PUBLIC SPEAKING 2.0 “THE PLATFORM”
DELIVERED
BY: NWACHUKWU LUCAS EMMANUEL
TOPIC:
HOW TO CONQUER THE FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING
Twitter:
@nwachukwulucas
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Greatest Nigerian students!
It is great delight to
be here and speak to you today, particularly, given the fact that this is my
alma mater, it stirs up positive emotions and experiences from the past while I
studied here. I am excited to be here with you today on PUBLIC SPEAKING 2.0, THE
PLATFORM wonderfully put together by ADVISERS CORNER and led by a global force
in the person of Mr. AJE EMMANUEL, and permit to say, he has done amazingly
well for himself and the society.
In half an hour I will
use this platform to talk to you on how to conquer the fear of public speaking.
Current statistics show that Public speaking is listed as America’s number 1
fear before death at number 5, that is, many people fear speaking in the public
than death itself.
C. Hamilton in his book
“Communication for Results” stated that over 75% of people around the world
suffer from fear of public speaking. Wow! That percentage is high and you and I
might just be in that category. We will find out if that is true.
Many times before now,
we must have heard about public speaking and seen people of different race practice
it and you wonder if you can do it well or even better that them.
You must have read
about Aristotle, Winston Churchill, Maya Angelou, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dale
Carnegie, Anthony Robbins and Aje Emmanuel. These people have all carved a
niche for themselves in the area of public speaking and more so do it with
ease.
Public speaking is simply the art, act and process of
communicating information to audience, usually done before a large audience in
a formal or informal environment. Also known as oratory or oration.
We don’t just wake up
and start speaking, we do for reasons, and this applies to what we are
discussing, we engage in public speaking for three purposes:
1.
To inform
2.
To persuade
3.
To entertain
While, public speaking
is interesting and can set anyone on the path of success, it is also not
uncommon to see people that fear it. You must have heard the word GLOSSOPHOBIA,
I know it sounds technical but it means the fear of speaking, especially in the
public. Many times during presentations in class, you see your mates become
sweaty when they are facing the class, you can even notice the trembling in
their voice and sometimes quivering. That is the fear, it is real, you cannot
fake it.
The fear you feel is
normal and natural, but if you don’t do anything about it, it can leave you in
mess and haunt you. And that is why I am speaking to you today, how we can
CONQUER that fear of speaking in the public.
THE
PROBLEM: the fear of public speaking is rooted in WHAT PEOPLE WILL THINK WHEN I STAND UP TO
SPEAK. Simple! You care too much what persons out there will say about your
presentation.
The moment you do this,
anxiety and fear sets in, then it paralyses the person.
SYMPTOMS:
§ Physical
-sweat
§ Verbal
–trembling voice
§ Non-verbal-
increased heart rate
HOW
CAN WE CONQUER THE FEAR OF SPEAKING IN PUBLIC?
Bertrand Russell said
“to conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom”
ü Accept
that the fear is normal and natural, don’t fight your nerves, it is natural to
be nervous.
ü Mindset-
You must know that public speaking is learnable
ü Do
something about the fear
- Fear is energy, leverage on it. Turn your self-consciousness to self-confidence
- Start practicing , practice until it becomes your lifestyle
- Get a mentor
- Join toastmaster
- Go for training, in any form
- If you have a topic know it well and rehearse it
- Do not impress your audience, share knowledge with them
- Don’t rush it
- Be real and be vulnerable
- Get out of your head, personalize your audience and focus on your message, you have absolute right and perpetual responsibility NOT to bore your audience.
From all of these, the
benefits that abound are numerous, it will boost your self-confidence, enhance
your reputation and open up countless opportunities. Be positive and remember
you have been talking since you were born. Just do it.
Thank you for your
time.
