I believe that if you asked people to list what they hated most, public speaking would figure very highly, perhaps it even top that list. The majority of people simply dread the prospect of ever having to speak in public, even at something as modest as a family wedding.

I am today what I can modestly call a fairly proficient public speaker and get asked to speak at public events and presentations, but it was not always like that. I suffered badly from anxiety disorders for many, many years, and for a lot of those years any form of public speaking was almost a physical agony, certainly a mental torment. I have therefore a lot of personal experience both on the subject of my own personal battle with public speaking, and also of course my own anxiety issues.

Most people who you see public speaking exude ultimate confidence, but trust me when I tell you that is not always the case, and what you are seeing is the serene swan gliding along the water, but what you are not seeing is all the frantic actively underneath the water.

I have, in past years, even feigned illness so as to avoid public speaking. I have also left meetings so that I could avoid being called on to talk, knowing that it was a distinct possibility. However, I knew this had to stop and I had to find a way to prevent myself from doing this. I took a pretty extreme route by actually putting myself into situations where I literally HAD to speak, even volunteering at times. What is interesting is that this approach took the pressure off me IMMEDIATELY I had done it, because I was now in control, I had chosen the place and time, not others, but more on that later on.

Before I do, I want to cover a little of what the anxiety disorder sufferer can do to handle things when they have to speak in public. Their fear is manifested by the fact that they believe, or fear, they will have an attack during their speech and be publicly ridiculed. They fear they will be in the public glare, their disorder exposed to all and sundry, and with nobody to help or rescue them. Those fears have got to be shown to be groundless, which of course they are.

I believe the worst part of any public speaking is actually right at the beginning, and I have had this confirmed to me by many people. Once on your feet however, and into the speech, things do improve, so handling how we manage those first few moments is of paramount importance. Also, knowing we CAN handle them, is one of the things which will help dispel the anxiety.

So let us take those first few moments when we have to stand up, and the big issue here is that of being in control, YOU being in control that is. I would deliberately interact with my audience, asking them perhaps if they could all see me alright, or was my mic too loud, anything to break that ice and put me in charge before I went into my speech. I found this to be immensely helpful, and it put me in a feeling of control immediately. That fear of being suddenly trapped in the public glare was dispelled as I was the person running this show, I was the man in control. I was driving events, they did not drive me.

Find some way to assert control. Just as the person who can handle a skidding car will have no problems with driving in bad weather conditions, because they believe they are in control no matter what happens, so it is with public speaking and panic attacks. They should be mutually exclusive.

No injury will befall the public speaker. It is not dangerous to get up and talk in public. You will not be shot on sight. No person from the audience will attack you. Your clothes will all not suddenly fall off leaving you naked. You may well be smiling now whilst reading this, but I know personally of people who have had such phobias and fears.

You should always know, well in advance, of exactly what you are going to say. In other words be prepared. Have what I call a prompt card, which is nothing more than a few bullet points written on a small card to keep you on track. There is no better way of being in control than through preparation. It also instills self confidence, knowing you will be in FULL CONTROL.

The one thing I learned when I had my anxiety disorder was that I needed to find the root cause of the disorder in order to rid myself of it. The same applies to the fear of public speaking, and/or the fear of having an anxiety attack whilst giving the speech.

The root cause is the principle issue here. Dig that out and work on it and the anxiety will disappear. You will hear people say that before giving a speech they always feel anxious, or wound up, but then they use that to their advantage. They have learned how to do that and so can you. You can use this rush of adrenalin to not hinder you, but to use to your advantage. It is all about being prepared and ready to go. Imagine if you were standing on the starting line of a race, unprepared, and the starting gun went off; what do you think you would do? The answer there is most probably nothing. You were not prepared and probably never even got off your blocks, if you were even on them in the first place. You learn how to use the adrenalin by dispelling the anxiety issue; they are two very different things.

And that is what the fear of public speaking can do also i.e. make you perform even better if you feel you are in control, and you can learn how to do that

The fear of public speaking can be dispelling by learning techniques, none of which are difficult. Through their implementation and practise, anyone can get rid of that awful dread of having to make a speech.

Do remember again that it is by feeling in control when you stand up that you will start to master the panic attack fear. You should also remember that it is a fear, or an anxiety, held by virtually all public speakers, no matter how proficient they make look, or how confident they come over.

With the issues I had to overcome, I have proved to myself that anyone can learn the techniques necessary to become a proficient and confident public speaker. You will find those techniques by learning from those who have been where you are and found the solution. In my humble opinion, nobody else is worth listening to.

At one time in my life I dreaded even being asked a question in public, or in a public group. Now I get asked to present in public and run huge meetings and events, which is not something I could ever have envisaged doing years back. But, we can do anything we want if we put our minds to it – literally anything.