They always say that the thing that people fear most besides death is public speaking. How many times you see someone get in front of a crowd and that once confident powerful person turns into a nervous wreck and uses every nervous word in the book, such as "umm", 'so" and "you know"? Being able to speak publicly opens up opportunities as a leader, as a sales builder and most of all an inspirational mentor that people look to.
I recently joined my local Toastmasters, which is one of the larger more respected public speaking groups around. I still have some fear getting in front of people, but I am much more seasoned now compared to three or four years ago. Ever since I started my own business and had to learn to network and to get in front of people, my confidence grew. I learned that as long as you knew a lot about the subject I was speaking about and you did not read notes, chances are I would do a great job engaging the audience.
Toastmasters is a great program since they have processes like Table Topics and the Icebreaker, in which you are put on the spot and had to talk about a subject that was selected that day. The audience critiques you but does not criticize you. The whole point of the exercises are to make sure you feel comfortable presenting in front of people. I recently completed my IceBreaker speech which was titled "How I Was Influenced in Helping Others". It was an easy topic considering my family and wife have influenced my greatly with their compassion for life and helping others. I have found myself much more compassionate in helping others in the past few years. I have faced a lot of adversity in my career the past four years with two layoffs and with starting a couple of businesses. I looked back at where I was in 2006 compared to now and felt I have grown as a professional and am now more successful than ever in my career. Because of where I am in my career and because of groups like Toastmasters, I think I have conquered the fear of public speaking, at least for now.
