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Scared of Public Speaking? Here Are a Few Steps to Get Over It One needs to let go of the fear of being absolutely amazing the entire time

By Nidhi Singh

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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Public speaking is something that we have all faced at some point in our lives. If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, you must master this skill. Even after studying from schools of repute, maximum students are still afraid to speak in front of a large group. This may be due to several reasons like the negative thought of failure, not knowing the topic and lastly, fear of humiliation and embarrassment. Entrepreneur India lists out few clever strategies for entrepreneurs to overcome the fear of public speaking and improve business success. With right preparation, you can always conquer your stage fright.

Tell the World what You're Passionate about:

Beginning the presentation in the right manner is extremely important. According to Vanky Kenny Kataria, Motivational Speaker, to make the presentation impactful, one can start by sharing a story which he/she is most passionate about.

"This helps as starting off with something which you are extremely passionate about is hard to forget or hard to be mistakenly told.So, a great start would break the ice and make the juices flowing which would help you give the rest of the presentation impactfully and with confidence," he said.

Make Sure You Have a Great Start:

Many people are most likely to make a firm impression about a speaker in the first 8 seconds. Hence, Kataria suggests that one needs to let go of the fear of being absolutely amazing the entire time. Instead, make sure you have a great start to have a lasting impression.

Embrace the Mistakes:

As humans, we make mistakes all the time. Kataria emphasized that the audience love it when the speaker decides to accept his/her mistake and even create a joke out of it.

"Let's imagine you are speaking in front of a jam-packed audience and in the middle of your speech, you forget what to say next. This could be a 'Make or Break' moment.So, just embrace the mistake and continue by saying, maybe, from next time, I should start taking memory pills," he added.

Learning To Make More Eye Contact:

For Pawan Hora- Co-Founder & Director, WishBox Communications Pvt. Ltd., a speaker should always make eye contact with people when he/she speaks.

"By not looking at them in the eye you don't only give an impression of not being confident but also lose their interest beyond a point. Secondly, always add a bit of humor in your speech. This not only will help you to soothe your senses but also a bit of laughter and giggle amongst the crowd add a lot of character to the speech/talk," shared Hora.

Always Give Anecdotes/Case Studies :

Nothing sells better than stories. Hora feels the speaker should address the audience with a question, anecdote and case study.

"Have a good spread of anecdotes and stories that could be of famous personalities or events or for that matter your own experiences in life. They will always help you to engage with the audience with greater ease," he added.

Nidhi Singh

Former Correspondent, Entrepreneur Asia-Pacific

A self confessed Bollywood Lover, Travel junkie and Food Evangelist.I like travelling and I believe it is very important to take ones mind off the daily monotony .

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