Crowd-shy speakers learn to beat their fear

Kent Pudenz was voted Quietest Male by his Kansas City highschool class.

It's no wonder that public speaking is a chore for him. Andit's no wonder his boss sent him to a course to improve hisspeechmaking skills.

"This isn't something I would have picked," Pudenz, anaccountant, replied to the ludicrous suggestion that he might havemade his own decision to attend an Executive Technique seminar lastweek.

Lalie Clark, vice president of Citicorp, was there of her ownvolition, but even she wasn't happy about it.

"I should be doing a lot of presenting, but I have everybody whoworks for me do it instead," said Clark, who hoped to conquer herstage fright during the two-day workshop.

Clark and Pudenz were among 16 professionals who forked over asmuch as $1,150 for two days of speechmaking under the watchful eye ofinstructors at Executive Technique in Chicago.

Those 16 crowd-shy professionals are far from alone. Studiesshow that 85 percent of people fear giving speeches or get anxious atthe thought of a presentation. In some cases, according toPsychology Today magazine, people have considered changingprofessions to avoid giving speeches.

Others try to overcome the fear. The 16 participants at lastweek's session learned to:

Breathe: When nerves take over, the adrenaline starts to pumpand your body forgets to breathe. Deep breaths will calm your nervesand slow down your speech.

Stand still: No swaying allowed. No shifting from one foot tothe other. Plant your feet, face the audience and keep your hipscentered. Once you do, trainer Anne Dudenhoefer said, the energythat had gone to your feet rises to your arms, face and voice.

Think before talking: Presentations without pauses or pepperedwith "uhm" and "ya know" distract the audience. Stop betweensentences, take a breath and then proceed. That was tough forPudenz. After all, he figured, the faster he talked, the faster thespeech was over.

Focus on the audience: Do it one person at a time. No sweepingyour eyes from one side of the room to the other. Make eye contactwith one person and hold it for what seems like an interminably longfive seconds - or until you finish a thought - before moving on tothe next.

Keep the listener in mind: Rather than starting with yourmessage, decide what the audience needs and start there. Finish bytelling them what they need to do to get it.

As proof the presenters needed work, they were videotaped.

"I thought I was really good until I got here," said MargaretMurphy, who hopes to get a job as a corporate instructor. Shelearned she would have to be "more chatty" in the future so herpresentations wouldn't sound like recitations.

"I can't believe the way my arm was shaking," said Jerry Avner,vice president at Gary-Wheaton Bank.

During his first presentation, Avner's chin ducked to his chest,his hands clenched in front and his shoulders twitched. After seeingthe tape, "I was so depressed, I almost didn't come back" on thesecond morning, he said. By the end of the program, Avner hadconquered the shoulder twitch, and was on his way to conquering hisnervousness as well.

So was Clark.

"I won't avoid presentations in the future like I did in thepast," she said. "I won't do them all the time, but I won't avoidthem all the time either."