Public speaking is a fear that seems hard to overcome at times, but really it can be an easy thing to do. Speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking or the fear of speaking period. With self experience from my public speaking class in school,  I know how hard it can be to speak in front of a group of people. In my opinion the two hardest things to do when I publicly speak is starting it off and remembering what I want to say.

There are many useful tips to overcome this fear. Ways to help with the fear is to get organized prior to the speech. Be organized by having everything you need to, such as all the information about your topic, statistics, story behind it, your timing (if there is a requirement) etc.

Another way to overcome this fear is instead of looking at people in the crowd, look at things around them, such as their forehead instead of their pupils. In other words, basically fake making eye contact with the audience. For me, this really helps because I’m not staring anybody specific in the face, and it relieves some of my nerves.

The worst thing that can happen during a speech or while your publicly speaking is when you forget your line. Learning and knowing your lines is very important. It prevents you from humiliation and embarrassment. My advice is to use little note cards with your topics or notes on it. They’re useful and less distracting than a piece of paper, or even forgetting your lines all together.

Learning how to speak in public without fear is an important skill to have. You have to have courage in yourself and in your speech. It’s not always easy to do, but there’s always ways to help you to handle the fear.