How to Tackle Public Speaking Jitters
Fear of public speaking is very common — you are not alone
Fear of public speaking is called glossophobia.
That word doesn’t look too scary, does it? Unlike the evil hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (fear of long words) or aibohphobia (fear of palindromes).
Whether we are talking about delivering a presentation, introducing yourself to a group of new people or even attending a podcast interview, public speaking can be intimidating.
The first time I agreed to do it, I was wracked by nerves. I had to present a training session on will-making to a roomful of medical social workers from a hospital.
The only thing that gave me courage to go through with the training session was reminding myself that what I had to share with the audience was important.
And that’s my first tip to you.
Along the way, I learnt some other tips on coping with public speaking jitters and I’m sharing 6 of them here.
- Remember that your audience or interviewer wants to see you succeed
It’s true. Your audience is nowhere as hostile as you imagine them to be.
Instead, they are likely to be supportive and will be patient as you try to find your bearings. And some of them will be thinking that you are so brave to be speaking in public because they would have been petrified themselves.
2. Keep with you a small familiar item
You could keep with you a familiar item — say, a favourite pen or a worry stone or a ring — to help anchor you in an unfamiliar environment.
You could fiddle with your familiar item as a sensorily grounding activity before your session starts. Or you could try gripping the familiar item real tight to discharge nervous energy before the session starts.
3. Do a vocal warm up
Warming up your voice before giving a speech would open up your voice and make your delivery sound more confident.
The exercises involved — breathing, chanting and humming — would also calm your body down by activating your vagus nerve.
I located for you a helpful video for simple vocal warm up exercises. Try them out.
4. Visualise your success
Visualise yourself giving a great speech and visualise how you feel after delivering your great speech. Give yourself pep talks about giving a successful talk.
Make self-fulfilling prophecies work for you.
5. Cope ahead
Think about what may go wrong for you when you speak in public.
That you stumble over your words? That you forget your words? OK, decide beforehand how you will deal with those situations. Maybe you can tell yourself that it’s okay, such things happen and then keep on going.
Rehearse mentally what you will do to cope with hiccups you may face when speaking in public.
6. Practise your speech
There’s no getting away from this, especially if you are giving a talk.
You need to know your material like the back of your hand. And knowing your material well gives you confidence about delivering it.
I hope you found this helpful.
Thank you for reading, and may you be well.
