Public Speaking Super Powers

Unleash Your Inner Speaking Superhero and Communicate Your Message with Confidence

Carma Spence, Deanna McRae

• Publisher: Author Academy Elite
• Year: 2018
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781640853348
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Meetings & Presentations
• Index: Business

Part One

Birth of a Hero

Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be with Your Public Speaking Skills

You don’t need to born with special abilities or be bitten by a radioactive speaking bug in order to be an effective, engaging speaker. Regardless of where you are now—terrified of, or merely bumbling on, the stage—you can become a better speaker.

What You’ll Learn In this Part:

• How to overcome the fear of speaking
• How to develop your roadmap to speaking success
• Best practices for practicing your presentations

Chapter 1

Your Secret Origin Story: Overcoming the Fear of Speaking

“If you have a crippling fear of public speaking, recognize that that is perfectly normal.”

—Dana Perino

“When you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt.”

—Honoré de Balzac

It has been estimated that 75% of all people experience some degree of anxiety or nervousness when it comes to speaking in public. Some people’s fear of public speaking is so great they have a disorder called glossophobia. If you picked up this book and are reading it, you are not part of that minority, but you may experience some anxiety and discomfort at the idea of speaking in front of an audience.

When I took my first speaking class in High School, I was so nervous giving a speech that I felt my ears get very warm and I thought for sure everyone could see them glowing red. My hands shook, I felt light-headed, and sometimes it got so bad I saw purple at the edges of my vision and nearly fainted.

Some of the speakers I interviewed for this book had even worse starts than I did!

E.G. Sebastian« used to feel ill whenever he had to give a speech. “I had a phobia of speaking,” he says. “If I had to speak for 30 seconds, my knees would start shaking. I would have a terrible, terrible stomach cramp. I would feel like everybody could see my heart beating through my jacket or my shirt, whatever I would wear. I would feel like I could collapse in any moment. And only after about 30 seconds or a minute, my throat would feel really funny and I would break down . . . and cry.” Now he gives presentations in multiple languages!

Linda Brandt« said she was so nervous she blacked out during her first speech. “Unfortunately,” she says, “my speech was on the effects of LSD. My classmates thought I was doing a demonstration and laughed hysterically, until I didn’t come up off the floor.” That experience spurred her on to overcome her fear. “I now speak before large audiences, TV, radio and I just did some speaking where I was televised via satellite around the world. So, it’s pretty exciting.”

Marty M. Fahncke« suffered from stage fright so bad he thought he’d never be able to speak in public. “That was back in school in public speaking class,” he says. “When it was time to stand up on stage and present a memorized piece to the audience, I completely froze up with stage fright. I was pouring with sweat, shaking, my voice would not come out of my mouth and my brain completely forgot what I was supposed to say. I was given multiple opportunities to try and present that information by the instructor. And multiple times I failed.” He eventually overcame his speaking anxiety and now speaks regularly to promote his business.

Although the class clown, Patty Kreamer« would freeze up in class when attempting a speaking assignment. This fear followed her into adult life. In fact, she feared speaking so much she moved out of town twice in her career in order to avoid speaking for her job.

I hope you can see that you can overcome speaking ­anxiety—if you choose to. And don’t let it stop you if you feel a little nervous whenever you get up to speak. Most—if not all—speakers feel some nervous energy when getting up on stage.

Where are you on the fear scale?

On a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 means “terrified to the point of fainting” and 1 means “what’s to fear?”, how fearful or anxious does speaking make you? As you work through this chapter and this book, periodically reevaluate where you are on the fear scale. You’ll notice as you get more confident in your skills, your score will drop. Isn’t that a great thing to look forward to?

To help you keep track of your progress, download this handout “Fear Scale Tracking Sheet” here: publicspeakingsuperpowers.com/feartracker.

Harness Your Nervous Energy

“I think many public speakers, and myself included, are probably more nervous in the two minutes before they go on stage, than when they’re actually on stage,” says Dr. Gregory A. Buford«.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met any really good speaker who doesn’t admit to having some semblance of a little bit of butterflies before they go out,” says Eric Gilboord«. “I believe that if you don’t have some anxiety, you’re either a liar or you’re fooling yourself.”

Speakers learn to harness their nervous energy to enhance, rather than sabotage, their presentations. They transform this energy into something that works for them rather than against them. This is a skill you can develop, too. You can learn to harness your nervous energy and turn it into excitement, channeling it into your passion for your topic.

