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The National Social Anxiety Center ranks Glossophobia or public speaking anxiety (PSA) as the most common phobia ahead of death, spiders or heights. Tejwani et al determined that the frequency of PSA in residents and medical students was 17%, within the 15-30% range of the general population. When it comes to giving a talk in public, some anxiety may not be the problem. Rather, it is paralyzing fear out of proportion to the situation that becomes crippling. In essence, the Fight, Flight or Freeze instinct kicks in and that paralyses our ability to communicate.

There are likely many reasons driving fear of public speaking. Many scientists are introverts and introverts can experience extreme discomfort being the center of attention. Add to that fear of being embarrassed or humiliated, being judged for how you look, speak or the things you say, fear of being challenged and fear of rejection and the result can be a paralyzing state.

For those who suffer, can this fear be overcome? The answer is a resounding Yes. The key, as with any fear, is to face the fear directly, but under ‘safe’ conditions and with carefully limited exposure. Over time and with increasing levels of exposure, the speaker can become desensitized. The fear itself may never truly go away. But the speaker learns how to master it.

Thus, the best way to master glossophobia is to practice, practice, practice. Practice does two things, First, practice will help you master the content of your talk. This will reduce anxiety about recalling the content and you can then focus on how you will deliver it. Second, once you are comfortable with the content, you can ask a friend or colleague to listen to your talk in advance and provide you with feedback. Having a trusted person reassure you that your talk is good will help reduce your fear of being judged. You can also ask your friend to brainstorm with you to come up with likely questions and practice answering them. That can reduce your fear of being challenged.

A few additional tips:
Practice while standing up. The reason? It allows you to get comfortable in the physical state that you will be delivering the talk. Breathing, body movement and hand gestures are all different when you stand vs when you are sitting. The desensitization process is more effective when you can reproduce the circumstances in which you will deliver your talk.

Pace is critical. When you are anxious, there is a tendency to speak faster. This is partly adrenaline and partly a desire to get it over with. Speaking too quickly though makes it hard for the audience to follow you. That is where breathing is important. A deep breath calms and gives you an opportunity to reset your pace. The body language of your audience will tell you if you are going too fast or too slow.

Next, when you practice, wear the clothes that you will be wearing when you give your talk. Again, the reason is to reproduce the circumstances. Try and choose an outfit that is both appropriate and comfortable. You don’t want to be adding to your anxiety levels by also worrying about a ‘costume malfunction’.

If you are able, do a dry run of your talk in the room in which you will be delivering it. This isn’t always possible but you might be able to find a room that is similar.

On the day of the talk, if you know that you get jittery before public speaking, avoid caffeine-containing beverages. Stick to plain old water.

If you are particularly anxious about large audiences, my advice is to ‘shrink the room’. Find a person, ideally at the back of the room, and deliver your talk making eye contact primarily with them. It will feel like you are almost speaking to just that person.

Finally, if thoughts of a hostile audience come into your mind, reject them with the knowledge that your audience overwhelmingly wants you to succeed.

As always, please follow, like, repost or comment if you find this post useful. Feel free to give me feedback. And if you think I can help you with your communication challenges, please reach out here or at my LinkedIn where I am cross posting.