So my day at work was a break from the norm, thanks to a training course I went on called ‘Be a great communicator’. Verbal communication has never been one of my strong points (I mumble way too much, and my brain seems to work faster than my mouth which means I just end up chatting gibberish a lot of the time), so I signed up for the course in the hope that it’d give me some tips and advice on how to improve.
What I wasn’t expecting was being forced to make a speech to a room full of people, have them tell me all the things I did wrong, and then have the pleasure of presenting the same speech again. Fun it was not. Especially since the mere thought of public speaking results in me wanting to jump off the nearest bridge.
But, those five minutes of torture aside, the day was pretty useful. Here are some of the things I learned…
- Humans are born with only two fears – the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. That’s it. All other fears are learned, which means they can be unlearned too. So I guess I’ve got no excuse for not overcoming this public speaking anxiety!
- If you want to be more confident, think of the most confident person you know. It could be a friend, a colleague or a celebrity. How do they behave? What is it about them that makes them come across so self-assured? Study them, and try to imitate their behaviours. In other words, fake it ’til you make it.
- Communication is 55% body language, 38% tone of voice and only 7% of it is the words you use. I’m really going to think about this next time I have to do any kind of public speaking – I tend to spend so much time stressing over what I want to say, when I should really be concentrating on how I say it!
- Public speaking is actually the number one fear among people – so if you’re completely bricking making a speech or doing a presentation, chances are everyone else is in the same boat.
What are your thoughts on public speaking? Do you enjoy it or does it completely terrify you? What tips would you give others looking to improve?
Thanks for stopping by at my blog
I used to HATE public speaking and when I first started to study I was sooo nervous to speak publicly because all our classes were in English and I thought my language skills were not good enough. Anyway, after 4,5 years of public speaking (we had A LOT of presetations) I’m quite comfortable with it. At work I had a course called “How to be a good educator” and it was so much fun! I gained a ton of confidence there and am not afraid to speak to large crowds (or small ones) at work anymore
By: foodlovingpolarbear on April 9, 2010
at 4:43 am