I was talking about fear of public speaking with my younger daughter recently. I inadvertently overestimated the percentage of people who suffer from it. I said 75%. The actual best estimate is 40%.
She came up with a great aphorism: “Most people would rather be in the coffin than deliver the eulogy.”
I have never understood fear of public speaking. I have been speaking in front of groups of people since Mom had me address her psych class when I was 6—67 years ago. Never had jitters or butterflies. I have been drawn to public speaking in all of its forms my entire life. Full auditoriums do not faze me; ditto microphones or television cameras.
Just counting the large audiences:
- A thousand people when I was the MC at a variety show in high school.
- Thousands of people on various radio stations since I was 14.
- Hundreds of people at trade show sessions, including a dozen in Japan.
- Thousands of people during my recently concluded decades of announcing for the Danville Community Band.
- Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, during my various TV appearances (see column of the right side) including these. Notably, eleven years of weekly software reviews on public television’s Computer Chronicles.
From time to time it has been suggested that I was “ceaselessly self-promotional” or a narcissist (now that we as a nation have seen a real narcissist up close, I don’t expect that critique again). I’d say it I just enjoy entertaining/informing groups of people of any size.
At this point, a better man would offer public speaking tips: pretend the audience is naked. Just talk to one person in the front row.
I am not a better man. My tip: win the genetic lottery. The big prizes are health, intelligence and athleticism. Public speaking is a lovely parting gift, like my Maytag washer from Jeopardy!. Like that parting gift, the gift of public speaking has brought me joy for decades—and maybe provided some joy to others. (Well, OK, the washer hasn’t brought joy to others, that I know of).
Comments
I bet the washer has brought joy to everyone who thereafter stood downwind of you! :-)
What helped me most overcome my knees-knocking public speaking fear was a three-week course in theatrical fencing (via the local then-outdoor Publick Theater, who had just done a production of, IIRC, The Three Musketeers. Back at MIT, freshman year, I took two semesters of fencing/archery for the gym requirement; interestingly, the moves theatrical/performance fencing are in many ways the opposite of real fencing -- here, the goals are to be more dramatic, and, more pointedly, to be safe -- avoiding/minimizing the potential for hurting your opponent. It was a fun course. I quickly discovered muscles I didn't know I'd had...because they hurt! And, it feels like, having had one or more people on the stage poking at me with long pointy objects, standing up with a microphone was no longer quite as scary.