Even complete mastery of one's subject and the finest delivery cannot assist the speaker overcome with stage fright.

By "stage fright" we mean the condition of unreasoning terror that assails certain speakers, actors or singers shortly before they are to appear before a gathering of people. This affliction is particularly awkward if, instead of disappearing during the course of the performance, it remains present or even grows more pronounced. And, unfortunately, the good friends and acquaintances who kindly tell one not to be afraid are not only most ineffective but they often increase rather than diminish stage fright.

In order to combat this evil effectively we must first discover its roots, which vary in individual cases.

One of the most usual causes is the fear of getting stuck, regardless of whether the speaker is conscious of the fact or not. For this reason we find stage fright more common to the actor than to the lecturer, because the former has to memorize verbatim, while the latter can rely on his facility in speech and his knowledge of his subject, without necessarily knowing it word for word. The man who is accustomed to speaking extemporaneously, who has had experience in speaking before small gatherings, has proved to himself his ability to clothe his thoughts unhesitatingly with the right words, and soon conquers his stage fright. The consciousness of being master of his material, combined with the certainty of being able to express his ideas forcefully, is enough to cure the public speaker of his shyness in large gatherings.

Another frequent cause of stage fright is faulty breathing. The beginner who, at a public address or even in a small gathering, has found himself unable to control his breathing and has had to gasp for air like a fish out of water, will fear a recurrence of this unpleasant dilemma. This fear will grow as the hour of his appearance comes nearer, and in this instance, too, kindly admonitions will avail little.

This evil can be combatted only by regular and frequent exercises in breath control. The beginner should not appear in public until he has learned how to conserve his breath so that he no longer need fear constriction in his throat. Once he is consciously able to conserve and use his lungs and larynx in accordance with the demands of his sentence structure, his feeling of apprehension will disappear of itself and a rather important cause of stage fright will have been removed.

But the most common cause of stage fright is simply fear of appealing before a crowd. Persons who are able to talk fluently when conversing tête-à-tête and who are not awkward in small gatherings or at large dinner parties are assailed by sudden fear when they have to address an impersonal audience. The main reason for this state lies in overvaluing the critical capacities of the crowd. The beginner believes that everything he says must be particularly weighty because he is talking to a larger, more critical gathering. And yet it should be obvious to him that the very reverse is true; the critical capacity of the crowd is inferior to that of the individual. In a rather large audience the individual is easily inclined to leave criticism to others. The speaker who has prepared his speech carefully and is thoroughly familiar with his material naturally knows more about his subject than the auditor who attends in order to learn something new. When the student of public speaking realizes this fact, his exaggerated fear of criticism from the crowd disappears. No trace of stage fright will remain when he is once convinced that he has something of real factual importance to impart to his audience.

For practice I can merely advise you to increase the size of your audience gradually. That is, first give your talk, thoroughly prepared and outlined on a cue sheet, to friends and acquaintances, and do not step before the public until you have tried out your speech on a small and select group. But in the final analysis, we must repeat, stage fright cannot be cured by simple, logical reasoning. It is an emotion buried in the subconscious mind. It has all the earmarks of what we call an inferiority complex, which we must combat with all the means at our disposal, since it reacts on man's achievements and ultimate success.

Thanks to the researches of Coué and Baudouin on the one hand, and Freud and Adler on the other, we know nowadays that the subconscious has a powerful effect on thought and action. It is merely necessary to apply the right method in guidance for each individual case.

Strange to relate, there are still some unenlightened people who do not believe in the subconscious mind because they can neither see, hear, smell, nor taste it.

What are dreams and what is their source? You are convinced that you "dream" in the true sense of the word only when you are sound asleep. Sleep, however, means the complete absence of conscious thought. But if, in spite of this complete lack of consciousness, you nevertheless see, hear, or experience anything at all, it is proof that something else exists beside or beneath actual consciousness.

No doubt you have often awakened in the morning with the lingering memory of a dream, yet unable to recall the content of your dream no matter how hard you try. Shortly afterward you go out on the street and see something that calls back a fragment of your dream. At the same moment its entire content flashes into your memory.

Let us try to explain this peculiar occurrence. If we picture the subconscious as resting below the conscious mind of man, the two must be separated by a door which we can visualize as open or closed. The step leading to this door we designate the threshold of consciousness. The dream and all that goes with it rests on the subconscious (if your sleep is sufficiently deep). But when anything —a person, animal, or object—enters the circle of your consciousness, tied up or associated with a similar thing in your subconscious mind, the connection can be strong enough to project the dream-content over the threshold of consciousness.

In everyday practical life, as well as in dreams, there is evidence of the existence of the subconscious. You must at some time or other have had the experience of being unable to recall a perfectly familiar name. It may be the name of an acquaintance, a place, or a foreign word. In such instances, we are apt to use the expression: "The name's on the tip of my tongue,' and explain that at the moment we cannot recall it. Since we knew this name a short while before and since we will later recall it unaided, we have proof that it really is in our minds. But if we are unable, in spite of this fact, to recall it, momentarily it is not "known" to us; or in other words, besides our positive consciousness there must be another mental sphere, belonging to our consciousness but beyond our control. Since this other or second consciousness lies under the truly conscious we call it the subconscious.

