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Does your forehead perspire at the mere thought of speaking in public? Public speaking anxiety is one of the most common fears afflicting people.

It stems in large part out of concern we may have of how other people think about us. Will we screw up? What if we forget what we were going to say? Or lose our place in our script. What if our voice breaks, or we freeze in our tracks.

Well the truth of the matter is that any of these things could happen. And if you’re lucky a meteor will fall though the roof and relieve you of your agony. The “what if” game can be paralyzing. If you have a serious problem you may need to seek professional assistance just as you would if you were actually paralyzed. But for most people, the “what if’s” are manageable. The key is to focus less on the “what if’s” and more on your message.

In most circumstances, you need not memorize every word of your speech. Instead focus on the content of your material. Know what you want the audience to get from your presentation, and memorize your outline rather than the words.

Practice explaining each of the points in your outline over and over, out loud or just in your head. Each time you do this it may be different. But you will discover a variety of ways of saying the same thing. Then when actually in front of the audience, you can cover each point in succession talking not from memory, but from a reservoir of memories which will remove the fear of loosing your place in a script or forgetting a line.

Perhaps the best tip about dealing with public speaking anxiety is to point out that the most important participant in a speech is not the speaker, but the audience. They are the empty bucket that must be filled with the ideas you are presenting.

If you will know people in the audience, imagine giving your presentation to them individually. Then think of them in a group of other friends, and then in a section of your audience. See them with a smile on their face and an encouraging attitude. Imagine yourself giving the perfect presentation. This is one time when positive expectations will do wonders. Your own positive thoughts can go a long way is quieting public speaking anxiety.

And while you may imagine yourself giving a perfect presentation, the odds are you won’t. And that’s okay. Accept the fact that even professional speakers stub their toes on occasion. Don’t sweat the small stuff. If you lose your place in a prepared text, just pause, take a deep breath and take a moment to find it. The audience isn’t going anywhere. They will wait. Then carry on.

Public speaking is like any other skill. The more often you give presentations the easier it will be to overcome you public speaking anxiety.

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The most effective way to overcome the fear of speaking in public is to speak in public. While the first few times may seem a bit challenging, you will discover the process to be a liberating one in the long run.

The fear of speaking publicly is one of the most common and deepest felt fears in the general population, and yet when most people actually do it, it turns out to be not so bad.

Very few people self-combust on stage. And while some people may forget a key phrase or even and entire section of their speech, the audience is often oblivious to the fact.

And if it is something that is noticeable, the audience tends to be very forgiving. Half of them because they are glad it’s you up there and not them. They give you credit for daring to do what they are afraid of. The other half, who have experience talking are as likely to remember how scared they were when they first started out. They will tend to see themselves, and identify with you. And even if there is a boor or even two in the crowd, ignore them. Their opinion isn’t worth didly.

Good preparation is your best bet if you are exhibiting anything more that normal fear of speaking in public.

Start with your content. What is the single most important message you want your audience to take away from your presentation. That should be highlighted in you speech title, the introduction and your closing statement.

Supporting points, three to five in most shorter speeches should all be supportive of the main argument. Memorize your opening and closing, but not the main body of your speech. Fear of forgetting a line can be eliminated by not needing to memorize lines.

Instead for each of your main points, rehearse by telling you audience what you want them to know about each point. You can say it differently each time you do it. In fact, that’s a good idea as it will help you come up with different ideas as to how to say it best.

You need to be clear on why each support point is in your presentation and then explain that to your audience within the bookends of your introduction and close.

In the introduction, you tell them what your going to tell them. In the body you actually tell them, following the bullet points of your outline, and in the conclusion your tell your audience what you want them to do about it. This is called to call to action. Then you recap by telling them what you told them all over again with one final call to action.

This basic formula has helped countless people overcome their fear of speaking in public.

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You’ve been tapped to give an address to your annual horseshoe club’s banquet and find yourself experiencing high anxiety speech fears. What do you do?

Here are six quick tips.

Decide on one main message you want to deliver. If they forgot everything else, what one item would you want them to take away. Once you decide on that, you can build your entire presentation around it.

Focus on your audience, not on how you perform. Think about how they well benefit from the information you are going to provide. How they will use it, why it will be important for them. Even if it’s not earth shatteringly important, your message will help them expand their appreciation of your theme. You are giving them a gift of your insights. They will be pleased to receive your input.

