Fear of Public Speaking: Tips for Stage Fright
Public speaking fear is quite common and manifests itself in the form of shaking knees, sweaty armpits, higher heart rate, and an upset “butterfly” stomach. Even experienced public speakers will get nervous butterflies, but they know how to overcome fear.
Public speaking phobias go much deeper, causing real panic and public speaking anxiety. Someone who is accustomed to speaking in front of crowds will be able to push their speech fear aside and take the stage, acting confident even if they feel nervous. If you have a phobia about being in front of people, it might prevent you from speaking in public at all.
Here are a few tips to help you overcome your fear of public speaking. Pick a couple of these public speaking tips that resonate with you and try to apply them soon.
- As soon as you start feeling nervous, close your eyes and take some slow and deep breaths. Teach yourself a few different yoga breathing styles like the “Bellows Breath” where you take five or six fast breaths followed by one long slow breath. Do this until you feel more calm.
- Distract yourself from your fear of speech by moving your eyes to neutral places. Do not watch the clock. Rather, find something that amuses you like a child playing in the corner, or a man who picks his nose, or a pretty outfit someone is wearing. If you have memorized your speech, then it might help your focus to un-focus a little.
- Tell someone about your stage fright. Sharing your fear of speech with someone will do two things for you: It will release some of the tension coiled inside of you, and it may result in receiving some good talking techniques you can put to immediate use.
- Take a public speaking course that will teach you skills and tips that you might not be able to learn on your own. Watch the experts. Ask them questions. You will discover that everyone starts with a fear of public speaking, not just you, and you can move past it.
