The innate culture of ‘hiya’ often hinders overseas Filipinos from overcoming stage fright making them hesitant to speak up and share exactly what’s on their mind – from intimate company meetings and more so in front of hundreds of audiences.
Rico Mondejar, a veteran Filipino motivational speaker and author, said that overcoming stage fright helps Filipinos unlock their potential not just to be more confident to speak up but more importantly, to earn respect, attention, and more opportunities to earn more.
“People will pay you in three ways. First, people will pay you the respect. Second, people will pay you their attention. And third, people will pay you money. Because they want to do business with you, right? So it’s good to stand out,” said Mondejar during his talk titled “SPEECH ANXIETY: Top Tips to Overcome Fear of Speech and Anxiety Among OFWs” in the recently-held Philippine Property and Investment Exhibition.
He outlines that there are several ways as to how Filipinos can overcome their stage fright as follows:
Do your research. When Filipinos are selected to speak for a particular topic, they have to research extensively to gain more knowledge about their topic at hand.
“Una talaga if you are given the opportunity to speak you have to really make a research. Master your topic. Kahit baliktarin ka ‘di ba? If you know the subject matter – you will enjoy speaking.” said Mondejar.
Practice. While there’s no such thing as perfecting your speech, Mondejar said that this paves the way for improvements as you go on and hone your craft: “You cannot reach perfection by practicing but there’s one reality – it makes improvement.”
Grab every opportunity to speak. Mondejar also advised Filipinos to seek ways on how they can speak or even deliver talks in public – whether that’s by joining clubs or meet ups so they can establish rapport from people from different walks of life.
