Message from The World Champion of Public Speaking

There are numerous theories on how and why stage fright occurs. But two things are certain:

(1) It is not caused by fear of a hostile audience, as stage fright occurs with even the friendliest and sympathetic audiences,  

(2) It is something that occurs on the speaker's side of the equation.

 

Over the years of speaking and personal coaching, I have been asked for magic cures and secret solutions to address people's fear of public speaking.

There is only one solution I know of for stage fright. That solution is frequent public speaking.

There is no silver bullet, no magic pill or no self-actualized-mental-exercises that I have found that resolves speaking jitters and the tongue-tied mental blankness of stage fright.  

Speaking is a muscle, you have exercise and strengthen it!  If you don't use it, you will lose it!

Here are some tips that I use to handle speaking nerves:

1. Being nervous about speaking before a group is natural.  Do not feel like it is "only you" and that you should not feel that way. Just say, "I am nervous, therefore, I am normal!"

2. Know what you are going to say. Practice and drill your speech until you know it completely. If you are unsure of what or how you will say it, you will be unsure when you are speaking.

3. Get excited about your message! Believe its value to the audience. If you have doubts about your message, if you think that the audience is not interested or won't like it, that can cause anxiety and nervousness.

I use the analogy of:  "If the room was on fire, would you be able to speak to everyone and tell them to get out!?" That is a message I would definitely want to deliver! Then I create the same amount of importance for my message.

4. Get comfortable with the room you are speaking in. Get there early. Walk the room. Stand in each corner, stand at the front, stand at the back, sit in the seats. Stand for 5 - 10 minutes where you will be speaking from, until you are comfortable being in the location. If possible, rehearse your speech in the room.

5. Speak to one person at a time. Look at one person and speak to them for 1-2 seconds and then speak to another person for 1-2 seconds. This way you're only talking to a few people and not a large group.

Source: Lance Miller, World Champion of Public Speaking