Finally, a beneficial strategy to overcome the fear of public speaking is visualization. You are visualizing the speech in the moment and act of being delivered in front of the audience. It allows us to manage negativity, not to focus exclusively on the possibility of negative results. You may interrupt yourself, stutter, speak too quickly or lower the volume of your voice. You have to accept imperfection but prepare your mind for success.
Successful speech delivery allows the audience to applaud and savor all the pleasant sensations even before we experience them.
Exercise
- Aim/purpose: Display performance
- Timeframe: 15 mins
- Action, activities: imagining
- How (kind of methods): non verbal, individual
- To keep in mind: every time we think of something negative, think of something that could go wrong. We have to force ourselves to think of something positive—an opposing thinking technique: replacing negative thoughts with positive ones.
Suggested exercises: (minimum 2 max. 5)
– for 15 minutes, visualize the performance, focusing on the details: how you present yourself, the place where you are going to give your speech, the audience, imagine yourself at the moment when you give your address: your tone of voice is neither too high nor too low, your posture and gestures are in line with what is said. Imagine when the speeches end well, the audience applauds.
Further resources: (theories, internet links with materials, books, etc)
- Calderone G., Superare la fobia sociale. Come si fa e perché occorre andare per gradi. Psicologo-parma-reggioemilia.com, http://www.psicologo-parma-reggioemilia.com/superare_ansia_fobia_sociale.html
- Sansavini C., L’arte del public speaking. AlphaTest, 2011
Google Digital Training, Parlare in pubblico.
The new millennium has seen a considerable increase in the number of training solutions offered in videos, which provides real-life examples of behavior to emulate, and online courses. It is precisely due to the recognition and standardization of strategies to overcome the fear of public speaking.
Public speaking is not just a skill for politicians, theatre actors, or T.V. presenters, and it is now a key asset in every working context. Public speaking is one of the most sought-after skills in the professional world.
Considering the increasing number of events organized in every sector: festivals, conferences, lectures or seminars, public speaking becomes more and more important in every field, also in everyday life.