On November 21, 2017 I blogged about Is a large audience one where the speaker needs a microphone? Is a small audience one where everyone can see a flipchart? Based on their personal experiences some find smaller audiences more intimidating than larger ones.
An article by John C. Bastian on August 20, 2020 titled The stage fright paradox said that more people in the audience was better (less frightening than a small audience). A second undated article by Mike Brown at Lifehack titled 11 Paradoxes of being a better public speaker says the first paradox is to minimize your nerves by looking for as big an audience as possible. He claims:
“….the more people in the audience, the smaller amount of your nervousness each member of the audience has to absorb. The theory may sound silly, but with more people in the audience, there’s a greater likelihood of spotting individuals who get your message and show it in their eyes….”
I think that with more people in the audience you also would find people outraged by your message who demonstrate their disdain, as shown above. (On January 16, 2016 I had blogged about What percent of your speech audience really likes you? The 20-60-20 rule). A third article by Scott Fenstermaker titled Everything you’ve been taught about public speaking is a myth says the tenth myth is to Start with small audiences and work up to big ones. (I commented on it in December 2014). Scott adds that you should:
“…remember that speaking for a small group of people you know and whose faces you can see might be more freaky than speaking in front of an auditorium full of strangers.”
A fourth article by Al Williams at Medium on July 30, 2020 titled A Surprising Public Speaking Secret says in more detail:
“But here’s a secret that not many people know about me: if I have any stage fright, it isn’t in front of 1,000 people. It is in front of two people.
Think about it. If you are in a room with 1,000 people, most of them can’t see you very well. Half of them at any given time are thinking about dinner or their vacation or their bills. If you misspeak, trip, or even say something wrong, there is a good chance most of the people won’t even notice.
Now imagine you are in your office with your boss and one coworker. You have their total attention. If you mess up, they will know. If you tell your boss something wrong, she’s very likely to call you on it right there.
So that’s the liberating secret that helped my CEO friend. You lose yourself in a large audience. So if you want to have nerves, save them for the small presentations.”
Most of my experience has been with small audiences. Based on less familiarity with them, I have more fear of large ones. Last year’s version of the Wikipedia article on the pseudo-technical term glossophobia includes a statement (not in the current version) that:
“The speaker may be comfortable if they speak in front of a group of complete strangers, but when it comes to speaking in front of family/friends, their anxiety skyrockets, and vice versa. Some speakers are more comfortable in larger groups, and some are more comfortable speaking to smaller groups.”
Is there better evidence contrasting large or small audience? Yes! I found three surveys with data on percentages who fear them - and more people fear large audiences.
Back in 1977 Philip G. Zimbardo published a book titled Shyness: What it is and what to do about it. On February 3, 2014 I blogged about it in a post titled Busting a myth – that 75% of people in the world fear public speaking. A shown above via a bar chart, he found that (When I am focus of attention) 73% were shy in a large group (as when giving a speech), but only 52% were shy in a small group.
In 1996 there was a magazine article titled Public-Speaking Fears in a Community Sample which described a survey of 499 people done in a Canadian city. I blogged about it on June 20, 2011 in a post titled Public speaking fears in Winnipeg. As shown above via a bar chart, 167 or 33.5% were much more nervous than other people when they were speaking to a large audience (had a substantial fear of public speaking). Of those who did, only 59 or 11.8% of the total sample rated themselves as much more nervous than other people when they were speaking to a small group of familiar people.
In May 1998 there was another magazine article by Ronald C. Kessler, Murray B. Stein, and Patricia Berglund titled Social Phobia Subtypes in the National Comorbidity Survey published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. I blogged about it on November 2, 2008 in a post titled Public speaking is still the #1 specific social fear, according to the latest results from the NCS-R survey. As shown above via a bar chart, 30.2% feared public speaking, while 15.2% (half as many) feared talking in front of a small group.
On November 5, 2017 at Manner of Speaking John Zimmer posted an article titled The public speaking fear grid with four quadrants based both on size and familiarity. My version (shown above) adds axis labels. John made suggestions about how to become comfortable in each of those four quadrants. Members of a Toastmasters club may find a club meeting is a small audience of people they know. For a large audience they might try presenting at a Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) given by a Division, or even a District Conference (I have done both).
I have spoken to small audiences I didn’t know (insurance claims adjusters), about lamp analysis after vehicle accidents. On January 21, 2020 I blogged about it in a post titled The right prop can pull your presentation skyward. For me the most intimidating situation was a large audience with many people I knew – a couple hundred at an international conference about hydrogen embrittlement of metals.
Images of large and small audiences came from the Library of Congress. A cartoon with a disdainful audience was adapted from a 1908 Puck magazine at the Library of Congress.
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