by Barry Mccormick

Created on: July 29, 2009

"Imagine them in their underwear;" "Stare at a fixed spot;" "Try to imagine no one else is there."

These are pieces of ingenious advice when faced with standing up in front of a crowd. And yes, that statement was sarcastic. If you are anything like myself picturing people pretty much naked is more likely to make me more afraid and uneasy to speak. Staring at a fixed point just makes you look silly, and imagining no-one there is exceptionally hard to do because you are continually aware of the multitude of eyes which are on you.

A fear of public speaking may be caused by two or three reasons. Knowing which can help to overcome the fear. For some it may just be the fear of a large crowd, others the feeling of being inadequate to get the message across, for the rest the fear of being criticised and people judging you.

I believe there is one simple solution to all. Firstly, however, I will explore what may help each individual situation.
Being afraid of a large crowd is not an uncommon fear. There are a significant number of people who prefer to keep themselves to them selves, and that is just part of their character and others just prefer being around a few people. If you are like this what would help you? How about booking a ticket to a concert? If that is too big initially then try a smaller venue, a play or something and build up. Becoming comfortable around more and more people gradually will help you when it comes to stand up in front of a large crowd,

If the population of the world was honest, the majority would say they have issues with feelings of inadequacy. Feeling inadequate to deliver a message, speech, recite, sing, or whatever in front of a public audience comes down to one of two reasons. No personal conviction or belief in yourself and/or the message or whatever you are saying to the crowd, or it could be you have just not rehearsed it enough and do not know fully what to say or how to deliver it.

You need to identify in this situation what it is. If it is the initial reason of not believing in yourself maybe you have to realise your potential, if its no conviction in the message or speech you are delivering your heart is never going to be into it and that will not be overcome easily. If it is the latter reason, as my piano teacher said to me, "practice, practice, practice." It is just as simple as that.

People do fear criticism because we fear what people think about us, we want people to think the best of us. It is hard to overcome it and you can really only get over it by having an attitude of "No body's perfect. The people who are criticising me aren't perfect, and I know I'm not, so I will just make myself better through the criticism." Being able to turn criticism into fuel to make you better at whatever you plan to do is a much needed quality when it comes to anything which is done publicly.

Now for my one simple solution. Take as many opportunities as you can to speak publicly. If public speaking is a fear you want to overcome and be good at, the best way to do so is to face the music. The more you participate in any activity the natural result is you become more confident and where there is confidence in something there is little room for fear.

Finally be yourself. Trying to be anyone else just adds strain.

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