Speaker 1: The fear of public speaking actually arises from two primary sources, your personality and uncertainty. Let's start by looking at personality. The truth is that some people are more comfortable in social situations, whereas other people are less comfortable in those situations. Now there's really little that we can change when it comes to our genetic predispositions. What we can change relates to that second aspect, that second component of why a lot of people fear public speaking, and that's uncertainty. There are lots of things that people are uncertain about. People might be uncertain about how their ideas will be perceived, how they'll be judged, or the impression that they'll make on an audience. The key is not to spend so much time worrying about that uncertainty, but rather focus on the opportunity that they have to stand in front of an audience and speak about something they care about. Let's talk about some sets of strategies that people can use to overcome that fear. The first category is called visualization, the idea of seeing ourselves being successful. The idea of seeing the sequence of steps that we're going to take from the moment we enter the room to the moment we get that applause at the end can actually help us be more successful. The second set of strategies that I want to talk about relate to anti-nervousness techniques or relaxation techniques. Now there are all sorts of ways to relax before giving a presentation. One of the most common sets of exercises focuses on breathing exercises. The first relaxation technique that I want to talk about is the T-repeater. Now the T-repeater is actually a technique that I developed to help my students relax before their presentations. The way it works is I encourage my students to turn their palms up, take a deep breath in, and then exhale the T sound. Doing so creates a sense of relaxation that often helps a lot of students focus on their message right before they get out in front of the audience. The next set of relaxation techniques that often work well involve eye contact, and one in particular that I like to emphasize is called easing into eye contact. Now one of the reasons a lot of people are nervous is because they feel like people are judging them, that people are staring at them when they stand out in front of the audience. So what you can do rather than look directly into the eyes of the people you're talking to is ease into eye contact. Try actually looking at a person's forehead, or if they're wearing glasses, at the rims of their glasses. Doing so creates the impression that you're looking at them without actually looking at them. The third category related to overcoming one's fear of public speaking connects to practice. Now we all know the maxim that practice makes perfect, but what's most important is that we're practicing in specific ways. What we want to do is actually speak as much of our presentation as we can. We actually want to speak in front of a mirror or in front of a webcam. That way we can see ourselves succeeding. Moreover, we can also be attentive to what we do well and what we can improve. One of the most important parts of the presentation to practice is the introduction and the conclusion. The audience will be drawn in by the introduction, and hopefully will be left with something to think about when it comes time for the conclusion. I want to emphasize that there's a real joy in stepping out in front of an audience, a real excitement that comes from sharing one's passion with a group of people. So we can't let the fear of public speaking paralyze us and inhibit our abilities to get to the next step, to get to the type of positions that we want and that we're ready for.