What is it about public speaking that makes many people uncomfortable?

When I would go to speech contests in High School I usually told myself that I would never see these people again, so what ever I said would be okay. I used to do a lot of speaking when I was younger. I do not know if I would be nervous now.

THe best advice I can give is do it a lot. The more public speaking you do ; the easier it gets and the less it will bother you. So, jump up there at every chance and say a few words. I have noticed many managers do this. They never really say much but that is what they are really doing.

With so many pair of eyes staring at me, i will faint even before i begin my speech, public speaking really scare the hell out of me, i doubt i will ever overcome that fear other than uncomfortable.

I, too, entered public speaking contests in high school, and I enjoyed it. I was also a school teacher, and I think a class of energetic youngsters is one of the hardest groups to keep interested. The way I prepare myself is, first, to know what I want to say and have notes to refer to if necessary, in case my memory fails. I don't memorize. I tell myself these people have come to this event of their own free will and will, therefore be a friendly audience. So I picture the audience as a group of friends who will be interested in what I have to say.Then I talk to them as if they were that group of friends. I make eye contact with them and try not to sound like I'm making a speech. I would agree with those who suggest practing at every opportunity. See if you can practice on your family. Whenever you are given a change to say something in front of a group, take it -- even if it's giving the announcements at a group meeting or saying a few words at a church service. Try to connect with them and you will feel they are with you. Try to put the group at ease by making them laugh, if it's appropriate. I think the most important thing is being passionate about what you have to say. If you don't care about the subject, it will show and no one else will care either. Remember this, too. Strangers are just friends you havent' met yet -- not enemies wanting to devour you.

I've heard about it. I think it was a real research and this result impressed me too. For me, to die is much worse than to speak in public. I have spoken in public sometimes and I think I always will feel a little uncomfortable, mainly in the beggining. After you started and realized it was not bad, you relax and can do a better job. I believe it is normal. Two years ago I was talking with a teacher in my college who teaches about 15 years. He said he felt uncomfortable before each class, but all his students, me include, think he is a great teacher. I don't have a technique, but I think more you do, better you get. The most important thing is to have a good knowledge about the subject you are going to talk, beacuse it gives you confidence. You realizes you can solve the doubts of your audience, so you don't need to be afraid. Happy mytlotting.

you can speech alone before a miror with a subject. Speaker louder and act your performance natturally. Don't laugh at yoursefl. Be confident to think there is noting to laugh.

Every time I had to address a crowd I would remind myself that they came to listen to me and if they had't thought I could say something that would help them, they wouldn't be there. This gave me enough self confidence to walk onto the stage and say the first few lines of my opening. Of course if they had booed me or walked out I would have been in tears, but luck was that never happened. When I was teaching night school the first class was always terrible but by the second class it was just like visiting with friends. What most of us lack is self confidence, so one thing I did that helped my alot was honestly say, I'm here and I'm scared so please give me a chance and I'll try to make this interesting and fun for you. Most times people would at least smile at me and that would be all I needed to go ahead. Blessings

hey, that was one of the best trick to imagine people with audience..haha.. I was also one of uncomfortable to talk in front of public but now I have already overcome this..One of the key tips, I think is to build confident by always practice speech in front of anyone.After a while it will become more natural than before..There are few tricks just like yours, but mine one is always try to see the hair of audience instead of their eyes..However , it will become natural and no problem contact audience eyes..another one is just like, do your homework, prepare anything and write keynotes on small paper then you can take a glance of it if you are nervous... Have a nice speech and goodluck..

I think it's the fact that most of the people care about the others persons opinions. So, when you are talking in public, that's the moment of maximum exposure that someone can have, so, it can be pretty awful moment if you are not secure enough of what you are going to talk about. Sometimes, even when you know exactly what you are going to speak, you still get very nervous. For me, for most of the persons, with some practice, speaking in public become a easy task. But, there are some persons that no matter what, still stay very nervous and their hands start to shake and their face get red. For that, have some remedies that can work for them.

