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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