The Fear of Public Speaking

I talk a lot more than I would guess a person who stutters generally talks. I pretty much talk non-stop. (I sing non-stop, too, which I think annoys more people than my stuttering ever could!)

I love to talk, and don't mind talking with a lot of family, friends or coworkers all at once. But one thing I've never been very good at is talking in front of a group of strangers.

And as a person who stutters, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that I really don't enjoy the thought of getting up in front of crowds and speaking. But as it turns out, I'm not alone - almost everyone hates the thought of public speaking. There are countless books about how to overcome your fear of speaking in public, tons of websites out there devoted to it, and there's even the age-old adage of imagining the audience in their underwear - although if you ask me, that has a whole separate set of consequences associated with it. It seems like it would be much more embarrassing to be aroused up on stage than to stutter!

I guess it depends on the audience.

I'm thinking of all of this right now because I just got a magazine subscription offer in for Fortune Magazine, and it came with a little card that says, "3 Skills You Can Improve Right Now" and the the first skill shown is Public Speaking.

One of the things this little card says can help conquer your fear of Public Speaking is to make eye contact. I think that's good advice for conquering normal conversations, as well. I have a lot of secondary characteristics, as I'm sure many stutterers have, and one of them is that I blink a lot or clinch my eyes shut while trying to get a hard block out. Sometimes I just look up at nothing, which is what I'm assuming this little card is addressing. My therapists have always stressed eye contact, but it's nice to see that non-stutterers have to be reminded about this every once in a while as well.

Now, I don't know about you, but one thing that I'm really horrible at is remembering another person's name when I first introduce myself. I'm so concerned about getting my name out correctly that I usually miss what the other person is saying.

One of the other skills on this little card is Memory Skills. It says that to help remember the other person's name, introduce yourself first so that you can focus on the other person. Good advice - and not just for people who stutter.

I think people who stutter could actually be very good at public speaking, because to me, the general public's fear of Public Speaking seems very similar to the fear that a lot of us stutterers have about normal conversations. If we can nail down some of the techniques that our therapists have taught us, then what difference does it make if we're talking to one person or to thousands of people? The same skills are necessary.

My homework this week is to try to make better eye contact while speaking and to try to introduce myself before the other person (and hopefully remember the other person's name). I'll let you know how it goes.