Researchers show the immobilize fear of public speaking impairs your wages by 10 percent and impacts your promotion to management by 15 percent.
Isn’t that statistic staggering and ironic? Why ironic? This executive skill clearly is the very expertise that will aid your career in soaring! There’s no question today’s work environment holds executives accountable for delivering more powerful messages than ever before.
Are you content allowing fear to rule the outcome of your career? If you’ve come to realize this specific fear limits you from being all you can be, then you can’t afford to remain stuck and silent. It’s time to start speaking up. Without question, shrinking into the shadows instead of standing stage center eliminates the opportunity to influence and inspire others.
The good news is you can overcome your dread of public speaking if you choose.
It turns out you’re not the only one who finds standing up and speaking in front of others a fearful situation—76 percent of even experienced speakers feel some level of fear before giving a speech!
Consider the different response of two great singers. First, is the songstress extraordinaire, Carole King, who is the writer or co-author of over 400 songs. Her extreme stage fright caused her to say, “No” more often than “Yes” to live events. Fear kept her off stage when so many of her fans wished to experience her talent on stage more frequently.
On the other hand, Bruce Springfield, “The Boss,” has the same jumble of feelings before performing; yet instead of interpreting them as debilitating stage fright his narrative says it is the juice that makes the performance great!
These two artists reveal very different internal conversations regarding the same stressor.
In business, you cannot afford to stay behind the curtains, as Carole King does—that is if you want to have a voice in your company.
- Reframe Your Perception: Stop defining your reaction to public speaking as stressful and scary. Start embracing those unpleasant, churning feelings of fear as an essential element to the build-up to a great talk because it is.
- Be In the Groove Of You: There’s no question public speaking is challenging, but often we forget that “who we are” is more central to a successful presentation than the “content” itself. We spend time practicing all the facts and figures—and yes, with the addition of these stats, audience retention increases by 20 percent. However, you can nail the facts, but if you’re not exuding personality, you’ve lost their attention. Your first impression counts, so opening with healthy doses of you is the secret to your success.
- Fine-Tune Tone of Voice: Strategically lowering the pitch of your voice as you emphasize vital points. By doing so, it aids in embedding the thought for your audience to easily recall what matters in your talk.
- Stop Talking: Beware of consuming all the “talking space’ because you’ll experience an engagement drop of 14 percent. When you encourage your audience to interact with you, they gain ownership of the concepts.
Discover how much power you gain as you chose to move toward the front of the room. Enjoy your new level of clout in the organization. Hello, leader, it is good to have you in the mix.