Facing an Audience

Facing an Audience

All of these tips will not work for everyone. This single most important thing you can do to eliminate stage fright is to be entirely prepared for the presentation, so practicing is a must. People react to potentially stressful situations in different ways, so experiment with some of these strategies to see what works best to reduce your own public speaking anxieties.

Advance Preparation:

·  Practice, practice, practice! Perform your presentation for friends, family or anyone else who will listen (even stuffed animals!).

·  Become familiar with the space where you will be presenting.

·  Make sure you are wearing comfortable clothing, especially shoes. Minor physical annoyances will distract you during the presentation. Take extra time with your appearance the day of the speech. Wear clothes that you feel good in and that are appropriate to the setting.

·  Pick a simple phrase that will relax you so you can silently repeat to yourself immediately before presenting. “You’re fine,” or “all right” work well.

Before the Presentation:

·  Do something relaxing, like listen to a favorite song.

·  Exercise! A quick walk will get oxygen to your brain and calm you.

·  Avoid too much caffeine. Soda, coffee, etc. will not give you true energy, but will speed up your heart rate and make your anxiety more intense.

·  Take small sips of room temperature water.

·  Don’t force yourself to eat if you’re not hungry.

·  Warm up your voice. Talk to friends, call a family member, or find a private space to sing your favorite song or give yourself a pep talk.

·  Tense up your muscles for ten seconds, then release and focus on the feeling of relaxation. Start with your feet and work your way up to your shoulders.

·  Visualize! Imagine how well the presentation is going to go and picture yourself being extremely successful- happy, prepared and confident.

During the Presentation:

·  Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, one foot slightly in front of the other. This will help your balance and discourage nervous rocking.

·  If your legs are trembling lean onto the podium or move around a bit.

·  Make eye contact. This might sound hard, but it will make you feel less isolated.

·  Focus on the friendly faces in the audience and think of how well you’re doing.

·  Do NOT concentrate on yourself (“What are people thinking about me? How do I look? How well am I talking? Do people think I’m nervous? Is what I’m wearing okay?” Instead concentrate on the interesting and important information that you want to give to others and how it will help them. Thinking about helping others rather than thinking about yourself is an excellent way to change from being a nervous and self-conscious speaker to a comfortable and confident speaker who is enjoyable to listen to.

·  Keep breathing deeply! Don’t be afraid to pause and collect your thoughts.

How to Prepare for an Oral Presentation:

·  Select a topic that really interests you- learn something that is of value to you personally. If you are interested, chances are others will be also. The more interested you are in your topic the easier it will be to keep motivated as you research and prepare. You’ll also be more enthusiastic in your presentation and will have less reliance on notes.

·  When you practice your speech, time it to fit within the parameters.

·  It may be helpful to have notes with key words or phrases on it in front of you. It’s best not to keep a script or anything with complete sentences because you will be tempted to read from it. When someone reads, attention will wander off the speaker.

·  Practice using a conversational tone, like explaining things to a friend or speaking to someone during dinner.

·  Always practice out loud and do it as many times as you need to until you feel the presentation flows, you feel comfortable working with your notes and you can complete the speech in the assigned amount of time.

Other ideas:

·  One student, whose worst fear was people looking at her while she talked, prepared a very extensive and excellent handout on her topic and distributed a copy to everyone in class as soon as she got up to the front of the room. She said everyone started reading the handout and didn’t look at her. Of course if you want your audiences’s full attention during your speech, you should wait and distribute the handout at the end. Antoher student showed a brief video clip as part of his presentation because he felt too nervous to talk without a break for more than a few minutes. Think about your presentation and what will help you.

·  Many speakers like to look at three or four people in the audience who are sitting in different parts of the room as they give their speech (these can be friends of yours who could nod or smile to reassure you). As you look from one to the other, it appears you are looking around the room.

·  Very low blood sugar (from not eating) can cause feelings of anxiety.

How to Control Your Fear:

Much of your fear will be eliminated as time goes on and as you learn to control your excessive nervous energy. Properly directed, that energy can lend force, vitality and enthusiasm to your speaking. When the wild energy of the Colorado River was harnessed by the engineers who built Hoover Dam, the result was an enormous increase of electric power and controlled irrigation for Arizona and Southern California. So it can be for you. Harness your nervous energy; turn it into an asset rather than a liability.

·  Take opportunities to inject humor into your speech. Many speakers find if they can get the audience to laugh a bit there will be a greater feeling of ease and relaxation for everyone. Just be careful as humor can be tricky; keep it simple and appropriate.

·  Approach your audience with more confidence. Stand straight, put your shoulders back, look proud. Act confident even if your knees may be trembling.

·  Begin speaking slowly with short sentences. If you rush the tempo of your speech at first or use long, involved sentences, you’ll soon be breathless and uncomfortable.

·  Make use of pauses. Purposeful silences have both a dramatic and practical value. They command respect and attention from the audience, and they give the speaker time to take a deep breath and control nervous energy. Deep breathing helps to relax tense muscles and reduce nervousness.

·  Conclude in a dignified and confident manner.

·  Realize people want you to succeed. Audiences want speakers to be interesting, informative and entertaining. They don’t want you to fail.

·  Don’t apologize for being nervous. Most of the time it’s not even evident. If you mention it, you’re just calling attention to the problems.

Advice from Oprah:

·  A powerful beginning and ending will stick with your listeners.

·  The greatest public speakers are those who work at making their addresses both interesting and relatable.

·  Speak from your diaphragm, your gut- that place inside yourself where your deepest feelings reside.

·  When you speak with clarity and conviction, you project and connect in a way that gives your words strength.

·  Make your breath your anchor. A few minutes before you begin speaking, draw in a huge breath and feel your abdomen expand. Slowly exhale and notice your diaphragm contract. Do it again. And again. Simple as it seems, a few deep breaths can calm shaky hands and slow a racing heart.