Fear of public speaking

Is public speaking your number one fear?

It is for a lot of people.

I suffer from nerves, but have learnt to use them to create passion and to keep my mind focused.

But in writing an article recently on the causes of fear of public speaking, I had to include the fact that the fear, or at least aversion, runs in families.

This was something I had pointed out to me many years ago. It made me think about my situation and brought back memories. My grandfather and aunt taught “elocution” many years ago, and I heard stories about my grandfather reciting poetry at concerts and special events, so the concept of standing in front of an audience wasn’t alien to me – hence the lack of fear.

And I assume that the opposite occurs. If children see their parents avoiding public speaking, and expressing fear and lack of confidence, then they will take on the same behaviour.

Over the years of practice and research, I have learned there are strategies that overcome the fear and the nerves and I practice the ones that work for my situation, and train in the ones that apply to each individual case. So it was fun to put them all together in the article. You can read it online.