I'm now a regular speaker at business events around the UK but only 3 years ago I was scared of speaking in public! This was because I had never had to do any public speaking in my previous jobs. I was a broker in the City for nearly 17 years which involved lots of shouting at each other! Not really public speaking and my recent career has been around the Internet where most people sit behind computer screens.
Toastmasters
But public speaking was always something I'd wanted to do. So I joined Toastmasters and it was amazing. It was scary too! But mainly amazing! I joined a group near me in Yate, Bristol and they met every fortnight. www.northavonspeakers.org.uk This was a really scary thing to do; talk about being out of my comfort zone. To put it into perspective, I know that those of you who know me know I'm a very lively, positive and out-going person. But I hadn't done any sort of networking at this point and even for me, the thought of going to an event where I knew nobody was quite daunting.
However, like everything in life, if you have a big enough reason why, then you'll do things outside of your comfort zone. So I booked myself in for one of their Thursday night meetings and went along.
I met the Madam President, a lovely lady, Lisa van den Berg, and she was warm and welcoming. All the people there were really nice. There were about 35 people and the chairs were all lined up in theatre style. I grabbed a seat and thought I'd be safe for the evening.
It was great to watch people overcome their fears and stand in front of us and give their talks. The variety was interesting; there was one man who was absolutelty brilliant. He would have been comfortable on a stage in front of thousands of people and there was a lady who was visably nervous and shaking as she delivered her very first speech. The members rallied round her and you could feel the warmth and encouragement in the room.
Table Topics
As I said earlier, I thought I was safe. At every meeting of Toastmasters they have a Table Topics session. One of the members is the Table Topics Master and he chooses a topic for the evening and writes 5 or 6 scenerios which people then have to come up and talk about for at least one minute.
The session this time was Summer Holidays. The Table Topics Master reads out the scenrio, for example, tell us a story of when you were on your summer holidays and he then randomly chooses someone from the audience to go up to the front and give the talk!! Can you imagine my fear! I went from happily sitting in the audience to a nervous wreck hoping I wouldn't get chosen!
Fortunately... I WAS chosen! I say fortunately as it changed my life.
I had to go up and give a talk on a time I was stuck in an airport! You only have the time it takes from selection to walking to the front of the room to come up with your talk and then you're off! It was scary and brilliant all at the same time! I loved it. I couldn't wait for the one minute to be over, but I loved it and when I had finished and got a round of applause I wanted to to do it again and again!!
Fear
Fear is a funny thing. My fear wasn't a fear of failure or fear of looking bad or making a fool of myself (I do that all the time!) My fear was the fear of the unknown. I'd never had to speak in front of people. But now that I had and I enjoyed it, I was hooked! I was still scared and I still get nervous now but it's so rewarding.
So if you have a fear of public speaking, then I highly recommend finding your local Toastmasters group and going along. It's a scary thought but I've found the best way of getting over your fear is to face it head on and just do it.
I remember at school being scared to ask girls out on a date. All boys and girls go through the same fear and yet most of us end up with a boyfreind or girlfriend and eventually we get married!
If you're scared of public speaking - just do it.
Business Networking
I also recommend going to business networking events. At these events you have to stand up for 40 seconds or one minute and let people know all about you and your business. This is a great way of getting comfortable speaking in front of people.
I'm a member of www.4networking.biz the UK's fastest growing business network and they run breakfast and evening business events right across the UK. So get yourself along to one of the events. You can visit up to three times before you have to join so you can try it out.
They also have a 4Sight speaker each time and anyone who's a member can put themself forward to do a 4Sight. So if you are already a member of 4N or you go along and like and join, choose a date and get yourself booked in to speak. Having a deadline is a great way of taking action. Check out their Events and find one n your area and get along. You'll be so pleased you did.
Face the Fear
So don't worry that you're scared of speaking in public - we all were and still are. But just start by going to some business networking events and then offer to give a talk and get a date booked in.
And join Toastmasters - it's an amazing and supportive group of people who will help and encourage you and give you all the tips and guidance you need to become a competent communicator.
Then just face your fear and do it! You'll be so pleased you did.
And when you have, please comment below and share how you got on. Please feel free to share your own experiences and advice and tips here too.
I'll be writing some more posts on Public Speaking soon:
Public Speaking - Coming up with Interesting Topics
Public Speaking - How to prepare properly
Public Speaking - Record Yourself
Public Speaking - Practice Makes Better
Other related posts:
Networking for Business - In Summary
What's Your Story?
People Buy People
Motivation & Confidence
Forget Will Power - You Need "Why" Power!
Source: http://blog.dickiearmour.me.uk/2012/03/public-speaking-over-coming-your-fears.html
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