Do you know how this can be done? I’m 31 years old and I start shaking and sweating whenever I have to face an audience or do a presentation at work. It’s extremely embarrassing and paralyzing. I’ve googled the living hell out of this issue and all the advice I found was cheese: trust in yourself, rehearse the speech/presentation, talk to the audience, bla bla bla. You may think it can be done, and you may feel reassured, but as soon as you’re due to talk to an audience, all of this stuff melts, becoming cold sweat that trickles down your convulsive body.
Do you know of any real way to overcome stage fright?
P’S: I’m not a shy person. I’m very outgoing and I have scores of friends and relationships with nearly everyone; and I have a very easy time talking to strangers. In fact, I am an asshole. But still.
If behavioral methods or hypnosis don’t work for you, you could try a beta blocker. My aunts a classical musician and swears by them. They apparently block the physical effects of nervousness and can be pretty effective.
I was in your shoes while I was in the military. Therefore I became an aircraft maintenance instructor. I was teaching something that I knew pretty well and the class sizes were pretty small. One downside was that these people were often my peers that I’d see again, so making a fool out of myself was a motivator to prepare and practice.
Hitting the problem head on worked pretty well for me. After the military I taught night classes at a local college for 16 years.
I still get nervous in front of group, but I’ve learned to channel that nervousness into energy while speaking.
MO50 mentions beta blockers and I’ve heard about that. I was on prescription beta blockers due to a heart condition for a number of years. They do have a calming effect (which is good if you have had a heart attack!), but really mess you over if you do aerobic exercises as BBs work by artificially lowering your heart rate. However if your doctor approves it, the occasional BB a couple of hours before public speaking would probably be OK.
I get very nervous too. I have always avoided public speaking my whole life. Two years ago my boss made me present at a meeting and I was petrified. I ended up taking half a valium before and it calmed me down and everything went well. I’ve heard beta blockers are helpful as well.
Don’t treat the presentation as a speech.
Don’t attempt to memorize the presentation.
The best thing to do is to just know the material. There’s nothing more boring as a participant than to listen to someone read a presentation.
Encourage people to ask questions and make it interactive. Ask the audience questions.
The more you can make your presentation a conversation, with you doing most of the talking/explaining, the easier it is. Just think of it as a conversation with a few people with a bunch more just listening in.
There is no magic solution or pill. You have to practice speaking in front of groups until the fear goes away. As mentioned already, make sure you know the material inside and out and make note cards to use in case you get lost. Start with small groups, maybe 2 or 3 people, and then work up to larger groups. Out to dinner with friends? Use that opportunity to stand up and say something interesting or funny to the group, and then sit down. At some point public speaking will become second nature to you. I used to have terrible stage fright and got over it by forcing myself to speak in front of groups and the fear just went away. Although I wouldn’t recommend it, having one strong drink before getting up to speak may help ease the tension and get your through it.
The day you have to give a speech, presentation, etc. it can help tremendously to abstain from any caffeine (coffee, tea, etc.), if you drink caffeinated beverages, as caffeine stimulates the nervous system. Sometimes when I get nervous, I can feel my face getting red, and that is a giveaway too that I am nervous. There are certain things that can affect facial flushing, such as niacin in B vitamins, and turmeric capsules can cause facial flushing with me, when I’m nervous. Also, I would abstain from all spices, vitamins, etc. to be on the safe side when you have to give a speech, presentation, etc. Also, I think it could help to practice your speech in front of a mirror several times.
As a kid I was terrified of speaking in front of groups. In grade 7 French we had to compose a short speech and present it to the class. I was so paralyzed that The teacher eventually let me present my speech to just him.
In grade 8 French we had a similar assignment, and this time we were automatically entered into Le Concours d’Art Oratoire. I was nervous again while writing my speech, but I decided, “Fuck it. I’m just going to give my speech to the class. It’ll be a trainwreck, but I just want to get it over with.” It turns out that letting go was the right thing to do. I was relaxed and articulate, and I was the winner in my class. I won a trip to Vsncouver to perform there at the provincial level.
To this day I’m comortable speaking in front of groups.
The first time I ever had to speak before a group, I went out to the lectern, took off my glasses, and opened with a quip. “You’d be amazed at how much easier it is to lie to people when you can’t see them.”
Got a laugh, and from there on it was easy.
(But…it really works. If you can’t see them, they’re a lot less scary.)
Memorizing a presentation is not enough. You must know the presentation beyond the point of memorization.
After that, practice will help calm stage fright. It’s still normal to get stage fright in some circumstances, but that’s okay. If you truly know the material, it begins to abate once you’ve started the presentation.
There is nothing except preparation and practice that works.
Take note of some of the things you like and dislike about presentations you have attended. Make a list of the things you want to emulate, or avoid.
For example, like Omar Little, I friggin hate when someone reads a presentation to me word by word. I can read it myself, so stop wasting my time and tell me what YOU think. Only read it word-for-word when you are making a point.
Tangentally, when you are presenting, make sure your slides are not a wall of words - that’s a quick way to get people to disengage you and focus on the slide and then stop listening and then get bored. Use a bulleted outline when you can, with lots of white space, and maybe some graphics to liven it up.
I like people who can use humor. You do not need to be a professional comedian, but starting off with some self-effacing humor can ease your nervousness a little, like what Trinopus did.
In addition to knowing the subject matter, equally important is knowing the audience. If these are people you have worked with for a while, then you should know their personalities. If you can, let someone close to you know you are concerned about presenting, and ask them to attend your next presentation - you can talk directly to them and not worry about the people you dont know in the audience.
Yes. I lead executive meetings and make public presentations regularly, and also play in bands. I was not particularly great at either. No other way than practice for both situations.
Sign up for Toastmasters and get your repetitions in…
Propranolol can help block the physical symptoms of stage fright, such as sweating, flushness, high voice, shaking, etc. It won’t do anything for what’s going on in your brain–it won’t give you confidence–but at least you won’t be dripping in sweat while you’re up there.