Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking

by Jennie Parker

​If you fear speaking in public, you’re not alone. Close to one in four people report feeling some level of anxiety around speaking in public. This anxiety may be even more common when speaking in a second (or third, or fourth…) language. Several clients have told me that they get so focused on pronunciation and the delivery of their message that they lose track of what they are saying. However, speaking publicly may be essential for your career advancement or, at the very least, sharing your ideas with a group. 

Research on the fear of public speaking addresses three components: the physiological, the cognitive, and the behavioral. Likewise, researchers have developed methods for overcoming the fear of public speaking that address each of these components. The methods below may be helpful:

Practice relaxation exercises: To address some of the physiological aspects of fear – shallow breathing, muscle tension, and rapid heartbeat – try progressive muscle relaxation or deep breathing exercises. One of my favorite relaxation exercises is “pursed lip” breathing. With your mouth closed, take a long, deep breath through your nose. Purse your lips, like a kiss, and slowly exhale. Repeat this a few times until you feel tension decrease.
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Challenge your beliefs: Cognitive reframing approaches help you to challenge your irrational beliefs about your abilities and your fears. Draw two columns on a piece of paper. In the first column, write down all the beliefs that come to mind when you think about speaking publicly. Then, in the second column, write supportive, positive, more realistic counterarguments. For example, 

Shift your focus to communication: Another cognitive approach involves shifting your focus from a performance orientation to a communication orientation. In other words, if you focus on your performance, you feel the audience is judging and evaluating you. This causes more anxiety. But if you shift to your focus to your message and see your role as informing or inspiring your audience, you will be able to communicate more confidently.

Visualize success: Imagine yourself delivering a clear, confident, informative presentation that your audience enjoys. Positive thinking can help decrease your anxiety.
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Embrace silence: Silence does not have to be awkward. If you lose track of what you are saying, take a deep breath and re-center yourself. It may feel like a long pause to you, but it may not feel that way to the audience. They may need time to absorb what you have been telling them.

Practice, practice, practice: A behavioral approach to conquering your fear of public speaking is practice. One of my favorite sayings is the 6Ps: Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Know your topic. Organize your materials and speaking points. And then practice, practice, and practice some more. Contrary to much advice about pubic speaking, I suggest actually scripting your speech out, word for word, if you are focused on pronunciation and natural rhythm and intonation patterns. By scripting it out, you can mark it for difficult sounds and rhythm patterns. You don’t have to necessarily memorize the speech, word for word, but by scripting it, you can foresee and work out tricky areas. 

Along with practicing, record yourself. Audio recordings are great, but video recordings are even better. You might be surprised that how you think you sound is not how you sound to others. And by watching a video of yourself, you might spot undesirable facial expressions or distracting hand gestures.
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Get support: While you can do a lot yourself to overcome the fear of public speaking, it’s okay to seek extra help. Toastmasters is a nonprofit with clubs throughout the world designed to give people the opportunity to speak publicly and learn public speaking skills. And at Every Voice, we work with clients one-on-one to help them improve their pronunciation and speak English with more confidence.