Your heart is racing, your are breathing way too fast, your legs and hands tremble, and worst of all, even your voice trembles... Feel indentified?
Well, you won't have to worry about it anymore after you read this article. Five tips which will help you finally overcome your stage fright!
Practice, practice, practice!
It may be obvious, but this is one of the most important keys to succeding in any public exposition. You know when people get asked something of which they know nothing about and start with "Ummm... ehhh......" followed by a low-voice unconfident answer? Public speeches are the same but multiplied by ten.
If you really know what you are talking about, when you are explaining the subject you'll get the feeling that "what I'm saying is right and I'm 100% sure of it", and it will give you an enormous boost in confidence.
The best way to practice is with one or two relatives or good friends, because they can tell you in what areas you could/should improve. If you can't do this, a teddy bear as your attentive public will suffice!
Keep eye contact with your public
It's actually amazing how eye contact can give confidence in almost any situation.
If you avoid it, your mind starts wondering things like "....have they noticed how nervous I am? Are they actually listening? Oh, my speech is so boring...."
If you make eye contact, your mind receives feedback from the faces of the people, usually neutral or even positive. But make no mistake:
-Be sure to change who you look at every few seconds. This way you keep everyone interested and you won't care if someone makes a strange expression, which brings us to the next point...
-Ignore "strange" gestures or whispers. Most of the time they have absolutely nothing to do with you, so just look at another person and focus on your subject if this happens.
Propranolol
One of the most impressive solutions I have ever tried. First of all be aware that this is a drug, so you should speak with your doctor if you want to use it.
Now, about the drug: it's a beta-blocker which neutralizes the effects of adrenaline in your heart (meaning it no longer races) and almost completely eliminates the trembling, also caused by adrenaline.
It's commercial name is Inderal or Sumial, it's quite an old drug (extensively tested) and very cheap. From personal experience I must say this really works, since it's not a "mind strategy" which depends on many factors, this just "slows you down" and that's it.
It also helps psychologically, since you break the "people are going to notice I'm nervous-> you get even more nervous" cicle, but it doesn't have any tranquilizing effects like, for example, benzodiazepines.
It's also very safe if you use it the correct doses (around 20 mg. an hour before the speech), but as I said before, since it's a drug it also has interactions and adverse effects (don't use it if you are asthmatic), so talk to your doctor first.
Relativize
Very seldom a speech is world-changing. If you are called Martin Luther King, yes, maybe (and even he said he was nervous before the speech!), but most of the times you'll look at it in a few years and laugh at it. And if the speech goes bad, well, people will forget in a few days (or a few hours) but you will have more experience to do it better the next time.
In a nutshell: it's not the end of the world.
As a side note, the public wants you to succed, since it's uncomfortable to sit through an ankward speech. So don't doubt that you will almost always have their support and a heart-warming applause at the end.
No caffeine
This is related to the propranolol tip before. Caffeine acts in a way similar to Adrenaline, so unless you really need it to work, avoid it whenever possible, it will accelerate your heart and make your hands tremble.
As a final note, use natural methods to relax, from herbs to a nice swim the day before, exercice is a great stress and anxiety reliever. You could even listen to the Stage Fright album from the music group "The Band" to laugh at your evil destiny! Talking to relatives or colleagues before the speech is also reassuring.
