Most people rate their fear of public presentation way above their fear of dying

Most people would prefer to be lying in the casket rather than giving the eulogy.
Does this phrase sound familiar to you? Absurd as it seems, most people rate their fear of public presentation way above their fear of dying. However, presentations are an unavoidable task everyone has to perform in both their work and personal lives.
Another much dreaded activity at work is meeting. Meetings can be very productive. They can also be a waste of time. Meetings can be an excellent use of time when they are well-run. Unfortunately, the converse is also true, and it seems that time-wasting, poorly run meetings are far too common.
How about negotiation? We all have to negotiate. Sometimes it's 'hard' negotiation, such as negotiating a new piece of work, a salary increase or the price we'll pay for a house, an advertising campaign or a used car. Sometimes it's 'soft' negotiations such as getting your children to do their homework (well, actually, that's probably hard), deciding who's going to do what in your team or handling staff conflict.