It was the year 2012…
I had just finished a keynote speech about public speaking, and a dozen people came up towards me after the speech and stood in line waiting to talk to me.
One of them actually waited until the very end of the line…
…so that he could talk to me privately about his fear of public speaking.
He was a web developer.
He came up to me and started telling me how much he learned in the presentation and how grateful he was for all the techniques.
Then he said something to me that inspired this blog article about the fear of public speaking…
He said:
His wasn’t the “typical” nervous fear either…
…he was terrified of public speaking.
I asked him to describe that fear, and here is what he said:
The things he described were painful for him to say…
…they’re painful for almost everyone to say…
…even for comedians like Jerry Seinfeld.
But, before we just go into “woe is me” mode, let’s analyze what he really said again…
…because if you know what you’re dealing with…
…it’s a lot easier to fix it.
(NOTE: Before you can present to your audience, you handle the top 10 fears of public speaking that can paralyze you and your message in front of other people. Download our proven Rx Case Study and discover the one thing that gets rid of public speaking fear, anxiety and nerves better than Xanax – and it’s free! (Lasts longer too!)
Here are those reasons again he gave for why he couldn’t learn public speaking:
He didn’t know it at the time, but he was sharing gold with me…
That’s because he was telling me exactly what fear and nerves look like on stage…
Let’s break those down into a list…
He said, “When I stand up in front of my audience, no matter how big or how small…”
- …I can’t speak
- …I forgot everything I was going to say
- …I can’t breathe
- …I can’t talk in a clear or normal voice
- …I can’t stop shaking
- …I can’t hide the excessive sweating
- …I can’t hide the color of my face
- …I don’t appear confident
At first glance, you might think these are the signs that you’re nervous…
…you’d be right AND wrong.
You’re right that they’re the signs to YOURSELF that you’re nervous.
But, your audience sees your nerves in an entirely different way.
Here’s how THEY can tell if you’re nervous…
- Shifting your weight…
- Crossing and uncrossing your arms …
- Pacing back and forth…
- Rubbing your hands, arms, and so on…
- Looking away from the audience …
- Covering or touching your face…
- Putting your hands in the Ty rex position, pockets, or behind your back…
- Loosening your collar…
- Overusing the mouse in a demo…
- Blinking excessively…
- Overusing your hands…
- Laughing inappropriately…
- Smirking…
- Widening your eyes for no reason…
- Raising your eyebrows for no reason…
- Letting your mouth hang open…
So, how do you fix this stuff?
That’s exactly what the web developer asked me right after he said this…
After hearing this, I looked him in the eyes, after everyone had left the room and I said:
He looked at me and said, “Yes, absolutely.”
Over the course of the next month, he worked through everything we talk about in this case study.
One month later, he delivered his next big presentation, and he got rave reviews.
This is the story of how he did that…