The effect of the subconscious on your daily life cannot be rated too highly. Assume that somehow, somewhere you get to know a person whom you have never before seen. In most cases you immediately develop a feeling of like 01 dislike, that is, sympathy or antipathy. There is no logical explanation for this feeling, since you have never heard anything about this person and consequently do not really know him. And his appearance may offer no grounds or excuse for your feeling. The use of the term "feeling" is sufficient proof of the fact that there is no logical explanation for your attitude.
Nowadays psychologists know that all feelings of this sort are based on the subconscious and that by psychoanalysis and hypnosis they can discover the subconscious reasons for them and make them "known." Psychoanalysis and ' hypnosis render one way of curing stage fright.

For the present we will be content with observing that inferiority complexes also have their roots in the subconscious and that stage fright is merely a manifestation of a general feeling of inferiority. What causes an inferiority complex? How can it be removed?

As far as causes are concerned, individual-psychology teaches us that the roots of an inferiority complex are found in childhood experiences. The child is totally unable to fight the battle of life with his own weapons and in all cases relies on the help of adults. The more conscious a child is of his inadequacy and weakness, the greater is his feeling of inferiority. Child-education should attack this feeling at the proper time. Unthinking parents and educators foster it in the child when they continually refer to his unimportance, insignificance and inferiority. In many cases the child is made conscious of his general inadequacy by being required to do things which he cannot do and which should not be expected of him at his age.

How this general feeling of inferiority will develop depends upon the child. Many children consider themselves very important and their impulse is to take the center of the stage and demand the undivided attention of their parents and educators. If they thrust themselves into the foreground merely to balance their own insignificance and feeling of inferiority, no harm is done. Sometime and somehow the child will of course learn to adapt himself to his environment. It may be in kindergarten, at play with children of his own age, or not until he goes to school, where the same demands are made of children of the same age-level. The child who feels himself thrust into the background is the one who attempts to impress his superiority on his companions of like age or else tries to make them believe him superior. In this instance, we speak of an overcompensation of the feeling of inferiority. I need not emphasize the point that this is all a matter of unconscious behavior, for it stands to reason that little ones f)i even school children are not acting consciously.

At any rate it is clear that a feeling of inferiority almost always has its roots in false methods of child-education. A feeling of inferiority is hardly ever innate, but is "suggested" to the child by ignorant parents and educators. We shall consider this idea in more detail later on.

Fortunately we know that every feeling called forth by suggestion can be removed by suggestion. It is therefore not too difficult a task to find methods for removing stage fright and an inferiority complex.

But, we must remember, the man whose fear of the public is so great that he dare not make a speech even when he has something important to say, usually is the one who applies for a job in fear and trembling, utterly unable to tell what he knows in a rational manner.

These persons must suggest to themselves that they are perfectly capable of fighting their own battles and thereby remove the suggestion of inadequacy.

Naturally the simplest cure would be to achieve something so important that it would excite the admiration of one's fellows. The admiration of one's own little world is the most effective means of convincing a person of his ability and knowledge, thereby choking off all feeling of inferiority. The difficulty in applying this remedy lies in the fact that people with inferiority complexes rarely can accomplish really great and unusual things as long as they suffer from this feeling.

How, then, are we going to overcome this sense of inferiority? By mnemotechny. The simplest experiment, that is, the repetition of a rather long series of words, will do the trick. Far-fetched, you think. But these mnemotechnical exercises, faithfully performed, are useful in facing the scoffer, because they work.

As you have already learned, they operate in twofold fashion. First of all, we know that mnemotechnical series of words strengthen one's powers of concentration remarkably. Powers of concentration in turn foster self-assurance, since they convince a man of his own knowledge and abilities. Self-assurance and a feeling of inferiority are, however, incompatible; where one gains the ascendancy the other must give way.

It should be easy to add a mastery of sentences to one's mastery of words. If the words are so chosen that they serve as cues for a unified address, anyone who can repeat them can also in a short time repeat a series of sentences related to them. If he has repeated the series of words not only aloud to himself but to a circle of friends and acquaintances as well, he will be able to do the same with sentences. In doing so he proves to his own satisfaction that he can make a public address. As soon as he realizes this, his fear of speaking disappears.

A second factor enters in, which at first glance seems unrelated, but in reality is extraordinarily important. The experiment of being able to repeat out of sequence a rather long list of twenty or thirty words, after hearing them once, will impress all those who do not know the mnemotechnical connections. If you have followed my advice you have long since had this experience. Arousing the interest and approval of a gathering is tantamount to applause and is a turning point in conquering feelings of inferiority, especially stage fright. Approbation strengthens one's self-assurance, and self-assurance and an inferiority complex are mutually antipathetic. Even the applause of a rather small circle is extraordinarily suggestive, and this power of suggestion increases with the size of the audience as well as with the repetition of the experiment.

As you see, these factors work on each other and mnemotechnical aids are effective in transforming the shy, apprehensive person who fears an audience into a self-assured, entertaining personality.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here...