Three Things that Can Help You Deal with Stage Fright

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Three Things that Can Help You Deal with Stage Fright

I can't tell you that you are going to do well on your speech, but what I can tell you is that the fear that you feel before going up on the platform will lessen as you are up there. Of course there is nothing that can convince you of this fact whenever you are facing the realization that you are going to have to go up on the stage and face an audience of your peers. There are several things that you can do, however, to help overcome this initial fear and to begin to enjoy the calming process faster.

One of the best ways to overcome stage fright is by just relaxing. Don't be tense and allow your body to tense up into a solid mass of nerves. Roll your neck, stretch your arms and your back, move your legs a little bit and take a deep breath. By limbering your body you will find that it becomes relaxed and your mind will soon follow. It also helps to take a series of deep breaths, provided you don't hyperventilate, in order to relax yourself prior to taking the stage. Just remember, the calmer you are whenever you begin your presentation, the faster you will overcome that fear.

You should also make sure that you are very well prepared for your presentation. Many public speakers feed off of the emotions of the audience, and if the audience is responding positively to their speaking then there fear this disappears quickly. One of the ways to help your audience to respond positively is to open your talk with a little bit of humor. Nothing helps overcome the audience speaker barrier like a good joke. Of course you would want to make sure that it was appropriate to use humor depending on the theme of the talk. For example it would not be appropriate to open a eulogy with a joke.

There was an old piece of advice that said that you should imagine that you were speaking to your audience in their underwear. I have never found any success with using this particular method, but I can tell you that you need to not look at them as an audience at all. Remember, a group of people is a group of individuals and by looking at them as one individual at a time your mind will stop thinking that it is speaking to a large group. Focus in on one friendly face at a time, say one or two sentences to them and then move on to another face. Make sure that you do not linger too long or you will make them and the rest of your audience uncomfortable.

By using these three techniques, you will find that you are able to quickly overcome your anxiety whenever you take the platform. Once you get a taste for public speaking and what happens whenever you control an audience with your words, you may find that you actually enjoy being in front of a group. Public speaking is a powerful tool and with some practice you can overcome your fear and actually learn to enjoy it.