Bill was having one of those bad presentation days. He was presenting the progress of his department to his superiors, standing in the dark next to a bright PPT monitor feeling his mouth going dry, his hands sweaty and his thoughts racing. As a director of operations for a multinational company, he was in charge of 120 employees and oversaw mission-critical operations for the company. He was good at his job and he knew it. But, here he was looking unsure and uninspiring. All he could do was to read off the slides, wishing the whole time just to be done.
Has that ever happened to you? Have your nerves and your anxiety made you sound stiff, unprepared or unsure? Has the fear of that happening ever stopped you from raising your hand, speaking out in a meeting, demonstrating your skill and solving a problem?
This is the fear of public speaking or “Glassophobia.” It varies in intensity from a mild discomfort to a full on anxiety attack, but in any of its forms, it is the biggest stumbling block to getting a job, receiving recognition, or sharing concerns.
As an executive speech coach, I have worked with hundreds of people who have struggled with this fear but have found a way to speak with power and transform the fear into a source of confidence and conviction.
The first step in this process is to understand that the fear of public speaking has nothing to do with speaking… it has to do with lions and tigers and bears!
Let me explain:
Imagine you are walking on an African savannah when you come on a clearing in the grass. Suddenly you hear a low dangerous growl and you see a lion crouching in the center of the clearing, teeth barred, claws out ready to pounce on you.
How would you feel at that moment? Would you suddenly feel your mouth go dry, your hands get sweaty and a knot form in the pit of your stomach? Would your muscles tighten and your thoughts race, ready to spring into action either to defend yourself or to run as faster than you ever ran in your life?
Of course you would. If you did not, you would be, well, dinner… Termed “Fight or Flight,” this response has helped us and countless generations of our ancestors to survive in the face of real danger from predators like lions, tigers and bears.
Now imagine you are walking into a meeting. In front of you is the audience of colleagues, clients, or bosses who you want to impress, entertain or educate. You prepared a report and practiced it, but now suddenly you feel your mouth go dry, your hands get sweaty and a knot form in the pit of your stomach. See the resemblance? Bill was feeling the same emotions as one who was about to face a dangerous predator and his body responded with fight or flight instead of with power.
In fact, when I mentioned this concept to Bill, his face went white with sudden recognition—he immediately saw the truth in what I was saying. (It also helped that his three executives resembled a lion, tiger and a bear!)
He was amazed to realize that his fear was NOT about speaking because this response is pre-verbal, instinctual, a Fight or Fight response. And while it would be useful on the savannah, in the jungle or in the urban forest, this reaction has been sabotaging his speech, compromising his credibility and would continue to derail his presentation if left unchecked.
You might be thinking to yourself: “OK, Leo, but what do I do about it? Obviously the people in the audience are not the predators, but that does not change the fact that I experience this impulse to fight or flee.” The Key Takeaway is that the fear and anxiety you might feel before and during a presentation is an ancient natural instinct that is pre-verbal. So when you are starting to tackle this problem it is not enough to “just practice” or say things like “imagine the audience in their underwear” All this can often exacerbate the problem and make you never want to speak again.
What is required is a 5 step process that can be powerful in not only banishing the visions of lions, tigers and bears in the audience, but to open the door to creating a real and genuine communication between you and your audience. I will address these five steps in the next blog.
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