I have had my moments too when stage fright really just mess up my speaking engagement. I had the privilege to speak for one good cause and other times were to preach in a church. I do that because I'm really active in the church. I felt like it's really uncomfortable for people who have not experienced it yet, but in the course of time, having done this once or two and frequently will help a person to overcome the stage fright. That's when I saw myself feel comfortable and confident after 10-15 minutes in front of my audience. You just need to see for yourself what it is that will help you feel at ease. In my case, I regard my audience as my lovely supporters because they will always learn something from me. Another tip is, dare yourself to public speaking or anything that has to do with public communication when you're able because that will help in order to get used to it and at the same time, enhance the skill. All the best!

I hate public speaking, I'm not much of a confident person and I'm always scared that I might embarrass myself which I already am by stuttering and stopping all the time. I have to do some public speaking in school, even though it's just in front of my classmates, I still get really nervous, especially when the teacher is staring straight at me and marking me as I speak. So my heart would start racing and then I start getting really sweaty and my cheeks start flushing which makes me uncomfortable. I tend to speak really fast when I'm nervous and people have trouble trying to figure out what I just said. Pretty much I'm not good at speeches and I usually get bad marks But it does depend on the audience, if they're my friends then I feel more comfortable.

I think it's e fear of embarrassing oneself. Or it cld b because of e unknown. For instance, e speaker won't know how e audience will react to his msg and he also won't know wat kind of questions e audience has for him. I agree with u - juz go for it. Don't worry abt audience's reactions and so forth.

Im a stage speaker i do it most when im schooling and im doing in college. I always want to convey my message to peoples by speaking in public stages. I dont had fear of speaking before lot of peoples because i want to say something that recitation cures hesitation. If ur good with what ur going to convey then there is nothing to worry how the people behave u can convey ur message easily.

It's just human nature to fear the overwhelming crowd as the body has perceived it as a threat thus fear arises. You could see this mostly in kids when you tell them to talk in front of a lot of people. But we can be conditioned to counteract this feeling by repetitive actions.

I suppose it is that you might not know everything and that you would get your facts wrong. Then there is standing in front of a crowd. I do not find that much of a problem, but not getting my facts straight and forgetting something that iis very important. I think standing in front of a crowd is not that hard. You just have to figure that these are people you know and are comfortable with and multiply that by so much. Also if you are on a stage, no one is going to rush out and get you. Now I am a singer, and I found that when I was in a choir there were others besides me. Then when I started to sing solo, I figured with my getting mixed up that I could improvise. So if you forget what you are supposed to say, just keep tailking .

I have never wanted to do public speaking, however i HAVE had to do so because of the jobs I have had. I was Training Coordinator for General Telephone of Kentucky for a while and had to go to all the management meetings and explain the new equipment that we had to begin training our linemen with. I never like doing that. When I went to college, my major both times was business management, and I had to take two years of speaking classes. I hated them. But I guess most of them did, cause we would start out with big classes and end up with very few left by the end of the year. My reason for being uncomfortable speaking in public is that I had absolutely no self-esteem. I was called stupid all of my 24 years at home with my parents, so I assumed I was stupid, which mad it uncomfortable for me to think anyone would listen to me seriously.

Public speaking is not for me. I dont know how some people do it. I just cant get over the fear of public speaking. I remember one time I actually got so nervous that I hyperventilated in the middle of my speech. It was so embarrassing.

For me, in high school, I always worried that I would mess up what I wanted to say so that's what made me nervous.

I think people are insecure and it's hard getting up to a public audience and speaking if you're insecure. I am absolutely terrified of speaking out loud to too many people. I always hated being called on in class let alone when I had to stand up and speak in front of the whole class. It gets my nerves going like nothing else. One of the most terrifying things in the world to me. They're almost never good experiences and I hate being forced into things that make me that uncomfortable. I'm always being judged, and thats another worry I think people have.

Hi! Public speaking is really thrilling. What makes it uncomfortable is when you see the audience's reaction , facial expression upon hearing what you have to say. My mom told me just look at their forehead or look straight ahead to avoid being conscious.That really help me during my school days but frequent eye contact is also an important thing to do.