After you know about an unusual way to overcome fear when giving a speech to strangers, this article will offer some fresh insights into what to do when you have to deal with a difficult situation like in an interview.
If you imagine yourself talking to the crowd, you will find everything easier. But life does not happen in fantasy. It does not happen that way.
And this becomes a reality until you are forced to speak in front of a crowd. It is possible that in an interview for a job, you are required to check presentation skills. Or you’re a teacher and tomorrow is your first classroom session officially. Whether you are going any career path that might be, inevitably there will be days you have to stand up onstage and say something.
Me too, I always avoided the opportunity to appear in front of a crowd. One reason is for fear, another reason is because I’m an introverted. Of course, many good opportunities have passed in my life.
My story of speaking in front of a crowd
Until graduating from university and looking for a job related to teaching English.
I remember very well that when I once passed the CV screening round and move to the interview. The first challenge of that day was to teach in front of the recruiting members of the company where I was applying. When I thought about my audience were the recruiters, I became extremely nervous.
At that time, I was burdened in terms of psychological pressure. I felt as if they look at every action, speech, gestures, facial expressions and body language of mine because my audience were recruiters of the company, one of them was the recruiting manager.
I do not know what word to use to describe the feeling at that time. Believe me! It was quite different when the person sitting there is observing every word you say and scoring your performance strictly. That is much different than the fact that you present to an audience sitting there to learn from you and show respect to you. But now you are being assessed and it creates tremendous pressure.
In the interview session on that day, accompanied with me are other candidates. As I sat and watched while they were presenting, I was even more worried. Because I was the next presenter, that means I had to be more creative and be more different.
Well, I was under extreme pressure from employers, and another pressure comes from those presented before me. And I asked myself:
How to overcome the fear of speaking to a crowd?
Because of having the opportunity to face this challenge, I learned how to deal with such a difficult situation related to public speaking.
- If possible, you should be the first who volunteer to present when other candidates are waiting for their turn to present. Fear is like a poison. The longer you keep it inside of your mind, the more control it takes on your body and your thought. The more you delay, the larger fear becomes until it paralyzes you completely. Instead, take action right from the start. Let’s first put yourself on stage and speak up before fear could invade you.
- Prepare as smoothly as possible. At least you have to know when to stand on stage is what you need to do with your presentation, flipchart, board and Do not let yourself depend on unsteady emotions or temporary improvisation. Do not dream about moments of ecstasy. Be realistic and well prepared. When you know exactly how to say opening, how you lead your speech, how you need to mention examples, that means you’ve mastered over 70% success ratio for your presentation.
- After doing all the preparation, remember to smile. First of all please smile at yourself in the mirror. When you see your smile, you will feel more confident about yourself.
- Choose a position to stand on stage. Take a look at the stage and imagine beforehand you will stand up in any position. That place is called the zone of confidence. When you really step up and stand right in that position, you will have a very good heart at the start of your speech.
Those are four ways for you to overcome public speaking anxiety when it comes to presenting in front of many people. Especially when you are attending a competition or an interview and audience who sit in front of you are those who evaluate your performance.
Well, I’m sure you still wonder my results after the interview I mentioned above. I want to share with you that after applying the magical tips, I passed the interview and got the job as I wanted!