There was this one time at band camp when I had to give this speech, but I wet my pants just before I stepped on stage. Uh, not really. The band camp thing is from "American Pie," which I'm sure you remember. And although I've never been to band camp, I still have a few embarrassing stories. Actually most of them revolve around class presentations and my public speaking phobia. So many of us have these, but I'm going to tell you how to get rid of them. After all, who in the world wants to go through life, scared of a crowd?
It all started back in junior high school. I'm not so sure why I never had trouble with it in grade school, but I definitely don't recall it being an issue. Maybe it's because we don't feel little kid eye's judging us. Or maybe we know they just don't care. Then when we hit puberty and begin to really grow up, something changes. Suddenly we're worried what everyone thinks and we're trying to act cool at all times. In comes the public speaking phobia. I was giving a 15 minute presentation in 8th grade English class on knives and their history, when out of the blue, I was petrified. I peered up to see an entire classroom of students with all eyes on me. This is the point I realized that any mistake I made would be scrutinized. Suddenly my head began to jitter. Yeah, I said head, not hands. My hands were just fine. I never even knew my head could tremble. I had to look like a total moron up there. Regardless I went on to finish, shaky head and all. Luckily no one said anything, but they had to have noticed. My public speaking phobia reared its ugly head on occasion from there on out. Sometimes I was nervous and other times I was totally fine. It really depended on my mood at the time. I must say that I was relieved that my public speaking phobia did not show up when I had to give a one hour presentation in a college course called "Contemporary Women in Film." I was the only guy in this class and that would have been humiliating.
How can we squelch this public speaking phobia once and for all? Well, you may not like my answer, but here it goes. Take a public speaking course. They offer these in college and they help countless individuals. I've heard plenty of stories. It's all about facing your fear and becoming comfortable with yourself. You need confidence when speaking before others. Ah ha, you thought I was going to say picture the audience naked, didn't you?
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