Glossophobia- The Fear of Public Speaking

“All Great speakers were bad speakers first”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Imagine you are standing in front of a crowd, be it large or small to give a speech. You are trying your best not to back off. You know you’re prepared well, even feel confident and comfortable with your content, and yet you doubt yourself. The crowd scares you, your legs are shaking, and your mind starts to go blank. It’s as if they are shooting lasers out of their eyes, as if your every move, every action is being scrutinized. For a moment, you don’t remember what you’re supposed to be doing. You start sweating, doubts start running in your head. “What if I make a fool out of myself? What if I forget something in the middle?” You might feel nauseated, maybe even feel like you’re about to faint. Panic has taken hold of you. So what do you do? Adrenaline rushes in to do its job. Will you believe in yourself and fight it, or will you just flee the scene?

If your choice was to take control and continue with your presentation, you are already one step ahead of many others out there. Keep practicing, and no one can stop you from achieving what you want. Even if you chose to give up, it’s fine. Public speaking can feel intimidating. We’re here to help though, and hope this article will be your first step towards overcoming your fear of public speaking.

Before diving into the details, let us comprehend precisely what public speaking is. Public Speaking refers to giving a presentation in front of a live audience. This could be in either virtual or real environments. Over the years, public speaking has played a significant role in education, government, business, and many other sectors. Words have the power to inform, persuade, educate, and even entertain. Spoken words are often more powerful than the written ones, especially in the hands of the right speaker.

At one point or another, we all would have wondered where this fear of public speaking comes from. Evolution psychologists believe there are primordial roots to this fear. Our prehistoric ancestors were vulnerable to large animals and harsh elements of weather. Their essential survival skill was to live in a tribe. Rejection from the group led to death. Speaking to an audience makes us vulnerable to rejection, much like our ancestors’ fear. We need to realize that speaking to a crowd isn’t life-threatening. And this can be achieved only when we give ourselves a chance to overcome this fear.

We humans have always wanted to identify things with a name. Likewise, the fear of public speaking is termed as ‘Glossophobia’. It is derived from the Greek words γλῶσσα glōssa, meaning tongue, and φόβος Phobos, meaning fear or dread. When we refer to the word Glossophobia, we must understand that it spans a broad spectrum. Some people might just feel nervous at the thought of public speaking, while some might experience a full-on panic attack. These points will surely help you irrespective of your position on this wide spectrum.

There are some misconceptions regarding Public Speaking. Many people believe they don’t have the natural ability to give speeches. Public Speaking is a skill, one that anyone can learn with practice and dedication. While some people may have more natural speaking abilities than others, anyone can learn to be a better public speaker. It just takes a little know-how and some effort.

Brace yourselves. We will now start exploring the caverns of public speaking. Broadly speaking, there are three crucial phases in public speaking, namely preparation, start, and end.

The preparation phase usually involves understanding the topic, organizing the content, and lots of practice. This is subjective and varies from person to person. Some feel comfortable writing up a rough script, while others prefer organizing content in their heads. Either way, some practice is required before the presentation.

Later comes the most crucial part, starting the presentation. If you have a good start, then the remaining course of the display proceeds with ease. It is usually the “start” that draws one back from performing the act. Once you will yourself to start, you get rid of the one big obstacle between you and your goal.

Finally, comes the time when you have to conclude your presentation. Ensure your speech makes a profound impact on the audience’s mind by arranging the content. So, the end of any presentation can be worked out with smart, careful preparation.

If you stop in the middle of your presentation, you might feel that the eerie silence has trapped you in a vortex of nothingness. Keep in mind that by the law of averages, approximately 40 percent of the audience also fear public speaking. There’s no need to apologize for being nervous. Everyone is prone to losing track of their thoughts at times. Instead of allowing negative thoughts of rejection and judgment to creep into your mind, take a deep breath, collect your thoughts and continue from wherever you left off.

Do keep in mind that like all walks of life, perfection can only be attained with practice. You can give trial presentations to your close ones (family and friends) and take their feedback. You can also practice in front of a mirror or even make a video recording of your speech to evaluate yourself. This will boost your self-confidence and will also help in making your presentation better.

The best solution to overcome any fear, in general, is to allow yourself to defeat it. There are no words to describe the happiness you experience when you succeed in trying something new, irrespective of its result. This new approach will help you make your subsequent trial better than the previous one. And if this is practiced in succession, you can see yourself reach great heights. If you have a problem with any language, more interaction with that language will help you. Assume there are 100 steps to achieve success, then 99 steps are just a mixture of practice and failures. It’s just one step you need to climb to overcome your fear.

एक कदम कामयाबी की ओर

Translation: “ONE STEP TOWARDS SUCCESS”

Public speaking is like a slide in a playground. Preparation is the ladder you climb to reach the top of the slide. Climbing up, everything looks scary and crazy. You are often tempted to back down and try something else. But once you sit and give yourself a push, the ride is unforgettable. The rush and happiness you experience cannot be described. So, whenever you are trying to start a speech, imagine yourself as that little kid who wants to slide down to the hands of their mother who is encouraging her kid to be fearless. If you could do it then, you can do it now.

Paraphrased by,
Krithi and Sneha