public speaking...nervous?

Question

I have to give a speech tomorrow. How do I get rid of those "butterflies" and my nervousness?

Answer 1

If possible acquire more experience, obviously the more you do it the less nervous you'll be.

Prepare. This is probably the most important. Know your material, have a relationship with your speech, if possible speak about something you're passionate about. Practice in front of a mirror, practice in front of friends and relatives. Really focus on the introduction, your anxiety will drop after the first 30 to 60 seconds.

Make sure you think positively before you speak and during the speech. Don't think that you're not a great speaker, think that this is an opportunity to improve yourself. You're going to do great!

Visualize yourself doing well in the speech, it will help you gain confidence. Pro athletes use it, and I've used it for my public speaking class. It'll really help.

Realize that nervousness is not visible, the audience probably won't see any signs that you're nervous. Simply realizing this will probably make you less nervous.

Don't expect the speech to be perfect, just go through the mistakes and don't focus on them or correct yourself, unless it's an important statistic.

Get plenty of sleep the night before.

Take a couple of slow, deep breaths before.

And just make sure you're focused on communicating with your audience. If you focus on that your stage fright will disappear.

Hope this helps, good luck on your speech. You're going to do great.

Answer 2

Just realize that everyone is as nervous as you when it comes to giving speeches. Just get up there and give the best speech you can and you will shine. You have to have confidence in your abilities, if you mess up just keep going. Don't draw attention to your mistake. You can do it, know your information, don't just memorize it. That way if you get lost you at least know what you are talking about and can keep going. Good luck!

Answer 3

Be prepared and go early to be familiar with your audience and place. Also, practice your speech aloud. Dress successfully and you will be ok. What really helps is to memorize you first opening statement so even if you are nervous you can say that. Then things flow much better.

Answer 4

The typical idea is to imagine your audience in their underwear. Most anxiety from public speaking comes from the idea that you will be judged while you are standing there in front of the group. So imagining your audience as a group of people who have no right to judge you than you essentially take away that fear.

I try to imagine the group as a bunch of monkies. It works great except when they start the question and answer. :) But standing in front of a large group of monkies (I have also heard that kittens work too) is very easy. I find myself smiling a lot and flowing through my presentations easily.

Answer 5

Open your speech with "You have before you a white knuckle public speaker, but if you don't mind, I won't!! (smile)"
That will get everyone at ease including you.
Everone in the audience has felt the same. They'll smile with you. You'll do great, especially if you're really prepared.

Answer 6

If you know what your talking about, it should go fine. Just try to find something to focus on during the speech. It will calm you down.

Answer 7

Just do it! Don't worry, more worrying = more nervousness.

Everyone is nervous when it comes to public speaking, in fact, according to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking.

Answer 8

Lots of deep breaths and a firm knowledge on the material

Answer 9

Know your stuff well. Don't look at the audiences until you feel comfortable.

GOD bless

Answer 10

you dont, you use them to sharpen your skills. if its obvious to all youre nervous, use that as part of your presentation...most common fear in america.