How can you tackle fear of public speaking?

More than for loneliness, more than for financial ruin, more than for sickness and pain and even more than for death, people fear speaking to an audience. According to a study by the University of Wisconsin fear of public speaking is number 1 in the top ten of things people are terrified about. And yet talking, is something we spend more 80% of our waking time doing. In Belgium there are 8000 people a day who get on their feet and address a group. To sell them something, to convince them of something, to get them to do something. Those are more than 200,000 professional presentations a year in one of the smallest countries in the world. That is a lot of fear put together. And it is totally unnecessary, because speaking to many people is the same as speaking to one person or to a couple. And this is something we do several times a day with great pleasure and ease. That same pleasure and ease you can also acquire when speaking for large groups, at difficult times, in unpleasant circumstances. It's simple, but not without effort. Communicating excellence has more to do with preparation and training than with skill and talent. The good news is you can acquire it. The even better news is that you can exercise it every time of the day. Until perfection.