Get a Handle on Your Public Speaking Anxiety and Take Control

Giving a speech can be a nerve-wracking experience. Some people never even get to the actual speaking part because anxiety takes over and stops them in their tracks.

Fortunately, there are several strategies that can help reduce the anxiety and nervousness you might experience before giving a speech.

Quick Note: Feeling some anxiety or nervousness before giving a speech is normal and indicates that you care about your performance. It becomes a problem when the anxiety and nervousness become debilitating.

Here are the Top 3 Tips for handing Anxiety and Nervousness when giving a speech:

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare! Make sure you practice your speech before you give it. A good goal is to practice at least 3 times, out loud. When you actually give your speech, it will be the 4th time you’ve given it. This will help reduce nervousness by 50% or more.

B-R-E-A-T-H-E. When we get nervous, our breaths become shallow, and we don’t take in enough oxygen, which compounds the anxiety. Take a few slow, deep breaths before walking up to the podium. Right before you start your speech, take another slow, deep breath. This will help you start the speech full of oxygen and less anxious.

Slow down! As you give your speech, use your notes to guide you. If you start to get stuck, slow down a bit, look at your notes, and think about what you will say next. Don’t feel the need to fill the silence with sound (this is when vocalized pauses happen). Just take a few seconds, figure out where you are, and then continue speaking. Three seconds may feel like forever when you’re in front of everyone, but the audience won’t notice.