Public Speaking, Why All The Fuss?

When asked, the majority of people in the US would claim that there greatest fear is getting up in front of a crowd and giving a speech. People 100 years ago would not say that public speaking was their worst fear, but they had more threatening things to worry about right? Im talking about things like war, and wild animals, and rampant crime without great law enforcement. The fact that our society is more tame is perhaps part of this strange fear of a relatively benign circumstance but doesnt explain it entirely. I want to discuss why we are so afraid and measures that can be taken to put our fears to rest.

So why are we so afraid of public speaking? Well for one thing not very many of us are good at it and we dont know how to get better. Public oration was a skill highly valued in the past and therefore it was something that was worked on with much effort and time in school. Part of the reason that more people that were schooled in speech making in the past was because school was really only for those to whom the skill would be beneficial. What I am trying to get at is that only the gifted children were formally trained in such skills and the rest of kids worked on the...