The fear of public speaking can make you lose several big opportunities. Individuals in corporate, commercial and educational sectors need to speak during meetings, seminars and conferences. But, what to do when even the thought of public speaking creates performance anxiety and the worry of embarrassing yourself in front of others?
To every problem there is a solution. Here are a few tips to help you lose stage fear and make you confident. Follow them and experience the change!
- Initially, you need to understand your fear by doing a self evaluation exercise. Find out the reason behind your fright and tell yourself why you should not be afraid.
- The point that whether you understand your audience correctly holds a great importance for your nervousness. The way you visualize your audience needs to be altered. Instead of portraying them as listeners, imagine them as your fellows to get comfortable with them.
- Meditation, positive thinking, breathing and a light exercise done before starting your speech can be very beneficial to make yourself calm and cool.
- In order to release negativity away from yourself, think of your presentation as a fun activity and start enjoying it. Visualize yourself as victorious at the end, keeping aside all the worst case scenarios.
- Another point is to maintain your focus while speaking and not to dampen your speech if somebody causes an interruption.
- Preparation is an important aspect which can bring confidence to conquer all your fears. Practice your material thoroughly and get a clear understanding about it.
- Do not restrict your physical abilities when on stage. Your gestures including eye contact, hand movements and walking style reflects the level of confidence. So, a beforehand practice by recording through audio or visual aids would help you to improve your performance.
- Adding a personal experience to your presentation would help you to explain things conveniently. This would make the atmosphere more comfortable for you. For more details, refer to our article on Improving Communication Skills for a Presentation.
- One important thing to remember is the purpose of your presentation. Stick to one central idea rather than explaining irrelevant components.
- Analyzing the potential outcomes of your presentation would help you in understanding the benefits you can gain with the available opportunity.
- For a successful outcome, you need not to be perfect but should deliver everything well.
- Listening to music, reading and remembering happy moments before starting can make you feel more relaxed and contented.
- Make yourself familiar with the surroundings of the stage by reaching the venue a little bit early.
With all these steps, you can deal with your stage fright easily!
