Ways To Overcome Stage Fright - I was a full-time public speaker for over 10 years and I still take time to speak when the opportunity presents itself. In that time, I have come up with a few tricks that help me overcome stage fright when I get in front of a crowd.
Some crowds numbered in the thousands, and some numbered less than five people. But in all circumstances, these tips helped me control my stage fright. I bet they can help you as well.
Before we get to these tips, I have one quick announcement to make. Today is the last day to get my Conducting Effective Twitter Contests training at 50% off. The sale ends at midnight (Central) tonight. This training will help you drive new traffic to your website and blog so make sure you check it out today.
Now, on to our 10 Tips Ways To Overcome Stage Fright
1. Know Your Material
By far, the best thing that has helped me control my stage fright is to know my material forward and backward.
Many instances of nervousness is the result of someone who knows that they will speaking on something they don't really understand. Putting in the prep time to know your subject can make a huge difference in the stage fright you experience.
2. Memorize Your Intro/ Conclusion
How you start off your speech can set the tone for the rest of it. If you have trouble at the beginning, you may find that you never really get back on track and that's all you'll be thinking about throughout the speech.
But if you take the time to memorize your intro, then you put yourself on automatic pilot during the most crucial time of the speech. When you execute the intro without a hitch, you will see your confidence soar for the rest.
I also mention to memorize your conclusion. Though your opportunity for nervousness will be over when your speech ends, a smooth conclusion will help you end on a strong confident note that will help see you through the post-speech activities.
3. Practice Your Transitions
Chances are that your speech has several points you want to make. You may know your points well, but have you thought about how you are going to transition from one to the next?
If not, you may stumble in your speech which can lead to a loss of confidence. Eliminate this by specifically practicing your transitions, including the transitions after your introduction and before your conclusion.
4. Practice your whole speech- Make sure you allow time to go through your speech from beginning to end. Do this a few times to help you work out the kinks. You will often find that what seems like a great transition during the planning doesn't really work well in practice. Only by practicing the whole speech, out loud, can you find these kinks. You will also find that many words look better written than they sound coming from you. Better to find out in practice than during the live event.
5. Breathe
Yep, breathe. Pay attention to this long before you get up to start your speech. Take slow, deep breaths as you arrive at the venue, as you meet and greet, and as you are being introduced. Then, when you find yourself behind the podium, make sure you take that one deep breath before you say the first word of your speech.
6. Smile
Smiling can help you feel more confident, even if deep down, you are not feeling that way during your speech. Frowning during your speech, and even pre-speech can have the opposite effect on you. So force the corners of your mouth up and let the confidence start to sweep over you.
7. Remember, The Audience Wants you To Succeed
People are generally good natured and most want to see others do well. Audiences understand that nervousness is a part of public speaking and they won't be ready to attack as soon as you show a sign or two of stage fright.
In fact, they will be more focused on what you are saying than how you are saying it. If you see your audience as your friend and not your foe, it will do wonders for your ability to face them as a speaker.
8. Don't Apologize For Being Nervous
You will be surprised to know that your quivering, shaking body is more apparent to you than to most people. What seems like a 7.9 on the Richter scale is actually unnoticed by most people.
Apologizing for being nervous only does two things: a) it reinforces to you the fact that you are nervous; b) it draws attention to your audience to something that they would probably never have thought about had you not mentioned it.
9. Visit The Venue
If possible, visit the room you will be speaking in ahead of time. This gives you a chance to visualize what your environment will be like. It will also give you a chance to make sure the room is set up to deliver the speech the way you are practicing it.
Practicing as though the screen for your PowerPoint will be right behind you may make it somewhat disconcerting if you find that the screen is actually set up to the far right of the audience.
By doing a walk-through of the venue, you get a chance to make the speech itself just a little more familiar to you, which makes it a little more comforting as a speaker.
10. Visualize Yourself Speaking
Whether you get a chance to visit the venue or not, you can visualize yourself speaking. If you go through this mental exercise as well as physically practicing your speech, you will be making it something that is not new, but an event that you have done many times before.
Then, if you get flustered during your speech, you can fall back on this "experience" to help you through it. You will be surprised at how easy it is to recall your visualization and practice sessions during your speech when you need a little help.
Perhaps the best way to deal with stage fright is experience itself. When you realize that speaking is not as bad as you thought it would be, it makes each speaking engagement after that a little easier to get through.
But until you get that experience, try these ten tips. They have served me well and I'm sure they can do the same for you.