Your not going to be perfect, so don’t sweat the small stuff. Even is you have a big gaff, forget a key line or loose your place, so what. Your audience has seen it before and if anything will feel more embarrassed for you that you will. And what’s more they will forget it a lot sooner as well.

Before during and after, keep in mind positive thoughts. This is one area where positive mental attitude really does help, and the converse hurts.

Take some deep breaths before it’s your time to speak. A couple of positive self affirmations before hand help many people. Something like, “I like Myself” or “I’m going to knock them dead,” etc. can help give you that mental boost just before you walk on stage.

In general, I recommend against memorizing any but formal speeches. But do memorize your beginning and ideally your end. For the rest of it, remember your key topics. Keep a note card with the outline in bullet points, if necessary. And then just discuss each point from the heart in your own words. This can help give your presentation a nice natural flow.

Of course you will want to run though those thoughts a number of time and try out different ways of saying them. During your actual speech, you will borrow those points that flow together the easiest.

Another key ideas is to harness the power of your high anxiety speech. Convert nervous leg twitching into an excuse to walk away from the lectern or podium to approach the audience. On the other hand, if its trembling palms you need to combat feel free to anchor one on the deck, podium or lectern, but keep the other free to make gestures. Ideally, switch hands after a while or let go altogether. With practice the natural adrenaline rush of speaking in public can be used to give you an “edge” in your presentation. Try to focus the anxiety speech events cause you into a productive force.

Finally, identify a few friendly faces in various sections of the audience. Move your eyes from one to the other. And visualize them smiling at you, even if they aren’t. This will cause you to have good eye contact with your audience and will allow you to see positive feedback as you scan the room

In the long run, the best cure for high anxiety speech fears is to get experience giving talks. Each additional speaking occasion will reduce the anxiety level, until you actually look forward to your next speech.

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The fear of public speaking is a common trait, and can become a personal roadblock affecting your career and social life unless confronted head on.

The ability to effectively communicate ideas and concepts to multiple people is a critical leadership skill, one which when mastered can help you advance in whatever career you seek to pursue, whether public speaking is a large or small part of the day to day tasks.

A group leader within any organization must be able to communicate that organizations immediate and long term objectives to the assembled team. This communication may be as simple as the days assignments, or more complex outlining corporate strategy and seeking employee input on critical functions.

In any of these communications, there are always at least two major components, the message and the delivery. The source of many people’s fear of public speaking springs from their inexperience with one or the other of these two elements.

The better you understand the material, the easier it is to communicate it. The more confidently you present the material, the more likely the message will get through to your audience.

If you are in an entry or mid level to level job, your ability to communicate with your fellow workers and help them understand and perform their tasks is a characteristic your employer will appreciate.

Recognizing this, it’s imperative that you work to build your personal skills. The first step is to focus on your audience. The odds are that you know some of your fellow workers better than your manager or boss does. If nothing else, you probably get to hear some of their franker feedback.

Much that is said in the workplace and in every day life is misspoken and/or misheard. When you notice such circumstances think to yourself how it could have been better said to communicate the message. If the speaker is speaking over someone’s head or using jargon, imagine how you might have said it better.

The goal of public speaking it to communicate, and if you pay attention to how your co-workers or friends react to someone else’s presentation, you will begin to pick up useful tips on how to be more effective yourself in a similar situation.

So the speaking task requires not only knowing the material, but also the audience. Your goal is to connect the dots between the two.

The second source of fear is that of appearing foolish. If you have a handle on your main message and focus on your audience, the odds are that you won’t actually have any problem with this. And if you do, take solace in the fact that people’s memories are really quite short. At the worst, you may get some ribbing from your friends. But no worse than if you were to fall off the proverbial horse. The secret is to get back on, and seek out another chance to speak again.

You will be surprised at how forgiving your audience will be. After all, many of them share your fear of public speaking and will sympathize with you. And the experienced speakers in your audience will smile inwardly as they recall how they too, at one time shared the same fear of public speaking. The only difference being that they, like you had the gumption to actually get up and speak, despite their fear of public speaking. These are the people who will recognize you for your efforts and keep you in mind when advancement opportunities present themselves.

Effective communications is important in all organizations. Your willingness to overcome your fear of public speaking is one of the surest ways to advance within any organization.

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