Your mouth is dry, heart palpitating, stomach churning and knees knocking. You go into panic (the fight or flight response), facing a dreaded public speaking assignment. It doesn’t have to be so. These five tips will give you some strategies to overcome those symptoms and have the butterflies flying in formation.
1. Deep breathing will pull in oxygen. Adrenalin, secreted to help you deal with the fear brought on by doubts, causes breaths to become shallow. Deep breathing will help your brain work to capacity, and forcing the slower pace will quell the panic. Count 7 in and 11 out for at least 2 minutes.
2. Keep your mouth and throat hydrated. Keep a drink on hand while you are speaking. Even if you don’t end up needing it, knowing it’s there and potentially using it as an excuse if you happen to lose your place can be a comfort.
3. Know you are prepared. Obviously this depends on actually being prepared, so take every opportunity in the days leading up to the speech to prepare your material. Be familiar with the structure of the presentation, and the ideas to use. Memorise the most important parts, and the parts you are frightened of forgetting.
4. Build rapport with the audience beforehand – if possible greet them as they are coming in – chat with a couple – ask them questions about their background and what they hope to get from the session – it helps to relax you and make you see them as individuals who are interested in what you’ve got to say. That might be impossible on the day – you might telephone someone beforehand and do something similar or at least scan a few profiles on Linked In or company websites.
5. Fake it until you become it. Stand tall, with shoulders back and chest out . Smile. Even though you don’t feel happy or confident, do it anyway. You will look confident and your body will fool your brain into thinking it is confident. This really works!! Read more about Harvard University research into this here
Remember – the audience are usually on your side – they want you to succeed because they want to benefit from what you have to say. They will forgive small mistakes. They know you’re only human.