Public speaking is a nerve-wracking experience. You feel anxious and your terrified that you’ll make a fool of yourself. But it’s not uncommon for people to have a fear of public speaking. Public speaking is scary especially when you tie in social pressure. It’s a normal fear that you can overcome.
You can lower your anxiety of public speaking and increase our confidence by avoiding a few poor habits while incorporating these helpful tips. The following are five tips for reducing public speaking nervousness. While the butterflies may never go away completely, there are still some things you can do to help clear your head before your big moment.
Practice
Anything that you haven’t practice is scary. So it’s no surprise that practice would be the first step, and the step that you need to complete. You practice for several reasons to remember your speech or lines. And to become familiar with your speech. Practice turns the act of speaking into more of an instinct. As you practice you become familiar with giving your speech. So if you fumble during your speech you’ll have an easier time getting back on track.
When it comes to preparing for a speech there is no such thing as being over-prepared. Don’t stop when you think you know it. Stop when you’re annoyed that you have to keep practicing. Then do it at least 3 more times. The point isn’t just to know your speech but, to know it well enough you don’t want to give it anymore. Once you reach that point you’re ready to go.
Visualization and Relaxation
After you’ve practiced your speech thoroughly do some visualization and relaxation exercises to help prepare you for the big day. They’ll help you get used to the fears you’re going to have when giving your speech.
Start by imagining upset faces and the things that will cause you anxiety. Then you’ll find yourself experiencing a bit of anxiety so try to relax. Imagine those upset faces mean something positive. Think of them as people who are enjoying your speech and are only upset. That there are not more people in the audience to hear it. Then try to calm yourself down until you feel better and keep going.
When that scenario no longer brings you anxiety imagine something else. Like giving your speech in front of a hostile crowd. Then see if you can calm yourself down while giving your speech without distractions. It’ll help you get used to giving a speech and control your anxiety.
Change Your Mindset & Focus on the Positives
When it comes to public speaking most people tend to focus on the negatives of giving a speech. Such as messing up or having an uninterested audience. Try to change your mindset from a negative one to a positive one. Get excited about the material that your speech is on or the people you can reach.
Face Your Fears
Before you walk out on that stage take a deep breath. As you breathe out let go of your fears and relax your body. Walkout on that stage with your head held high and confident. Because the people in the audience want to hear what you have to say.
You’ve practiced and your ready for speech and now its time to let all your hard work show. When you get to the stage take a couple of deep breaths before you start. Don’t let your fears hold you back from achieving greatness.
Write Down 10 Positives After Finishing Speech
After you give a speech your mind tends to zoom in on all the things you did wrong. But the truth is there’s a lot of things you did well while giving your speech. Make sure that you acknowledge them even if you feel as though you had a bad presentation. Don’t focus on the negatives and write out the positives. You’ll just end up letting your mind increase your anxiety. So next time you finish giving a speech take the time and write down at least ten things you did well.
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This is such a great post, really positive and inspiring. Oddly, I found that I developed nerves about public speaking the more I did it but I think the key thing is that it wasn’t something I did often. Even during Uni and group activities, whilst I never really felt nervous, my body would often let me down and I would stutter over words and act nervously. It seemed that my brain and body weren’t working together when it came to how I felt.
Absolutely agree that practice helps enormously though and focussing on the positive by writing down ten is a great idea. I think most of us are tuned to assess what went wrong or could have gone better.
Thanks for sharing,
Amy
Thank you, Amy!
Whenever I had to do speeches in college I would always end up speaking really fast and stumble over my words. Because I was nervous and would hurry through it. So I had to learn to slow down. I would stand in front of the mirror and practice speaking slowly and calming my nerves. By the end of the semester, I had gotten a lot better with giving speeches.
Yeah, I think positivity is important otherwise you just end up beating yourself up afterward.
This is such a great post. I’ve always struggled with public speaking and often find myself tripping over my words.