Chapter 3 Public speaking, what do you lack?

Before you give a public speech, do you find your heart racing, shaking, sweating, and dry mouth?If you have any of these symptoms, you've developed stage fright—and there are other symptoms, of course.Yes, the very word "stage fright" can make us nervous, because of our inner sense of insecurity, lack of courage and self-confidence. Only a well-prepared speaker can have complete confidence.This is like going to the battlefield with an unusable weapon and no ammunition. How can we win a battle?Throwing away the speech might forget a few points, and it might sound a bit rambling, but at least it would be more human.Lincoln once said: "I don't like to listen to a dull speech. When I listen to a man, I like him to fight the bees."

At the graduation party of a training class in New York City, a graduate faced about 200 people and said frankly: "Mr. Carnegie, I came to the door of the restaurant where you gave a speech five years ago, but I didn't dare to go in. Because I was afraid if I went in to participate in the training class, and I had to speak in public. Therefore, my hand was always on the doorknob, and I was afraid to push the door in. In the end, I chose to turn around and leave. If I knew that you can easily overcome my fear, I would think I wouldn't have wasted five good years." When he said these words, he looked very relaxed and confident.I think this person must be able to improve his ability to deal with affairs through the language skills and self-confidence he has learned.As his teacher, I certainly enjoyed seeing him face up to his fear and overcome it.Think about it, if he had conquered his fear 5 or 10 years ago, he would definitely be more successful and happier now.

You have to remember, you have to succeed, you must be able to succeed.To develop confidence and courage, act as if you really do have that confidence and courage when you address your audience.Believe in positive psychological hints, and use other people's experience and other methods to help you overcome stage fright. Emerson once said: "Compared with anything else, fear crushes people more." What a helpless fact! Little did I know when I started adult education in 1912 that this training could be successful in helping people overcome their fears and low self-esteem, but I discovered that learning to speak in public helped people overcome nervousness and build courage and self-confidence.Why is this?Because public speaking allows people to effectively control their inner fears.So I decided to dedicate my life to helping people eliminate this dire threat in public speaking.

In fact, it is not difficult to speak in public. Through years of hard work and training, I have mastered some practical methods that can help people quickly overcome the fear of speaking on stage.In fact, as long as you operate according to this method, you will get very significant results after just a few weeks of training. Below I will make these methods public and share them with you. According to a university survey report, 80 to 90% of the students who take the speech class will have a sense of fear when they first take the class.In my adult education class, when the public speaking class first started, the proportion of students who were afraid of going on stage was even higher, which can be said to reach almost 100%.From this we can see that the fear of public speaking is not an isolated phenomenon.

In fact, there is an advantage to maintaining a certain level of intimidation when speaking on stage.This is because we are born with the ability to cope with environmental challenges. When we feel our pulse speed up and our breathing quicken, we don't have to be nervous at all, because this is a normal response of our body to be alert to external stimuli. Preparations are being made for the upcoming operation.If this physical preparation is in the right state, you will think faster and speak more fluently because of it, and you will speak better than usual. Many professional speakers candidly admit that they've never quite gotten rid of their fear of speaking on stage.Before almost every speech, they feel some kind of dread, and that dread persists until the first few sentences.

Why do we feel fear?The reason why I am afraid of public speaking is mainly because I am not used to it.For most people, public speaking is an uncertain factor, so anxiety and fear are inevitable in the heart.Professor Robinson said in his book "The Breeding of Thoughts": "Fear is born of ignorance and uncertainty." Especially for novices, they have to face many complex and unfamiliar environments, which is much more difficult than learning to play tennis or drive a car.Therefore, only through practice, practice, and practice can you turn this uncertain factor into a certain factor, so that you can feel relaxed and natural.At that time, he will find that public speaking is no longer a pain, but a joy, as long as he has the experience of speaking successfully.

The outstanding orator and famous psychologist Albert Edward Wiggle was called up by the teacher to give a 5-minute speech when he was in middle school.But when he thought of speaking in front of so many classmates, he was very scared.He described it this way: "When the day of the lecture drew near, I fell ill. Just thinking of that dreadful thing made me dizzy, my cheeks burn, and I ran to the back of the school, and pressed my face against the cold wall, So that the blush on his face faded as soon as possible. "It was still like this when I was in college. Once, I memorized the beginning of a speech seriously. But when I faced the audience in the audience, there was a sudden buzz in my head, and then I didn't know where I was. I managed to squeeze out an opening sentence: "Adams and Jefferson have passed away..." I couldn't say another word, so I had to bow to the audience and answer with a heavy heart amid thunderous applause. to my seat.

