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How to Deal with Speech Anxiety?

At sometime or the other everyone has had an experience giving a speech. It can be as the valedictorian at your graduation ceremony or as the best man at your friend's wedding. To most people public speaking doesn't come naturally. Some have the typical symptoms of speech anxiety while others are able to breeze through the monologue comfortably.

Tips to Combat Speech Anxiety

Mainly a persons fear of speeches comes from the audience and not wanting to look like a failure in front of them. To minimize speech anxiety the first step is to know your audience and prepare the speech according to what the audience will best understand.

Use the simplest of words for the speech. Rather than memorizing words, try to memorize the concepts and the flow of topics. The help of visual aids like PowerPoint or over head projectors is a good idea to put difficult concepts in front of the audience and simplify them.

Practice, practice and practice some more is the most important technique to prevent speech anxiety. You will get more confidence to ace the speech by knowing your speech well. You should practice first on your own, then in front of a mirror and then to a fake audience. To improve anything lacking and to review it later some people will video tape their speech.

Exercise to refresh yourself before the actual day of the speech and it is important to have a proper meal and dress in your best clothes to boost your confidence. Wearing something uncomfortable such as high heeled shoes or tight fitting clothes should be avoided since it could distract from your speech.

Starting a speech slowly and clearly is the best way. Breath deeply in between topics and try to remain as calm as you can. Go to the projector or screen to give yourself a break in between.

Speech anxiety symptoms may begin all of a sudden. Pause for a minute, recollect your thoughts and continue as if nothing has happened if you feel the onset of blushing, sweating or you feel your heart racing. Eventually you will reach a stage where you are in total control of your speech by practicing this act.

Don't Let Speech Anxiety be an Obstacle in your Life

Sometime in their life almost everyone has experienced speech anxiety and some people have been overcome by speech anxiety so much that they totally avoid any situation where they might need to give a speech. Their personality may be taken over by this phobia of public speaking and they can lose great opportunities in their life.

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