in a tribe was an indispensable survival skill. Rejection from the group would lead inarguably to death. Speaking to an audience makes us vulnerable to rejection, much like our ancestors’ fear of being ostracized from the tribe. A common fear in public speaking is the brain freeze.

The prospect of having an audience’s attention while standing in silence feels like utter rejection and triggers even a fear of death. In order to avoid exposing oneself people try to „protect“ themselves by either refraining from public speaking altogether or by struggling against it in secret.

 

But the truth is that the more successful people become in their career, the more they are expected to share their expertise with larger groups, becoming even more anxious than before.

As a result, the fear of public speaking becomes a chronic condition and is disruptive to our life, not to mention our career advancement possibilities.

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