Deer in the Headlights
 
Deer in the Headlights

People who make their living researching what frightens people the most have made a pretty amazing discovery. Consistently when people list the top five things they are afraid of in life, they have are some pretty intimidating terrors. But you would think that death would rank number one on that list. But death doesn't take number one, it has to settle for number two. Amazingly, the number one thing that terrifies most people is not death, it is public speaking. A popular comedian once said that this means that people would rather be the guy in the casket at a funeral than the guy giving the eulogy.

If you have ever been in a meeting listening to a speaker, you can usually tell if they are terrified. They will get up there and you will see that "deer in the headlights" look. You know that look. It is one of extreme fear, panic, and terror so profound that the person is frozen in place unable to speak of move. And if you have ever been that guy or gal in front of a group giving the "deer in the headlights" look, you know the feeling of terror that happens in front of a group of people can be pretty awful.

So if you know that public speaking is going to be part of your job or something you have to regularly, you have to find a way to neutralize that fear and be able to relax in front of a crowd when you speak. How often have you sat and listened to a speaker who was relaxed, funny, bright and even able to field questions with no difficulty at all? It's easy to admire that kind of public speaker and think that he or she has some magical powers that you will never get. But they don't have magic. That speaker has just learned some techniques for neutralizing those fears so he or she can appear relaxed and as though he or she is having fun up there. It's not an inborn talent. It's a skill which can be learned.

Of course a lot of the ability to look out at a sea of faces who want to hear what you want to say and not feel sick comes from experience. But experience teaches you things that you can at least understand before you become an old pro at public speaking. One of those things is that the crowd out there doesn't know what to expect. If you broke down why you feel terrified in front of people, it's that you think that they think they know what they want and that you are being judged.

But to understand what people really expect when they are looking at you at the podium on stage, just remember the last time you heard someone speak. You had no predefined idea what was about to be said and you probably had no outline or any frame of reference what that speaker was going to say. That means that even if you don't deliver your speech perfectly, they will never know that! As long as you don't let on that you are nervous or not sure about your material, they won't know if you got it wrong. If you forget an entire segment of your speech, as long as what you do say flows nicely and they never know you forgot it, the people listening will think your speech was just fine and will probably applaud.

Also remember that you are not really speaking to a group. The group has no ears. You are speaking to several individuals. When you are listening to a speaker, you are one person listening to one person. That is how each person in that audience is receiving you, as individuals. So if you speak to them as though they are one person, not a crowd, your presentation will be warm and personal and very successful. And the crowd will like you to which helps a lot.

Just remember that their expectations of you are fairly low and for the most part, people hearing you speak want you to succeed. So smile at them, use a bit of humor and use that little insider tip to relax up there. And when you can relax, you can actually have fun at public speaking rather than wishing you were the guy in the casket instead.

PPPPP

Word Count 742

Search
Recommended Resources
Becoming Larger Than Life To say that there is no ego in a person who does public speaking regularly or ...
read more

Create a Problem and Then Solve It How well your presentation goes the next time you step up to a ...
read more

Deer in the Headlights People who make their living researching what frightens people the most have made a pretty amazing ...
read more

Don't Fear the Pause If you listen to experienced speakers, it's easy to see some real differences in how they ...
read more

Effectively Using PowerPoint The software application PowerPoint has been a revolution in public speaking particularly in the business world. PowerPoint ...
read more

Give Them a Bit of You There is a good reason that public speaking is a superior method of presenting ...
read more

How to Write a Speech You cannot excel at public speaking without a good speech. If you are asked to ...
read more

If you Like Them, They Will Like You When you see experienced public speakers, sometimes it seems they can cast ...
read more

Illustrate, Illustrate Illustrate When a speaker loses an audience, too often it is a mystery to him. But for the ...
read more

It's all in the Voice Maybe one of the most common occurrences that happens in a public speaking situation is ...
read more

Maintaining Focus in Public Speaking A public speaking situation can be intimidating for even the most seasoned of public speaking ...
read more

Make Them Laugh In the delightful Broadway musical "Singing in the Rain", there is a song called "Make em Laugh" ...
read more

Making a Living as a Public Speaker The wonderful dearly departed comic Chris Farley had a character that was a ...
read more

Marketing by not Marketing Many times local civic organizations look for experts from various businesses to come and give a ...
read more

Public Speaking Means Never Saying "I'm Sorry" In the romantic movie, "Love Story", a phrase about love was introduced that ...
read more

Public Speaking Quirks We all have our little vocal style that makes us unique. How often have you heard someone ...
read more

Put Some Snap Into It. The difference between a public speaking presentation that bores you to tears and one that ...
read more

Reading to an Audience Public speaking is counterintuitive. That is to say what your intuition tells you is a good ...
read more

Shooting From the Hip There is a style of public speaking that absolutely terrifies a lot of people. But when ...
read more

Speak With More Than Your Voice There is a bit of a misperception about the phrase "public speaking". The misperception ...
read more

Tell Them Something They Don't Know When an author is trying to come up with a topic for his next ...
read more

The Greatest Public Speaking Secret of them All Any guide to success in an endeavor will tell you that there ...
read more

What's Your Problem? How you approach that moment when you stand up to give a speech depends a lot on ...
read more

When Things Don't Go as Planned One of the greatest fears we face when speak in front of a crowd ...
read more

Where to Look When You Speak When you are giving a presentation or speech, your body language and how you ...
read more

Main Menu
Home
Sitemap


website monitoring
Articles
Becoming Larger Than Life

Create a Problem and Then Solve It

Deer in the Headlights

Don't Fear the Pause

Effectively Using PowerPoint

Give Them a Bit of You

How to Write a Speech

If you Like Them, They Will Like You

Illustrate, Illustrate Illustrate

It's all in the Voice

Maintaining Focus in Public Speaking

Make Them Laugh

Making a Living as a Public Speaker

Marketing by not Marketing

Public Speaking Means Never Saying "I'm Sorry"

Public Speaking Quirks

Put Some Snap Into It

Reading to an Audience

Shooting From the Hip

Speak With More Than Your Voice

Tell Them Something They Don't Know

The Greatest Public Speaking Secret of them All

What's Your Problem?

When Things Don't Go as Planned

Where to Look When You Speak

 

Disclaimer: The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.

This site is a common sense guide to Deer in the Headlights. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.

This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.

Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.

Home| Sitemap|Budget Hosting

7.my © All Rights Reserved.