What Are The Causes Of Public Speaking Anxiety
Having the symptoms of public speaking anxiety is extremely common in most people. Such anxiety spells can hit children as young as 5 years old to adults who are in their fifties or sixties. The fact is that making a public speaking speech requires a practice and a certain degree of courage. Think about it, how many times in your life do you need to speak to a crowd of hundreds or even thousands? The thought about it makes you scared doesn’t it?
To put things in perspective, speaking in public is not just about the ability to handle a huge crowd. Other examples of smaller scale public speaking activities can include a child reading out her essay assignment in front of the class, a sales executive introducing his company’s products in front of his customers or even a radio deejay entertaining an audience which in this case, they do not see one another. Small as they are, such crowds have the ability to leave you with a public speaking anxiety.
Unfamiliarity, strangers, unknown
These words definitely sound familiar. Public speaking usually requires speaking to a crowd of people whom you do not know. Without having talked to these strangers, you do not know their personalities, likes or dislikes and everything they have in mind is unknown to you. Before you start, these unfamiliarity factors have bred public speaking anxiety into your mind.
Self confidence
Self confidence is a nemesis of public speaking anxiety. The more confident you are, the less you feel anxious about it. Having self confidence is really a mix of factors like how much you understand about the crowd you are addressing, what degree of knowledge you have about the topics discussed and most importantly, your personality and ability to carry yourself in and out of any discussion.
Since young, some people are receptors of public speaking training even without knowing such as team leaders leading a group of scouts in school. These appointments make way for exposure in addressing smaller crowds which in turn bring about more confidence as time passes.
Bad experiences
This might not be foreign to you. In fact most people who have public speaking anxiety have previously had bad experiences with public speaking. The embarrassment or humiliation of a single public speaking event could have led them to fear public speaking for good. Regardless how much they practice for public speaking events they are not able to overcome the feelings of stress and anxiety.
Desire to perform
The example of a sales executive introducing his company or product a major customer clearly shows that he is trying to impress his audience. Representing his company, he has to choose his words carefully while delivering his proposals to his customers. Therefore, he needs to overcome the public speaking anxiety for his customers to not only have confidence in him but his company and products as well.
There are many methods to overcome the fear of public speaking anxiety and stress. Sometimes, all it needs is a tweak in the mindset. Besides to practice public speaking, you can observe how other people express themselves in a public speaking event.
If you are still facing public speaking anxiety despite all the efforts you have tried, take a look at how public speaking help can address this issue.
