“Performance Anxiety”

The following is an article by one of my public speaking client/customers/students. I'm publishing it here because I believe anyone interested in making income or not as a public speaker, faces these "fears". Enjoy.

Ways to Diminish your Fears

I have read another well written article by Ter Scott titled “Ten knows to Extinguish Fear” that pointed out how to help keep your “Performance Anxiety” levels down. I will most definitely use these tips in my chosen career field of Medical Billing and Coding. I will be conversing with people on a daily basis and who knows, if I’m good at what I do I might be asked to give a presentation. One of the pointers that were given in the article was to “Know your Stuff”. Knowing what you are talking about leads to less confusion and frustration by your listeners. If I don’t know what I’m talking about then how will I be able to get my point across? The one tip that really stuck out to me was “Know that your audience doesn’t have a script”. I think by keeping this in mind when presenting, it will leave the doors open to speak more freely. If everyone already knew what I was going to say, I would feel obligated to stay on track and be more worried about messing up.

There are ways to overcome our stage fright and public speaking fears but many of us just are not sure of where to start. It tends to be so overwhelming that many people do whatever they can to avoid giving a speech or even just talking in front of a small group of people. I think it’s the signals our mind and body gives us that terrifies us the most and not the people who are awaiting our presentation.

Shelly Young
“Performance Anxiety” Resources –

http://www.self-expression.com/speaking-freely/what-happens-in-stage-fright-and-fear-of-pubic-speaking/ - “Speaking Freely” by Sandra Zimmer

http://instantpublicspeaker.blogspot.com// - “Ten Knows to Extinguish Fear” by Ter Scott

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