Overcome Fear of Public Speaking
Take the Edge Off of the Fear of Speaking Publicly

How do I know I could make it as a public speaker?
Anyone can learn to speak. Even if you’re naturally shy and introverted, those traits can be overcome and you can speak with confidence. One step towards overcoming shyness on a public level is to open up and share your thoughts in everyday conversations.

Pickyourbrain.com, a website dedicated to self-improvement says, “The best way to get accustomed to sharing is practice. Force yourself to speak up, especially when you don’t want to. Sit in the front of the room and make yourself visible. Understand that sharing your insights with people is doing them a favor. Once you get used to opening up, you’ll notice how positively people react. This will build your self confidence and faith in the goodwill of others.”

Define Your Goal
Where do you want to go with your public speaking? Do you want to gain confidence as a salesperson? Converse confidently with family and friends? Promote your company, book, or product? After you’ve determined your goal, you can ask yourself with every opportunity that comes along, “Will this bring me closer to my goal?” This way you won’t get side-tracked doing things that seem beneficial, but keep you from reaching your speaking goals.

Become an Expert
With the overabundance of communication floating around, you may wonder, "What can I add?" Although it is true that there is nothing new under the sun, other people can still benefit from your words. Everyone has unique life experiences. Sift through yours with the question, “What have I learned that can benefit others?” Maybe you’ll talk about quilting, cooking, music, building models, or parenting. You have something that other people want to hear. You likely have some kind of knowledge that you could sell. And if you don’t, learn something! Take a class or trip and explore a topic you’ve always wanted to learn about.

Get Yourself Out There
Start volunteering to speak whenever you get the chance; company meetings, rotary clubs, even toasts at weddings. It will give you the chance to practice writing a speech and delivering to a crowd. Get yourself out there on the internet too. Create a website and blog about your speaking topics. Chris Brogan, professional speaker, blogger, and president of New Marketing Labs shares how his blogging leads to speaking invitations, “I write about the types of speeches I hope to give. It works all the time. I often hear from various verticals with an association meeting who want to better understand something I brought up in a blog post, or they’ll ask me to further customize something to a specific industry. In both cases, I love the opportunity. It’s a great way to find new places to speak.” Post mini-speeches on your website, or, preferably, clips from a presentation in front of an audience; then prospective clients can see a sample of your style.

Also, like most careers, networking will impact your public speaking. Get to know other speakers and people who manage events and conference. Also consider joining professional speaking organizations such as Toastmasters, The Professional Speakers Guild, The National Speakers Association, and The American Seminar Leaders Association. A great way to kick-start your public speaking career, or take your existing speaking career to the next level, would be attending a conference like the Professional Communicator’s Summit run by Ken Davis. The Summit promises to teach you:

The summit is unique in that it actually teaches about speaking, Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian publisher in the world said in his blog post about the Summit, “This is the only conference of this type that I am aware of.”

Always Keep Learning
No matter how long you’ve been speaking, you should always strive to be a better communicator. Besides reading books and blogs about speaking, you can improve your presentations by watching other speakers both good and bad. If you want to see the best of the best, consider attending the annual TED conference in Long Beach, California.

According to their website, “TED started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford, UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year's TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.” At the TED conferences speakers are encouraged to give the talk of their lives.  Here are some quotes from various TED Conference attendees.

"I came to the TED conference with the idea that I wanted to serve a really unique audience in an impactful way; but honestly I gained more than I could ever imagine personally from my attendance. I met so many people ... just phenomenal human beings who had a true social or contribution focus. I developed a lot of friends out of the group and learned an enormous amount." -- Tony Robbins, Motivator

"TED moments have been echoing in my brain ever since I left Monterey. A wonderful experience." -- Dan Dennett, philosopher

"Words are inadequate to express my appreciation for the invitation to participate at the TED conference. It was one of the highlights of my entire life." -- Billy Graham, Evangelist

Well-known speakers today were not born with event coordinators knocking at their door. They had to start somewhere and build their careers, you can do that too. These simple steps of defining you goals, becoming an expert, getting yourself out there, networking and continue learning will help reach your speaking goals, whatever they are.


For further information on these topics, see the links below.

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/how-to-start-speaking-at-events/
http://www.dynamiccommunicators.com/summit/summit1.shtml
http://michaelhyatt.com/2009/09/so-you-want-to-be-a-professional-speaker.html
http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/5 http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/122

Ashley Barrett is a professional writer, editor, and researcher for ProProducts™