There’s a lot of misinformation and false statistics floating around out there with regard to public speaking and specifically public speaking fear (AKA glossophobia). For instance, maybe you’ve seen the ever-prevalent stat that 75% of people have a deep fear of it? Well, turns out that’s not even close to true. We did our homework and found some stats that are actually true. Below you will discover our findings.
We always talk about how presentations matter so the facts and stats below verify this claim. If you want to win in front of a room, be sure to keep these facts at the forefront of your mind.
1. Fear of public speaking cuts wages by 10%
A fear of public speaking can have a significant impact on your career given that those who have it make about 10% less, on average, than those who don’t. And that makes sense when you consider just how pervasive presentations are—from the boardroom to the pitch room to meetings, nearly every industry involves some form of speaking in front of a group.
2. Fear of public speaking inhibits promotion to management by 15%
In addition to lowering your potential wages, a fear of public speaking also makes it more difficult to be promoted to a management position. And even if you make it to a management role with this fear, it’ll be mighty tough to perform well given how much group speaking is typically involved in these roles.
3. Your delivery matters more than your content
According to research, what you say to an audience isn’t nearly as important as how you say it. Studies suggest that effective presentations are 38% your voice, 55% non-verbal communication, and only 7% your content. That means that you should spend even more time preparing your delivery than you do developing awesome content.
4. Talk less to engage your audience more
Research suggests that if a presenter does all the talking without giving the audience an opportunity to participate, then audience engagement drops by 14%. Therefore, take care to provide plenty of opportunities for your audience to ask questions, interact with you, and otherwise participate in your presentation.
5. Adding facts and figures to a presentation increases audience retention by 20%
Delivering information to your audience is one thing; ensuring they remember that information is quite another. If you want your audience to retain your content, then you should definitely include facts and figures to back up your claims. Just be sure those facts and figures are presented in a way that’s engaging and visually compelling.
If you want to be an excellent presenter, then start getting to know yourself as a presenter. Take Ethos3’s Badge Assessment to discover your unique presentation persona.
