Advice for public-speaking anxiety

curiouser
Sun, 20 Feb 2011 14:53:03 +0000

In my job, I was often required to present information to very high ranking individuals in my company. I was always nervous, to the point that I routinely didn’t sleep a wink the night before. I did practice, prepared well, but just couldn’t seem to shake the nerves.

I did try Toastmasters for awhile. I can appreciate some people really do love it but it was too structured for me. Ultimately, I took a short term class on public speaking.
The very first class, we were each asked to articulate our specific goal in taking the class. Not surprisingly, mine was to be able to sleep the night before I was doing a presentation. THAT would be my measure of success.

This course, although short, got to the heart of each of our relative “phobias”. I didn’t expect this one class to solve a problem several years in the making, but I can honestly say I felt it got me 90% of the way there.

I haven’t had to give any presentations for awhile now (no longer working there), but I feel I’ve retained the best of that seminar and would feel pretty comfortable if asked to speak again.

I totally agree that “fixing” this problem, makes life much easier! I’m so glad I took that class and wish I’d found it sooner. It was a course offered for business professionals and I don’t recall the organization now. But I’d focus on something like that, rather than a college-credit type class that’s a semester long (I’d taken one of those too, in college, and for me, it made my fears intensify. However, part of my success might have something to do with simply getting older!).

Good luck to your D and props to you for trying to help her solve this.