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Ashley Keane

Comp 1 Pd. 3

Mrs. Cramer

10 Nov. 2017

How to Survive Public Speaking

“For many people, public speaking is a fate worse than death.” According to most

Americans, public speaking is their number one fear (Cosnett 15). If you do not get anxious

when you are about to speak to an audience, you are one of few. Since a great amount of people

suffer from the fear of public speaking, extensive research has been done to evaluate why we get

nervous and how we can enhance our ability to present to an audience. It is agreed that in order

to better your public speaking, you must know your material, your audience, and your own

ability.

First of all, the root of the problem had to be found. Why do you get shaky? Why is it that

suddenly you cannot find words to describe something you knew nearly everything about just a

few minutes ago? “It’s the fear of being ridiculed and being wrong, you have to communicate

your thoughts in a logical manner, and you’ve seen others fail at giving speeches” (Gard 18). Not

only have you seen other people fail at giving speeches, but you have also most likely been

mocked or laughed at in your life. Maybe you just get anxiety around large groups in general.

You are faced with unrealistic expectations from the social norms that cause you to panic. Mark

Forsyth mentions on page 23 of his work that when you take someone out of their comfort zone,

so to speak, and put them in a more formal setting, they feel the need to talk properly.

Surreptituously, we have no trouble finding the words to say without hesitation, but we are not
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under pressure in this instance. When we are asked to address an audience, we feel the need to

step up and impress everyone with our formal language, when in all honesty we are all just

normal people. When we feel like it is expected of us to speak formally, we often fumble for the

proper words because that lingo is almost foreign to us. Public speaking is relatively foreign to

most, which is why it is important to know the material you are presenting like the back of your

hand and rehearse your speech many times prior to the event.

Just like everything in life, if you do not practice, how can you expect to be perfect? (Or

as close to perfect as you can get considering we are human.) This goes for public speaking as

well. If you do not prepare yourself well, you will not be able to succeed. That is why one of the

keys to a great public speech is to practice, practice, and practice some more. Give your

presentation to your family, yourself in the mirror, or even your dog or cat. You can never have

too much rehearsal time and repetition is vital to remembering your information.

Along with practicing, you obviously must know what it is that you have to present. “The

starting point is to know your subject” (Cosnett 20). Knowing your material is extremely crucial

because it gives you something to fall back on when your exact “planned speech” fails. Say you

were presenting and you forgot what you were supposed to say next, if you have a large base of

knowledge on the subject, you can continue speaking and still stay focused on the topic. If you

do not do this, you will be left searching for words to say, which in turn will make you even

more flustered. Also, if you do not have an extensive awareness of the subject, you cannot be

creative with your word choice, nor create analogies, etc. These would help the audience to

better understand your points of information and the topic as a whole.

Even if you know your information forward and backward, if you do not know the

audience you are speaking to, your presentation could still be ineffective. “If you don’t, you may
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find that you talk down to audience members, or that your presentation is over their heads. Either

way, you lose them” (Cosnett 20). It is essential to analyze your audience because your goal is to

inform them. In order to do so, you must make it intriguing to them. Gary Cosnett wrote an

article that says you must “speak their language” in order to be even the slightest bit influential.

You should do research or an analysis of who will be attending your presentation prior to the

date.

Additional to knowing your audience, you must make a personal connection with your

audience. In addition to knowing your audience, you must make a personal connection with your

audience. “Nobody will ever hear you until they know you” (Muth 15). Chuck Muth mentions in

his work that you should go out of your way to establish a personal connection with your

audience members prior to presenting your information. Now what exactly does this mean? Give

your audience a little bit of background information on yourself. For example, talk about

experiences that have led you to this topic, challenges you have faced, or maybe something

simplistic that people can relate to. For political campaign speeches, candidates can ask

themselves why they started in politics or what their inspiration is and speak about that. This is a

tool that grabs the audience’s attention and keeps them listening and absorbing information.

Think about it this way; you choose to spend more time with the people with whom you have a

connection with and things in common with. This

Lastly, but possibly the most important, is your own self confidence. Like mentioned

above, in paragraph two, we fear being ridiculed. We have already defeated ourselves before we

even stand in front of the crowd. We get too caught up in what we believe other people will say or

think that we forget how much potential we have to demonstrate a grandiose presentation.

Suddenly, your focus becomes the things you do not know, as opposed to what you do. You have
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to give yourself credit for what you do know, and not destroy yourself over the “what ifs.” Give

yourself credit and know that you have valuable skills and the ability to produce a great

presentation. Relax yourself beforehand. Using deep breathing techniques and relaxing all of your

muscles will help you to become more focused on yourself rather than others (Gard 18). In

consciously relaxing yourself prior to the presentation, you may find it easier to speak.

In conclusion, public speaking is an art that most people have yet to master, but if you

know your material, your audience, and your own abilities, you can succeed. There is a technique

behind it that takes much practice, but it is within reach of everyone to present a successful public

speech. Even though public speaking may be a "fate worse than death," it definitely is not as

difficult as it seems.
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Works Cited

Cosnett, Gary, et al. “A survival guide to public speaking.” Training & Development Journal,
Sept. 1990, p. 15+. Educators Reference Complete, Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.
Forsyth, Mark. “The curse of public speaking: Put an ordinary person in front of a microphone,
and they start to talk in pompous cliches.” Spectator, 30 Mar. 2013, p. 23. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context, Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.
Gard, Carolyn J. “Do You Need to Psych Yourself Up to Give a Speech?” Current Health 2, a
Weekly Reader publication, Sept. 1999, p. 18. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, Accessed
25 Oct. 2017.
Much, Chuck. “To connect with your audience, tell ‘em your story: making a personal
connection will go a long way.” Campaigns & Elections [2010], Sept.-Oct. 2012, p. 15.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context, Accessed 25 Oct. 2017.