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Jakartans push themselves to conquer fear of public speaking in speech contest
“Contestants, are you ready?” the head organizer, the so-called contest chair, asked in excitement
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“Contestants, are you ready?” the head organizer, the so-called contest chair, asked in excitement.
All seated in the first row, each of the 15 participants answered with a doubtful “yes”. They laughed nervously, acknowledging that, ready or not, the competition was about to start.
The event was a speech contest recently held by the Jakarta Toastmasters Club (JTC) at an office space in South Jakarta. The club itself is part of an international network of “nonprofit educational organizations that teach public speaking and leadership skills”, as described by the Toastmasters website.
Each participant had to deliver a five- to seven-minute speech — anyone who spoke for less than four minutes and 30 seconds or more than seven minutes and 30 seconds would be disqualified.
The speeches delivered that evening covered various topics, from the experience of growing up with a brother with an intellectual disability to struggling with never feeling good enough, or to dealing with depression.
The last participant of that day, Susan, a 35-year-old insurance professional, talked about overcoming her fear of public speaking.
“My biggest fear is standing here,” Susan said in her speech, explaining how she had never been fond of the idea of going in front of a class when growing up. At work, she would prefer to do a one-on-one presentation to clients.
“I keep avoiding things,” she said, explaining that the thought of classmates laughing at her and talking about her from the back of the class made the idea of speaking to a crowd unnerving.
But the fear slowly diminished after a friend dragged her to a community-based public speaking class, the JTC, in 2009. For the first three months, she sat at the back of the room watching things unfold and always turning down offers to come up to the podium.
When she finally worked up the courage, she recalled that delivering her first speech was nerve wracking. She recalled that heat was running through her body, her hands were shaking and she could not remember what she had to say.
That was 10 years ago. Today, indebted to the mentors in JTC who taught her the art of public speaking, she decided to pay-it-forward and became a mentor herself, encouraging others who struggled the way she did to overcome their fears.
“If you fear it, just face it,” said Susan, repeatedly.
Susan was not the only person who had to overcome mental barriers to be able to speak confidently from the stage that day.
Mohamad Ikhsan shared his struggles as well.
“In my first speech, despite bringing notes, my hands were shaking in such a way I could not even read them. Oh, turns out it was this scary,” said the 30-year-old private employee, recalling how his public speaking journey started about five years ago.
“In my first contest, I froze. I made two steps forward and could not say anything for a couple of seconds, maybe even a minute,” Ikhsan said.
He confided that before going onto the stage that day, he felt somewhat nauseated but managed to handle it as a result of constant practice.
Established on Oct. 1, 1979, JTC was the first of its kind in Indonesia and now has 67 active members. Members pay a membership fee of Rp 102,000 (US$7.50) each month and receive access to an online database filled with resources to help on the “self-learning” journey, as explained by Kardinal, a former president of the club who was overseeing the event.
He said the learning process in the club was based on a mentorship system and that it was open to anyone above the age of 18.
The organization’s tagline, “Where leaders are made,” stresses that learning public speaking is learning leadership as well.
Life motivator and clinical psychologist Tatiana SP Basuki from the University of Indonesia explained that the fear of public speaking, what is termed glossophobia, could stem from unpleasant experiences of being laughed at, rejected, unappreciated or made to feel incompetent, which made an individual ashamed.
Aside from anxiety disorders and self-defeating mindsets, Tatiana elaborated several circumstances that could contribute to the fear: the lack of experience, the presence of an element of judgment, a gap between the status of the speaker and the audience, or having to speak in front of a new audience.
Understanding that public speaking is an important skill to support an individual’s success in life as it can boost careers and businesses and help create a strong collaboration between parties, Tatiana suggested a few things that people could adopt in order to overcome their fear of public speaking.
Learning relaxation techniques such as breathing control to slow down heart rate, believing that what one has to say is useful and important to others, good preparation and finding as many opportunities as possible to practice were among the things she recommended.
“If something makes you feel afraid, normally you will avoid it. If you evade, you will not get the chance to practice and grow, hence contributing to the fear. This will become a never-ending cycle of fear,” Tatiana told The Jakarta Post recently. (ydp)
