Do you think you’re the only one afraid of speaking in front of a crowd?

There are a lot of people in this world that are very scared of public speaking. Public speaking phobia is very common, as the infographic below shows, 74% of Americans suffer from some type of speech anxiety according to a study by the National Institute of Mental Health. The fear of public speaking in certain surveys has ranked higher than the fear of spiders and death. When you watch a video like this “The Worst Public Speaker” you could imagine why speaking in front of an audience can be scary.

The phobia of public speaking is also known as glossophobia. People that fear speaking in front of a crowd have a hard time overcoming the fear, but it is not impossible. In fact, their are several professional speakers that at one time early in their career suffered from this normal fear. If you are scared of public speaking, it’s not the end of the world. You could make progress in overcoming this fear by following these tips on overcoming the fear of public speaking. Once you overcome the fear the next step is continuing to work to improve your public speaking skills, here’s a great post on How To Become a Better Speaker.