Is public speaking scary ? How did i conquer my fear ..

"I am scared."

"I can't do it."

"No way, this is not for me."

"Help!"

These are some of the phrases you might tell yourself when you are given a task to speak in public. But you have no choice, cause you need to present to your bosses and colleagues coming Monday. So, is public speaking really scary ?

Some people claimed that they have totally NO FEAR when they go up on stage. Is that true ? To me, there are always butterflies in the stomach when you have the thought that you are going to do public speaking, is just how you make those butterflies fly in formation. What does it mean ? Here are some tools for you to conquer your fear of public speaking.

Know your topic.
This is important, but is also the most fundamental. Why ? You are invited to speak because this is your domain, that is why you are invited. One thing for sure is , the topic has to be easily understood by the audience. If you are in an office setting, maybe the industry language can be understood easily. But if you are speaking to public, refrain from using jargons of your industry. Make sure you do deeper research on the topic as to give lots of value to your audience.

Know yourself. 
What are your strengths ? If you are humourous, be humourous. If you would like to use props ( eg: powerpoint ) , then use props. If you are great with your voice, use that through a variety of tone, pause, pitch and volume. Know your strength and play to your strength. If you have yet to find out, try practicing in front of your trusted friends who could give your valuable feedback and go on from there.

Practice, practice, practice. 
Great speakers honor the time of their audience. That is why they make sure they will practice their speech before their presentation, even that speech itself, he/she has presented many times. Why practice is important ? A great speech is rewritten, that is why, through practice only will you realize the "blind spots" which you missed out which can be improved.

Hope the 3 tips above could help you make those butterflies fly in formation.

To know more about us, kindly visit :

www.fb.com/KidsPublicSpeaking

www.KidsPublicSpeaking.com

Email : KidsPublicSpeaking@gmail.com 

About :

Johan Speaking Academy has trained more than 1000 kids to speak on stage since 2014. The founder Johan Ooi is the 2015 Peninsular Malaysia Public Speaking Champion. In year 2015 itself, he represented Malaysia to the World Championship of Public Speaking held at Las Vegas. He finished as the Semi-Finalist.

Johan Ooi speaking for Maxis in year 2014. 

How to overcome your fear of public speaking - 4 tips by Johan Speaking Academy

How to overcome your fear of public speaking ?

These are few methods :

Tip 1 : Know your venue

Will you be speaking at a ballroom ? Will you be speaking at a hall ? You have to go to the venue early to have a "feel"of what is like to speak there. I often check out my speaking engagement venue , not on the event day, if possible a day earlier during the set up to have an overview of what is like. 

Picture above is me checking out the venue before the event. 

Tip 2 : Know your topic

If you are engage to share your knowledge, you should be able to execute this. The hard part is when you try to do something beyond your expertise , then you might have to do some research before hand. This is also a good sign as you wish to push beyond your comfort zone. But most importantly, we have to really give value when we are on stage. 

Some companies will have to check through your slides before hand to ensure your slides or materials are appropriate. 

Tip 3 : Know your audience

Check with the event organizer on the crowd. Who is actually the audience? Is it corporate CEO's ? Is it students ? Is it entrepreneurs ? 

Once you know the audience, maintain the key messages but share stories that are towards your audience. 

Tip 4 : Know yourself. 

What are your strengths ? Play your strengths when you are on stage. Are you good at humour ? Are you great at storytelling ? Are you technically good with your voice ? 

Knowing yourself is through number of years of practice and experimenting. Keep speaking. 

Hope that these 4 tips will help you overcome your fear of public speaking. 

Johan Ooi is the founder of Johan Speaking Academy where he had trained more than 1000 kids to speak on stage since 2014. He is also the 2015 Peninsular Malaysia Public Speaking Champion and 2015 Semi-Finalist of the World Championship of Public Speaking held at Las Vegas. 

Contact Johan at : JohanSpeakingAcademy@gmail.com