Public speaking. One of the few concepts that has struck fear into the hearts of many since, well, the dawn of time. This fear, or "glossophobia," affects roughly every three out of four people. But why exactly?
The purpose of this article is to explain my story and experiences with public speaking (from the highs to the very lows) in the hopes that it helps anyone out there who is also struggling with it.
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In high school I was always somewhat reserved, so the idea of presenting in front of a class used to really scare me. I remember one particular presentation in a health class where I actually let my partner present the whole powerpoint while I sat at the computer and kept the slides moving (maybe that's why I didn't do too well in that class).
It was rough but at the same time, my high school was quite small which meant that I knew just about everyone. This often made public speaking easier, and even though I was a nervous mess, I actually won a debate my senior year.
Once I arrived at college, I quickly realized that public speaking in high school (for the most part) was a joke compared to what you have to do in college. This, of course, frightened me, and I soon became one of those students that try to obtain good grades via silently sitting in the back of the classroom, hoping to avoid having to speak. I absolutely dreaded the first day of each class, where you go around the room and introduce yourself. My face would turn red, and my words would come out all jumbled around.
Probably my worst experience with public speaking happened my sophomore year of college. Being a Spanish major, I was required to take a conversation/debate class (which was all in Spanish, of course), where participation was an enormous part of the grade. As the debates where very informally regulated by the professor, I began to realize that if you weren't assertive, you simply would not get a chance to speak -- which meant that you would receive a 0.
So one class, I tried jumping in and very quickly regretted it. From my perspective, speaking in public is hard enough, but speaking in public in a foreign language is even worse. While my point started out strong, I began to stumble with my words, and soon felt my face turning red. Anyone who suffers from face reddening knows that once it starts to happen and you're consciously aware that it is happening, you become even more nervous. I looked around the room, realized how many people were staring at me, and seriously almost passed out. All I was able to blurt out was, "I'm sorry, I'm falling..."
Ugh.
What I had meant to say (in Spanish, not English!) was that I was struggling with my words, but instead of receiving sympathy and reassurance, I received a bunch of strange glances from my classmates and the professor.
To this day that story makes me cringe, but luckily enough time has now passed where it has become a distant, yet horrific, memory. It also works great as a self-deprecating one-liner. "Hey, did I ever tell you about that time in my Spanish class when I almost passed out and yelled 'I'm falling'?"
Since that infamous day, I've made it my goal to become a better and more confident public speaker. How? Unfortunately, the only way to get better at speaking in public is to do it. A lot. So I've since become a global ambassador for the Office of International Education, which means that I travel to random classes and give presentations hoping to convince students to sign up for study abroad programs. It requires that I be engaging and persuasive, and needless to say, has helped my abilities and confidence immensely.
I'm also taking a public speaking class this semester, which to my surprise, has so far not been even close to horrible. While as of now I've only given one speech, I'm sure that I will only continue to improve as the semester goes on.
I think that we spend so much time over-thinking and over-stressing about things (even things that are extremely insignificant) that our final performance is negatively affected. This was certainly the case for me with public speaking.
Honestly, ask yourself, why are you so afraid? What is the worst thing that could happen? You get so nervous that you don't just say "I'm falling," and you actually do pass out? Ask yourself: is even that going to matter in a year? Or two? The answer is no.
If anything can be taken from this article, just remember this quote from Lucille Ball: "I cured myself of shyness when it finally occurred to me that people didn't think about me half as much as I gave them credit for. The truth was, nobody gave a damn. Like most teenagers, I was far too self-centered. When I stopped being a prisoner to what I worried was others' opinions of me, I became more confident and free."
