Nicki Cawood, Author at CURLY AND CANDID

Do you really struggle with public speaking? If so, you are not alone. Glossophobia is a widespread fear that affects one out of every four people worldwide. It makes you feel a sense of nervousness just at the thought of public speaking. Suffers can experience some emotional and physical symptoms such as sweaty palms, anxiety, and nausea. In extreme cases, you may suffer from a panic attack. While you may want to be a fearless public speaker, the reality may be different from your expectations.

Once fear takes over, you will find yourself forgetting your lines, stumbling as you head to the stage, or even getting a blackout on stage. Thankfully there are ways that many have found helpful to dial down the fears boost up confidence.

Techniques on How to Deliver Your Speech With Confidence.

Make Adequate Preparations

Practicing your speech over and over again is one of the best steps to tone down your fears. Make sure you can recite your speech without thinking about it. Practicing in front of a mirror may be a confidence boost, but a crowd gives it a realistic feel.

You can enlist help from your friends or family to act as the audience and provide you with feedback on the areas you are not doing right. The Speakers Agency can as well give you an excellent platform to practice in front of new people.

Do Not Try To Be Perfect

The fear of speaking in public often arises from trying to make everything perfect. However, we are all human and can make mistakes. Rather than focusing on the worst things that could happen on stage, once you make a mistake, you need to focus on the best thing that can happen. You will get to show people that you are also human and are capable of making mistakes. By being realistic about your fears, you can reduce their effect as you go up the stage to perform.

Do Not Memorize Your Script

Speakers use scripts in their speeches since they fear to forget what to say before large crowds. However, a script does not prevent you from forgetting. When you are anxious, it may not be of help. The best approach to using a script is not reading from it word to word. You may lose your connection to your audience, making you panic and not know what to say next.

The right approach is having a list of themes on your script or connecting sentences. When your speech is from your heart instead of your mind, it becomes more authentic and shows you are passionate about the topic. This works whether you are at a networking group or speaking in front of a large audience.

Understand Your Audience

Your choice of words, humour and presentation style will always be under the influence of your audience. You, therefore, need to understand the audience you are speaking to in detail. You can research the members in attendance, or the type of content other speakers are presenting before creating your content. By understanding who you are speaking to, you will have enough confidence to deliver your speech.

You only need to tone down your fears and increase your confidence if you want to succeed as a public speaker. Very few people are 100% comfortable with it and I would guess that many who appear confident might not have always felt it. You can get immediate help from professionals that can help build up your confidence.

Your period – the one week (if you are lucky) of the month than most women dread. I’ve never met anyone who looks forward to their period and all that comes with it, i.e the pain, the cramps, the hormone swings. For some, it’s accompanied by headaches and nausea, too. We haven’t suffered enough, right?

For some women, the pain of their period is more than what a couple of paracetamol can fix. It’s more than just a day or two of bad hormones and eating all the chocolate. It’s a chronic pain condition, with no seeming end to the pain for two weeks a month. The worst thing about it is that chronic pain is often a symptom of a larger issue, so what some women think are just bad periods is actually something bigger. PCOS, something I have is one example. Endometriosis, another, is a condition where the cells that are usually found in the lining of the womb decide to toddle off to other parts of the body where they are not welcome. They’ll bleed no matter where they are in the body, which means that those with endometriosis are in severe and chronic pain.

So, how do you tell what’s normal (bearing in mind all women are different) and what’s not? How do you know what you’re feeling is just your period and not endometriosis?

If the pain is getting in the way of your daily routine, you need to think about whether this is something that you can manage or not. Pain happens with a period, and sometimes that pain takes your breath away. However, if you’re fainting, throwing up or unable to move from the foetal position, then you need a doctor to see what’s going on.
Your cramping is supposed to be in your stomach, lower back and possibly the tops of your legs when you have your period. Exercise, painkillers and sleep should help. With endometriosis? The pain can also be in the liver, the lungs and other areas of the abdomen that don’t involve the pelvic organs.
Period pain is cyclical, so the week leading up to/during/after your period is usually filled with hormones, but the actual cramping is usually going to occur on the days you are physically bleeding. With endometriosis, you’re dealing with possible scar tissue which can cause pain whenever it wants to.
Pain after sex should always be reported to a doctor, and if you have pain after regular sex, you need investigation. Endometriosis can cause this, and it may not flare just on your period but the rest of the month, too.
Lastly, if you experience pain while you’re on the toilet, you need to speak to the doc. It may not be endometriosis-related, and it may not be period related, either. Speak to the doctor and you’ll know whether the pain you feel during your bowel movements while on your period are normal or not.

Don’t be dismissive when it comes to your period if things don’t seem right or you are experiencing more pain than expected.

Showing all posts by Nicki Cawood

Public Speaking Tips