by Roger Seip

What’s scarier to most Americans than spiders, heights, or even death? There hasn’t been a horror movie made about it yet, but more than 75 percent of Americans surveyed report that they suffer from “glossophobia,” a debilitating fear of public speaking. Statistically, far more of us claim that we would prefer death to giving a speech; even comedian Jerry Seinfeld used to joke that at a funeral, most people would rather be lying in the casket than delivering the eulogy.

Many educators report feeling perfectly secure presenting material in the classroom, but they quake at the prospect of needing to speak at a staff meeting, and will avoid like the plague any presentation to their peers on a larger scale, at a conference for example, even though it might further their careers. Why is the prospect of trying to communicate information to others so horrifying? Educators, like most glossophobes, fear looking bad, being criticized, suffering rejection, and losing the respect of peers and superiors—all because they are certain they will forget what they’d planned to say. Sound familiar? Maybe you have had the experience of forgetting a speech or presentation, or you’ve seen it happen to someone else, and you don’t want it to happen to you. Ever.

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