Public speaking fills most people with dread. Humiliation is the biggest fea

Public speaking fills most people with dread. Humiliation is the greatest fear; self-exposure and failing to appeal to the(36)audience come a close second.
    Most people have plenty of(37)insecurities, and this seems like a situation that will bring them out. If you were under pressure to be perfect, you are(38)terrified of failing in the most public of ways.
    In fact, (39)personality is not the best predictor of who does it well. (40)Regardless of what you are like in real life, the key seems to be to act yourself.
    Actual acting, as in performing the scripted lines of a character other than yourself, is not an(41)efficient way. While politicians may limit damage by having carefully(42)rehearsed, written scripts to speak from, there is always a hidden awareness among the audience that the words might not be true. Likewise, the(43)incredibly perfect speeches of many American academics are far from natural. You may end up buying their book on the way out, (44)but soon afterwards, you get a nameless sense that you’ ve been cheated much like eating fast food.
    Although, as Earl Spencer proved at his sister Princess Diana’s funeral, it is possible both to prepare every word and to act naturally. A script rarely works and it is used to help most speakers. But, being yourself doesn’t work either. If you spoke as if you were in your own kitchen, (45)it would be too authentic, too unaware of the need to communicate with an audience.
    The best psychological place from which to speak is an unselfconscious self-consciousness, providing the illusion of being natural. (46)Studies suggest that this state of flow, as psychologists call it, is very satisfying.