"At this point the headmaster stood up and said: 'Well, Edward, we are so shocked to hear this sad news. But we will do our best to mourn.' Then there was a lot of laughter. I really wanted to die Come on, but I did get sick for a few days that time. "At the time, the last thing I could have expected in the world was to be a public speaker." But a year after Albert Edward Wiggen left college, the city of Denver launched a "free coinage" campaign.He thought the "liberal coinagers" were wrong, and that they only made empty promises.So he scraped together the money for the trip, and went to Indiana to give a lecture on sound money.Many of the audience were his old classmates.He recalled:

"At the beginning, the scene of my speech at the university reappeared in my mind, and the fear almost suffocated me. I stuttered and couldn't wait to run away from the podium immediately. However, I managed to finish the introductory part, although this It was a small success, but it immediately bolstered my courage to go on. I thought I'd only have about 15 minutes, but I actually spoke for an hour and a half, which amazed me. "As a result, in the next few years, a miracle happened. I actually made public speaking my career. I finally realized what William James meant by the 'habit of success'."

Albert Edward Wiggle finally realized that the best way to overcome the fear of doom in public speaking was to first gain experience of success and keep himself motivated by it. When speaking in public, it is normal to have a certain degree of fear, and what you have to do at this time is to use this moderate fear to make your speech better.Sometimes, even if this feeling of fear is out of control, and even causes mental blockages and speech slurs, muscle spasms and other serious conditions, and thus seriously affects your ability to speak, you need not despair.These symptoms are common among beginners, but as long as you spend more time, you will find that this fear will soon be reduced to an appropriate level, at which point it will become a motivation rather than a resistance.

If we give a public speech without adequate preparation, it will undoubtedly intensify our fear.Because we will face more uncertain factors.At this time, we may be just like the love letter written by some people that Rousseau satirized: "I don't know how to start, let alone how to end." Since 1912 I have, for professional reasons, been a reviewer of more than five thousand lectures a year.This experience taught me one of the most important lessons I discovered: Only a well-prepared speaker can have complete confidence.Lincoln said: "If I have nothing to say on the stage, even if I am old and experienced, I will be very embarrassed." If you want to develop self-confidence, why don't you prepare your speech well in advance?Daniel Webster also said, "If I show up in front of an audience without being prepared, it's like I have no clothes on." Here are a few suggestions that will help you better prepare for public speaking. 1. Sway freely according to your thoughts. Does "adequate preparation" mean reciting speeches word for word?of course not.Many speakers prefer to write their speech down in order to give a good speech, so as not to leave their minds blank in front of the audience.Once you make this mistake, you will waste time preparing for it, and in doing so you will just ruin the presentation. In fact, speaking in public is just like we usually talk to people, it is also very natural.We should be able to think without having to think about words.When the mind is clear, language flows out unconsciously, like the air we breathe. I've heard many people memorize their speeches when they speak in public, but I don't know anyone who throws the speech in the wastebasket and speaks more vividly, effectively, and with more humanity.Lincoln likes to listen to the speaker to play freely and casually, giving a passionate speech. 2. Make the content of the speech flow smoothly. You must pay attention to those meaningful experiences in your life that have given you guidance about the connotation of life, and then collect and organize the thoughts, ideas, perceptions, etc. in these experiences. The really useful preparation is thinking about the topic of the speech.When Dr. Charles Reynolds Brown gave a public speech at Yale University many years ago, he said from his own personal experience: "Think carefully about your topic, and when it is mature, it will emit the fragrance of ideas... and then briefly summarize these ideas. Write it down carefully, as long as you can express the concept clearly...Through this sorting, those scattered pieces are easy to arrange and organize." That doesn't sound too difficult, does it?In fact, it is really not difficult, just think about it. 3. Scenario simulation training before the speech. A little focus and thought is all you need to make sure you're on the safe side, so why not tell a friend or colleague what you're talking about?Of course, you don't have to tell them all, just say to him during the meal time: "Hi, hello, do you know that something unusual happened to me yesterday?" You are sure to have friends around you who might want to hear your story.At this time, you can carefully observe his reaction when listening to your speech, and ask him what he thinks about the content of your speech, maybe he can give you some valuable suggestions.He doesn't know you're rehearsing, and even if he does, he might say "oh, that's interesting" to you. I did not conjure up such a piece of advice, the eminent historian Alan Nivens offered similar advice to writers: "Find a friend who is interested in your speech, and describe what you have to say in as much detail as possible. In this way, you can help you uncover insights that you may have missed, debates that you could not have foreseen in advance, and find the format that is most suitable for telling this story.” In the face of public speaking, we are always first defeated by our inner timidity.It's not that we can't, it's that we're full of fear, so training in the above method will allow you to take this crucial first step.