Conquer your battle against Glossophobia: 5 easy steps

Conquer your battle against Glossophobia: 5 easy steps

Do you get jitters just by the thought that you might have to speak in public? 

Do you think that you might choke on words while speaking on stage even though you are a good orator?

You need not worry, these thoughts are quite normal. This fear and anxiety that you feel in speaking in front of the public is known as Glossophobia. This word is derived from two Greek words ‘Glosso’ which means ‘Tongue’ and ‘Phobo’ which means ‘fear’.

People having these traits might hesitate in speaking in public, take the center stage or might even drop the in hand opportunities. There are several physical and verbal symptoms of Glossophobia. 

The physical symptoms that a person with the fear of speaking in public might experience are as follows:

1. Increased heart rate
2. High blood pressure
3. Dilation of pupils
4. Acute hearing loss
5. Dread and trembling
6. Sweating on hands and forehead
7. Nausea or Vomiting (severe cases)
8. Hyperventilating
9. Dizziness
10. Muscle tension
11. Panic attack
12. Using the washroom frequently

The verbal symptoms that a person might show are as follows:

1. Dryness in mouth 
2. Feeling energy less
3. Weak tone of voice
4. Quivering or shaky voice
5. Vocalised pauses
6. Stammering 
7. Using hesitation words like ‘umm’

If you are someone who has experienced these symptoms in past while speaking in front of a large audience or in a public gathering then you might have the fear of speaking in public or we can say that you have Glossophobia.

But if you always wanted to become a motivational speaker, then the first step for you is to overcome the fear of speaking in public.

These steps that I have mentioned below will help you to conquer the battle against Glossophobia:

Step 1: always start small. Start speaking in small gatherings. Ask your family members and friends to listen while you speak. This will help you to boost your confidence and will prepare you for the big opportunities.

Step 2: when you think to become a motivational speaker, the first thing you need to do is to find a perfect topic on which you want to speak or on which you want to motivate others. When you have a pre-defined topic then you will get plenty of time to prepare your speech and when you are well prepared then you will not face any problem in speaking in front of your audience. Also, you will be confident about what you are speaking because you prepared well.

Step 3: Understand the fact that there is no need to memorize the whole speech. Just remember the key points and memorize the examples that are associated with those key points. With this habit, you will save a lot of time and thus get more time to practice for the speech.

Step 4: build a habit of taking deep breaths just before going on the stage. This will help you to reduce your stress and will also clam your body down.

Step 5:  Another important thing to keep in mind is that keep your audience engaged. While delivering your speech taking time to interact with the audience, this will make you and the audience comfortable with each other and will also help to build a connection with each other.

Bonus Tip: start listening to a motivational speaker and carefully notice their body posture, style of speaking, how they deliver their speech and how do they conduct their sessions. With this, you will get to know about the little details of being a motivational speaker.

You can also book a motivational speaker through StarClinch, India’s largest Platform to book artists.