Public Speaking (Dale Carnegie's special)

                             Ways to Develop Self Confidence in Public Speaking

" A person who can talk effectively before mass or public can obviously talk confidently before a group or a individual "-Dale Carnegie. This saying really worth a lot for the one who wants to be successful to talk confidently. Talking or expressing self to others is that tool gifted to humankind by which he can achieve infinite success in his life. For example, a person is talented, he has many talents but just lack to express himself before others, this means all his talents are of no work or just lie dormant. Therefore, to develop personality, public speaking is the topic or tool which can't be left aside. I have read many books of Dale carnegie which are really motivational and inspires me to write and post here in my blog. I say these books are practical rather theoretical. And, this post is also based on in one of his book, i am just a medium to express his gift and contribution to the society and my experiences too.
Well, there are lots of phobias and fears which become blocks in human success and personality development, and in public speaking also, fear is one major factor which creates hazards. "Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world"--Emerson, so if we are able to transform this emotion into something positive, then only success follow us in whatever we do or willing to do. In public speaking, fear of audience is the main reason for self-consciousness.


 Dale Carnegie's quick methods to help overcome stage fright and develop self confidence in few weeks of practice.


1) Get the facts about fear of speaking in public:
 Reasearch and surveys done in colleges indicate that eighty to ninety percent of all students enrolled in speech classes suffer from stage fright at the beginning of the course--- You are not unique in your fear of speaking in public. A certain amount of stage fright is useful. Many people when need to speak for the first time in stage get nervous. It is nature's way for preparing us to meet unusual challenges in our environment. So, when you notice your pulse beating faster and your breathing, don't become alarmed, at this moment, a special kind of hormone ( adrenalin) releases by adrenal gland which activates our para-sympathetic nervous system. This action actually preparing or boosting us to face obstacles or emergencies. Your body, ever alert to external stimuli, is getting ready to go into action. If this physiological preparations are held within limits, your mind will be capable to think and decide faster, talking more fluently and generally speaking with greater intensity than under normal conditions.
Many professional speakers also mentioned that they never completely lose stage fright. Its always present just before they start speaking, and may persist for some sentences of their talk. This actually works as booster. "Be like race horse not a draft horse", race horse also needs to be hit before it starts to run.


2) Preparing yourself properly:
i. Never Memorize a talk word for word--Preparing perfectly doesn't mean to memorize in a parrot fashion. Speaking in public is a creative job. You need keypoints, or keywords of what you are going to present and elaborate these on the basis of your knowledge,experiences,environment which is always hidden in your subliminal memory. The man who writes his talks and memorize it is just wasting his time and energy, and counting disaster. Stress due to fear leads to nervousness generally make you lost your memory ( this is why our mind becomes vacant initially when we are giving exams and looking the question paper at a glance, and when we keep on solving, we gained some relaxation which leads to returning of memory and we solve the queries ). So, in public speaking also one needs to relax himself before speaking, remembering the keywords and describing it. All our lives we have been speaking spontaneously. We haven't been thinking of words. We have been thinking of ideas. If your ideas or knowledge is clear in the particular matter we are gonna speak, the words come as naturally and unconsciously as the air we breathe. If we memorize our talk word by word, we'll probably forget it when we face our listeners, even if we don't our presentation will be robotic or mechanical, we can be seen as our body language express us that we are memorizing something before our listeners. Because, whatever we say at that time wont come from our heart, just come from our memories.


ii) Assemble and arrange your ideas beforehand--- Now, before making any talks either easy or complicated, all you need to do is to search your background for significant experiences you have gained about life and esp. relating to the subject matter you are about to talk, then assemble your thoughts, ideas, your convictions, that have welled up from these experiences. Dr Charles Reynold Brown said " Brood over your topic until it becomes mellow and expansive,then put all these ideas down in writing, just a few words, enough to fix the idea..put them down on scraps of paper-- you'll find it easier to arrange and organize these loose bits when you come to set your material in order." So,recall your ideas with feelings and intensify your vigor and confidence.


iii) Predetermine your mind for success--- Relax and visualize your talking with eyes closed for some time beforehand. Visualize the crowd, the heads and affirm your mind that all them are your followers. Take some deep breaths, the hear the chattering or voices in crowd, see yourself standing in front of them and speaking effectively without hesitation. Step up and hear their applause and finally again visualize your successful speaking. This really works, this technique is just to make your mind ready to accept the condition about to come, and relaxation is very important not only in public speaking in everything we do.


3) Lose yourself in your subject:
After the subject has been selected, arranged it according to plan, and rehearsed it by " talking it out" with your friends, your preparation is not ended here. You must keep practicing and one way to do that is before mirror. Before mirror, you will perceive your body language clearly and vividly, look into your eyes and talk whatever comes in your mind regarding the subject matter. Think in mind that, you are contributing something positive to the society, after your talk or speech, the society will get something optimistic message.


4) Keep you attention off negative stimuli which can upset you:
For example, thinking of yourself making errors of grammar or suddenly coming to an end of your talk is certainly a negative projection which can hamper your self-confidence. Thats why positive visualization and affirmation is important as i described above also. Its especially important to keep your attention off yourself just before your turn to speak. Concentrate on what other speakers are saying, point out important fact from them, note it and if possible merge it differently in your turn.


5) Act Confident:
 Profound psychologist, Professor William James, wrote "Action seems to follow feelings, but really action and feeling go together;and by regulating the action, which is under the control of will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is involuntary indeed." This the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully and to ac and speak as if cheerfulness were already there. Therefore, to feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end, and a courage-fit will very likely replace the fit of fear. 


These are just some tips on how one can talk and speak effectively, but only by going through this techniques without applying it on day to day activities is like writing in water, which will fades no matter how genius you are. Apply the above mentioned proved methods whenever you get chance. Keep practicing and keep developing yourself!!!