How to handle the fear of public speaking

As a communication trainer, I often find that students in colleges, employees in organizations, as well as CEOs and start up founders, struggle when it comes to making presentations. They have great ideas, but when it comes to public speaking and presenting these ideas to an audience, they are gripped with fear and panic before their presentation. If you are someone who has public speaking fear, then here are 5 tips to help you overcome stage fear.

1. Smile intentionally and appropriately

Be intentional about smiling appropriately and not frowning by default. Always remember that a smile begets a smile, a frown begets a frown. Your audience is not your enemy. So, even before you begin your presentation, look at your audience and smile. They will respond with a smile. This will help calm your nerves and bring you in a positive state of mind. A smile will also positively impact your tone of voice.

2. Think Takeaways

Ask yourself: what are the key takeaways / key learnings / key benefits that the audience will receive by listening to me? Reminding yourself of the clear takeaways of your presentation, will build your self-confidence, as you see how you are adding value to their lives. It will also ensure that you have a razor focus on the value you are communicating to your audience. This will enhance your presentation skills.

3. Meet and Greet

If you find yourself in a new environment—this could be in an unfamiliar conference room, meeting hall, auditorium, perhaps visiting a new institute or organization—there are chances that you could experience a little ‘more than usual’ presentation anxiety.

So, here is how you can handle the additional stress: before you begin your presentation, meet with the people in the room. Introduce yourself, appreciate them for coming on time and inquire about their role in the organization. As you build these relationships, you will feel comfortable and confident and your ‘speaking stress’ will reduce.

4. Engage with your audience

There are strategic advantages to creating opportunities for audience engagement. When the audience responds to you as a speaker, it strengthens the speaker-audience connection and increases the probability of making an even greater impact.

You, as a public speaker, can engage with your audience by asking them to participate in a poll. For example, you can say, ”Raise your hand if you agree with _________________” or you can ask them a specific question and have them contribute towards the solution.

Or you can tell a story, build a scenario or share statistics; then provide them with key learnings from it and follow that up by asking their opinion on the same. These are approaches to share the spotlight, build audience connection and in the process, build our confidence as well.

5. Rehearse, Relate, Relax

There are some people who believe that if you rehearse your speech or presentation, it will make you sound robotic. This is a wrong assumption. Rehearsing (practicing) your speech or presentation will enable you to be more in control and will boost your confidence. Your flow of thought and flow of words will be clear. Rehearsal will also help you fine tune your message, so that you can relate and connect with your audience better. Rehearsal will put you in a better state of mind and enable you to relax before your presentation.

Conclusion

Do not fear the opportunity to speak in public. Rather, be thankful as this puts you in a position to make a significant impact and rise in your influence in the organization. As you focus on the value that you bring to the room and consistently show up to present, your stage fear will reduce, your confidence will improve and you will grow to be an effective communicator. Wishing you the best for your next presentation!

Author: This article is written by Craig Travasso, Director of Craig Communicates (OPC) Private Limited. Craig Travasso is a seasoned voice over artist, an experienced communication coach, 2-time TEDx speaker and a master of ceremonies (emcee). Craig Travasso provides voice overs for corporate videos and advertisements. As a soft skills trainer, he regularly conducts communication workshops on public speaking skills, elevator pitches, storytelling, voice modulation, non-verbal communication and people skills.

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