Posts tagged as:

nerves

What makes a good public speaker

December 9, 2009

One of the defining qualities of a good public speaker is the willingness to make a fool of yourself. At the New Media Atlanta conference in 2009, Chris Brogan was the last keynote of the day. He’d watched all day as the backchannel drowned in snark. He could have chosen to play safe. Instead he [...]

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The truth about visualization for public speaking success

October 2, 2009

Many people think that this type of visualization can help you not only speak better but also help reduce your fear of public speaking. It may make you feel good at the time, but the scientific evidence doesn’t support the belief that it will help you achieve your best performance or reduce your fear of [...]

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How to survive watching yourself on video

August 26, 2009

Do you hate the idea of watching yourself on video? Most people do. But on our courses it’s one of our most powerful tools for helping people to reduce their fear of public speaking. Watching yourself give a presentation can give you a tremendous confidence boost. That’s because the way that you come across is [...]

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How to use your fear of public speaking to be a better speaker

August 2, 2009

It’s normal to get nervous about public speaking. When you stand up in front of people and open your mouth, you’re making yourself vulnerable. Public speaking involves risk. So aiming for zero fear is unrealistic. I still get nervous when I have to present in unfamiliar situations. I’m very used to presenting to small groups [...]

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Review of the top 10 methods to overcome fear of public speaking #1

November 4, 2008

There’s a ton of internet advice on how to overcome the fear of public speaking. Much of the advice is of the “what worked for me” kind. Or the advice is the first stage of trying to sell you a a hypnosis CD. So how do you decide what advice to follow? In this post [...]

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Mice show that you can overcome fear of public speaking

October 15, 2008

If you get nervous about speaking in public, the recently published results from a scientific experiment on mice, should give you some hope. The experiment showed that mice that had been trained to feel calm, coped better with stressful situations. The mice were trained to associate a specific sound with safety. They were then subjected [...]

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15 baby steps to overcoming the fear of public speaking

September 11, 2008

In the three previous posts (Overcome your fear, No perfect presentation, Seven thinking sins) I have talked about the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach to overcoming the fear of public speaking. I’ve focused on the cognitive principles on the basis that if you’re reading this blog, you’re probably doing presentations (the behavioral part of CBT). [...]

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The Seven Thinking Sins of Public Speaking

September 9, 2008

In the previous post in this series There’s no such thing as a perfect presentation, I looked at how to analyse your thinking and change “musts” or demands” into “goals” and so reduce the pressure you put on yourself. Over the years we’ve worked with hundreds of people to help them reduce their nervousness. So [...]

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There’s no such thing as the perfect presentation

September 4, 2008

Do you demand presentation perfection? It might be stopping you from performing at your best. This graph shows that having a high expectation for your performance will lead to improved performance – up to a point. But when you continue to demand more of yourself, beyond the peak of the curve – your nerves get [...]

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The four secrets to speaking with experts in the room

July 15, 2008

Many people who are otherwise confident presenters get nervous when they know that other experts will be in the audience. They think that when they’re the presenter they should know more about the topic than anyone else. Some presenters focus so much on the other experts, that the presentation goes over the heads of everyone [...]