tonia asks:
I am taking a class where I have to act in front of people. I considered dropping the class cause of my stage fright and fear of acting in front of people, but if I can find a way to do it now then I won’t have to take this class next year. I fear public speaking so much but I know that if I could become just a little more comfortable then I could learn to act and speak in front of people. Thanks. Tonia
Answer:
This is probably the last thing that you want to hear right now but absolutely the best thing you could do right now is to practice speaking in front of people as soon as possible. In fact, the sooner you get up and talk in front of people the better if you want to overcome your stage fright quickly.
Many people recommend joining a group like Toastmasters which can be a good idea but it can also work against you. They do try hard to provide an atmosphere filled with positive feedback, but unless you are really secure with yourself and open to learning from others, you might end up interpreting the feedback as negative criticism.
What I did to overcome my fear of public speaking is to come up with a short presentation about a topic I knew alot about, which at the time was “how to build a website”. Then, I invited 6 of my closest friends (the ones I trusted not to make fun of me) over to my house to listen to my presentation. They all knew in advance that they were coming to hear me practice so we had a really positive atmosphere right from the start. At the end of my speech, I passed around a feedback survey which asked them for their impressions and suggestions.
Speaking in front of a group of people that I knew gave me the practice and the confidence that I needed to speak in front of a real audience. Hope this helps.