“Your adrenal glands are supposed to create adrenaline, which we call nerves,” says Anthony Cudjo«. “You’re nervous. That’s energy. Now, what you do with that energy . . . you can let that energy defeat you, or you can channel that energy to propel you forward in life and make you who you want to be and create what you really want out of life. So, I love when I go out on the stage and I’m nervous. I take that energy and I direct it in a positive way towards my audience. And then they bring that energy back to me in a positive way. So, it’s a synergistic exchange of energy. I tell people, if you’re nervous, that’s a good thing. You’ll never stop being nervous. I’ve been speaking for fifteen years, and every single time I get in front of a group of people, I’m nervous. So, embrace that.”

“The fear is going to be there,” Catherine Bell« says. “Your heart is going to race and if you can specifically push that into the first few words that you’re saying, I find that most effective.” Typically, people who are nervous speaking will start out with a quiet voice. As they become more relaxed, their voice increases. This can have a negative effect on your presentation. So, Bell suggests fueling “your voice with the nervous energy that’s coming through at that time.”

Laurel Clark« suggests using mindfulness and meditation techniques to control nerves. “Oftentimes, particularly when people get nervous,” she says, “they start talking really fast. They don’t listen to themselves. They stumble over their words. They sometimes can even lose their train of thought. So, the ability to slow the mind down and to listen to yourself is very effective.”

There are exercises that can help you learn how to concentrate and slow down your mind. “For example,” Clark says, “spending 10 minutes a day focusing on the tip of your finger. Or sometimes people use the second hand of a clock. Or a candle flame. Having some object to focus on for even 10 minutes a day. It’s amazing what that does to be able to slow down the mind and to focus.” This is a simple form of meditation that, with practice, can help you master your mind and nervous energy.

Nancy Daniels« suggests learning to breathe to control not only your sound, but also your nervousness. “Shallow or lazy breathing, which is typical of the majority of the population, actually increases your stress,” she says. However, if you breathe slowly from your diaphragm, you can fool your body into calmness, while improving the sound of your voice.

Some nervousness is good, Daniels says. Breathing in this calming, supportive way can harness your nervous energy to work for you, taking your presentation to the next level. “The secret though,” she says, “is controlling it. And that’s what the breathing allows you to do.”

Tia Brewer« also uses breath to calm her nerves. She uses it to help her visualize speaking to friends or loved ones. “I’ve got some buddies that they’ve invited me into their living room to inform them about what’s going on. So, it turns into more of a conversation versus a speech,” she says. “Take a deep breath. Relax. And recognize that you know what? I’m speaking to a small group of people or one person. If you were to make a mistake it’s almost as if that group has become your family or your friends. And they’re so forgiving.”

The Audience Is Rooting for You

The audience is not your enemy, says Maria Ross«. “They are not wanting you to fail, because it’s their time, too,” she says. “When you step on that stage, they have just as high hopes for you as you do for yourself. So, engage with that and don’t start out defensively or scared or not confident, because that will quickly turn the crowd against you.”

Remember, the audience is there to hear what you have to say. “They are there to support you and for you to be successful,” says Carol McManus«. “They’re not there to harm you. They don’t want you to fail.”

Barry Maher« puts it this way: “They want you to succeed. They really do. They don’t want to watch a train wreck and sit through it for an hour, hour and a half, or whatever. They want you to succeed. They want you to be relevant. Be meaningful. They want you to be entertaining, or whatever you are supposed to be. So, they’re rooting for you there. And it’s okay to be a little human.”

“They might hate you, they might love you, they may not care,” says Joel Schwartzberg«, “but all of them, no question, they do not want to be bored. So, in that case, no matter who they are, that audience is really supporting you in that they want you to be interesting.”

Overcome Your Anxiety One Step at a Time

“Small increments and small successes create an environment where confidence can be learned at a rate that’s comfortable for the learner,” says Marilyn Wolf«. “That confidence allows and encourages the learner to try a little more next time.”

The first step in overcoming your fear of public speaking is to decide you want to do so. Then take small steps toward that goal. Speak in front of one person, then two, then five. Grow your audience at a comfortable rate so you get those wins and build your confidence.

Overcoming Speaking Anxiety Exercises

The best way to overcome your fear of speaking is to start speaking in front of groups. However, for some people, this may be too big of a first step. Here are some exercises you can do to get to the point where you can at least speak in front of small groups.

Exercise 1: You Are the Audience

This exercise helps you get used t...

Table of contents

• Praise for Public Speaking Super Powers
• Also by Carma Spence
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface The Secret Origin of Public Speaking Super Powers
• Note to Readers
• Introduction
• The League of Public Speaking Superhero Archetypes
• Part One
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Part Two
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Part Three
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18
• Chapter 19
• Appendices
• The League of Public Speaking Superheroes
• Resource Directory
• About the Author
• Take Your Next Step
• Bring Carma Into Your Classroom, Business or Organization