Knees are trembling and palms are sweating: a familiar situation for students when speaking in front of audiences. Speaking is intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.
Overcoming your fear of speaking isn’t easy. Nonetheless, you can become a better speaker, and hopefully in the long run, defeat nervousness.
Hand gestures are very effective in getting your point across easily. Many call the use of hand gestures “thinking with your hands”. It conveys a message to the listener and aids an individual’s thought process. In addition, people who gesture with their hands are often perceived as friendlier than those who do not.
Projecting your voice and enunciating your words are just as essential as your message. Your information is useless if your audience cannot clearly understand your speaking. Plus, it is important to articulate with a natural and neighborly tone to show some personality—speaking like a monotonous robot will do you no good. Your goals as a speaker should not only be to communicate the necessary information, but also to pleasantly and dynamically pronounce with confidence.
Following examples is another effective way to become a good speaker. Watching others speak will help you better understand how to do so. Like in dancing, biology labs or even cooking, it is much easier to learn if you observe those with experience.
Of course, speaking is still stressful, regardless of all the tips one can give you. Luckily, there are clubs on campus that are here to help. Model United Nations practices simulated conferences of the United Nations General Assembly with other participating schools at colleges like UCLA. At these conferences, there are many opportunities to speak. Junior Catherine Wei, the Meeting Coordinator of MUN, knows just how scary speaking can be.
“Of course, I was nervous the first time speaking at my conference,” Wei said. “But after one or two times, I realized that I could do it. It actually isn’t that hard.”
Although it can be nerve-racking, Wei enjoys speaking after finally conquering her shyness in front of audiences.
“I find it fun because I get to express my thoughts,” Wei said. “It gives me this confidence afterwards and it feels pretty great.”
In addition, Toastmasters, an international organization that exercises speaking, leadership and impromptu skills, is another club on campus that can assist students. President Sophomore Karlly Feng, joined Junior Toastmasters two summers ago. Since then, Feng has improved significantly and gained confidence.
Feng practices impromptu, a style of speech that is unplanned and unrehearsed; it is done spontaneously, using only the knowledge in your head to elaborate. Feng considers impromptu an essential ability, especially for students. Take this frequent problem for an example: A teacher unexpectedly calls on you, but you don’t know the answer. It helps if you’re able to expand on the first thing you think of.
Overall, knowing that you are in front of an audience, whether large or small, can cause stage fright, especially when you expect judgment.
“Just don’t think too hard about it,” Wei said. “You don’t need to worry about what others are thinking.”
The fear of speaking in front of people happens to be one of the most popular fears, not just among students, despite that it is really just the fear of being judged or embarrassed.
“You’re never going to be able to get over your fear of speaking if you never put yourself out there,” Feng said. “It’s good to step out of your comfort zone.”