What scares you about public speaking?

When I am nervous I start to squirm around.

Trying to stand like you imagine someone would stand when they have 100% confidence will help you

Hah yep, slow talking is very helpful

OMG this thread is still alive ???
Holly Molly !
One question what was the most embarrassing situation in your life ?

PalmaNova wrote: If I start with confidence I will keep it till the end of my presentation.

That's a good point! How you start out makes a big difference.

Yes. The same goes for school or studies, if you start with the good marks, everything will be easier later, you will have more confidence and you will have motivation to go on.

Richard@DecisionSkills wrote:

frydways wrote:Richard, what are your techniques to handle those situations?

-1- I greet and interact with people as the room fills. I mingle and ask questions, make a few connections. This gives me some go to people that will usually be more engaged.

-2- With tough questions, my technique is simple. Be okay with saying, "I don't know." You can follow that up with, "great question, let me look into it and if you want to give me your information I will get back to you."

-3- For any heckler, which I have never had, but maybe a "joker", I laugh and am self-deprecating. Laugh, give them credit for a good one and move on.

Hey Richard,

Great tips for handling tough questions!
You can also try to "Bounce back" the question to the person by asking "What do you think?". Usually when a person asks a question they already have some sort of opinion on the topic that they want to compare with your opinion. By bouncing the question back to them you give them the space to share their opinion. If they still need more information, you can bounce the question back to the rest of the room and get more opinions. This should buy you enough time to form your own opinion, so you can share with them. If you still do not have one, then I would do what you suggested in step 2

This is of course relevant to questions regarding opinions not facts

Cheers,

Nick

Not being prepared and looking like a fool because of it

Hey, great question. I think you'll find that there are many common fears with public speaking. Your description actually sounds very similar to my own.

I actually recently wrote a blog article on this exact topic. It seems I can't post links in my first post though so maybe I'll share my blog later.

In the article I discuss what I did to overcome my fear of public speaking which basically came down to lots of practice, some reading, and a short course or two. The primary method for overcoming my fear however was simply practicing in front of audiences.

I saw someone mentioned a fear of hecklers, it's a valid fear however doesn't occur all that often. I used to work in a very rough industry however and had to present on topics that many people weren't very fond of. During this time I had my fair share of hecklers. The only way that I could deal with these people was through humour. It didn't always work however most of the time I was able to keep them quiet by having a joke with them.

I don't like public speaking. if i am on the stage and speaking i'm nearly into tears. Im working for this one