CHALLENGES IN PUBLIC SPEAKING

Public speaking, is part of our management in communication course in Lagos business school. It  was an eye opener to some of us that hasn’t quite exposed ourselves to lot of public formal speaking.  Public speaking is the act of communicating information to a live audience, either physically or via an online platform.

As humans we tend to show some sort of anxiety, nervousness or panic to speaking in public to a large audience. Sometime people are not even aware of some of their limitations to public speaking, either due to having being quite good at shying away from such opportunities in the past and thereby not being aware of the limitations and to intentionally work on those weakness. I understand some people are more natural at engaging large audience, most  aren’t.

After my presentation, I had to make a little research of solution to most common challenges to public speaking and below are a few of my findings:

1. Nervousness and anxiety Solution: To combat nervousness and anxiety during public speaking. It is encouraged to practice your presentation a few times ahead of the actual presentation, either alone in front of a mirror or video record, or friendly audience. This helps us to master our material and to build confidence.

Also, taking deep breath before the live presentation begins. And try to focus more on the message you want to convey and the needs of the audience.

• Technical Difficulties Solution: Though, this is more peculiar to online presentations, technical difficulties can throw a wrench in even the best-planned presentations. To avoid them, prepare for the potential issues by doing a run-through of the devices and internet connect prior to the presentation. Make sure you have all the cords, adaptors and other equipment needed in place.  Although, issues like internet connection cannot be fully resolved as most are unforeseen.

• Display of poor body language: This is mostly peculiar to the physical presentation or online that requires one to stand while presenting. Working on body posture during presentation can be improved by practicing in front of an audience, a mirror or some friendly audience. I good mastery of the body language can to a large extend aid in engaging the audience during the presentation.

Though, this list above is not exhaustive, it fixes most of the very common challenges people face during public speaking and suggests possible corrections.

Thanks for now…