Your Public Speaking Workout - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Dorothy Lynn & Jessica Selasky are a mother-daughter team who work together at their training and consulting firm, Confidence Builders International, Inc. Dorothy operates out of Boca Raton and Jessica out of Cincinnati. They run the business using all the current long-distance technologies.

Clients include McDonald's, Teachers' Insurance, Cincinnati Bell, Snapple Beverage Group and others. Confidence Builders offers courses in speaking, writing, team building and leadership.

The book, Your Public Speaking Workout, is based on one of the most popular seminars offered by Confidence Builders. Thousands of people have taken the course and have become better speakers.

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When Fear Takes Over
Why are so many people afraid to speak in public? What is so frightening about standing up in front of an audience and sharing ideas? Some of you are starting to shake already, just at the thought of getting up to speak.

Fear is the dread of the unknown. Fear plays games with the mind. Once the mind is involved in a negative way, it can think of a million reasons to be scared. And as long as thoughts are allowed to go unchecked, FEAR remains. We've all known people who are afraid to fly. For those of us

who are not afraid of those jumbo jets soaring through the sky, this fear seems out of proportion, especially since every study shows that flying in an airplane is safer by far than driving an automobile or crossing the street. It's not rational to fear flying. Tell that to the people who won't get into an airplane!

Fear of public speaking is real for the people who experience it. It's easy to fantasize about how stupid we'll feel when no words come out of our mouths and the audience is laughing at us, or when our ideas turn to jelly as we try to make sense of them up there,or when someone asks a question we cannot answer. Fantasy becomes reality in our minds and that's that.

When someone invites us to speak, we turn down the offer. And if we can't turn down the offer because it'll cost us a job or a promotion, we get up to speak and hate every single minute, from the onset of the assignment until we sit down at the end of the speech, bitter and exhausted. It is almost assured that, with this mental conditioning, the speech will not work and many of our worst fantasies actually turn into realities. And so the fear continues and becomes worse and worse.

How Can We Change?

What can we do right now to change this mind set? How can we begin to look forward to our speaking assignments? Tall order? For some of you, this is one of the tallest, for others, it's a matter of learning the tricks of the speaking trade and then you'll be fine with public speaking. No matter where you are on the FEAR SCALE, you can change. We've seen enough success stories to know that change is not only possible, but probable for people who are ready to learn how to speak in public. Yes, it will take time and effort, and only you know what you're willing to do to become a better speaker. If you think that just skimming through this book will do the trick, you're probably wrong. If you're willing to practice the skills we are going to share with you, you'll undoubtedly conquer any fear you have about speaking in public. It's up to you.

For now, why not take a moment to sit quietly and think about any fear you might have of public speaking. Is it holding you back from promotions or from getting the business you deserve? Is public speaking something you've been wanting to learn about for some time and just haven't gotten around to it because of some hidden fear? Or, do you have a speech or presentation coming up in the next few days or weeks and are you feeling threatened by thoughts of making a fool of yourself? Whatever the reason, take this moment to know that fear of public speaking represents nothing more than a bad decision you made at some time in your life. It is no longer reasonable for you to be afraid of public speaking. Help is at hand.

You Don't Need This Fear in Your LIfe

You can choose to eliminate the fear of public speaking forever. How would that make you feel? Imagine how it would be if every time someone asked you to make a speech, you could say with a smile, "I'd love to. How much time do I have?" If this is a goal of yours, settle on it. It can happen, and sooner than you think.