Have you ever been paralyzed by fear? Many people find public speaking such a frightening thought that they will do almost anything to avoid it.
What if you had more obstacles in life to jump than most? Would that be a good reason why you shouldn’t work on overcoming your fear of public speaking?
I was recently asked to be a guest judge in a speech contest for a special group of people. Many of the pageants have Down syndrome, but none of them allowed their “disability” to keep them from performing at their best.
I love the expression I heard from a client organization that works with people with disabilities:
Don’t “give away” my ability.
The contestants lived that expression. Many of their speeches highlighted their need to be heard as individuals and as a group.
Each person who entered the contest had overcome their own fears of public speaking. By participating in a structured program and learning from each oral experience, they were able to perform well that day, in front of family, friends, and strangers.
Speaking in front of a group with the added pressure of entering a contest is overwhelming for most people. Yet these inspiring people made it seem almost effortless. To get to that point, they had vowed to overcome their own individual obstacles.
barriers to speaking
As with any speaker, the hurdles these speakers had to overcome included:
- Channeling your nervous energy
- Structure your speeches to engage your audience.
- Using your voice effectively
- Overcome distracting mannerisms
- Speaking within your allotted time
As a judge on the pageant, I was impressed by the skill of each speaker. Deciding who would be the winner of the contest was difficult.
Her achievements reflected a quote from Susan Jeffers: Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Each contestant had overcome a fear of public speaking to stand up and deliver stellar performances.
How you can overcome obstacles to speaking
It happens to all of us sooner or later. Someone asks us to ‘say a few words’ to open a meeting, greet a guest or sell a project idea to clients or colleagues. We know it’s important and we want to do it right but just thinking about it makes us nervous.
The first step is to commit to improving your public speaking and then take steps to do so.
Imagine the possibilities if you could overcome your communication obstacles, in particular public speaking. Would it mean a promotion, new clients, or the confidence to communicate more effectively with colleagues?