How can I conquer my fear of speaking in front of audiences?

Question

When ever I get up to speak in front of audiences I freeze up and my heart starts to beat really fast and I forget what I have to say. I even get nervous sometimes when I just have to talk to my teacher's alone. Is there anything I can do to help calm me down when I get nervous?

Answer 1

Practice. Also, remember - you're not alone in being nervous. That might help you not be so nervous.
You Go Girl!!!

Answer 2

(FROM YAHOO! ANSWERS): I am really good at public speaking. I have tons of tips for you! Hope I helped! 1) Be prepared. If you know what you're going to say perfectly, then you won't feel as nervous. 2) Focus only on a certain friend in the audience. It feels better talking to a buddy. 3) Practice in front of a mirror, to see how you will look. That way, you won't worry about that when you're up. 4) Imagine yourself as a great speaker-the best in the whole group! Be confident that you are a great speaker, and that will show when you speak. 5) If you mess up, nothing will be as bad as it seems. Think about it? How badly can you possibly mess up? Everyone else is probably too nervous too, so they're not going to be paying complete attention to you anyways. 6) GO FIRST! You probably think that's crazy, and that going last is best, but trust me, first is best. First of all, you get it over with, and you can relax. Also, if someone really good goes before you, you'll feel awckward trying to follow an act like that. Lastly, no one will talk about you negatively, because no one else has went, and they don't know what good and bad is yet. If you screw up, they won't even remember, since it was so long ago that you went. 7) Take a nice, long breath. Calm your nerves down a bit. 8) Be funny. That way, it will ease your tension a bit, and the crowd will be on your side. 9) Don't be embarrased. Everyone is doing it. Actually, be fun and creative instead. You'll do great. 10) Googe some tips to help stage fright.

Answer 3

Take long deep breaths, slowly let them in and out. That calms the autonomic reflexes some. When you speak, speak to one person. Pick someone you're comfortable with to make eye contact with, and speak to them. Forget the eavesdroppers, you weren't talking to them anyway. These are a couple of tricks to make it easier to speak and not get flustered. Practice in front of a mirror, then in front of one or two people. When that gets easier, increase the audience to three, four or five. It takes time, but what else do you have? Many of us still get stage fright, flustered, and forgetful and we've lived through it. So can you. And what student doesn't get a little nervous with a teacher, especially with a grade on the line? It's just a grade, and in life, will it really loom over you? No.

Answer 4

I know this is hard to believe but the only way to conquer your fear is practice. The more you do it, the more comfortable you will be. I've always been fearful of speaking in front of audiences. The best defense is a good offense. Whatever you do be prepared. The better prepared you are the less nervous you will be. Give it a try. I'm slowly getting better. Now that I am in Grad school, I always have to speak, or teach a section of something. I would never believe that I would have gotten as far as I have.

Answer 5

Hello Oranges....I am a very shy person. I worked in Marketing for 7 years and one of the things we had to do frequently was to do presentations in front of 100 people. At the beginning I was like you: I would freeze and my heart would start beating really fast. What I learned is that the most important thing to overcome this fear is TRAINING. The more you do it (speak in front of the audiences) the more you will get confident in yourself. Because you will think: if I did it last time....why can I do it this time? and so on. It is important that you learn your speach and practice it at home, in front of the mirror, a friend, etc. Remember to breath deep many times before starting the speech.
One last thing....If I were you I will get myself checked with a doctor. Maybe you have some kind of social phobia. You can talk to the doctor about it to overcome it and maybe he can prescribe medicines if you need them.
But despite the medicines, remember to work on your self confidence. SPEAK, SPEAK and SPEAK in front of audiences....you will get used to it!!!! [e-mail]

Answer 6

I remeber through out high school I would always get nervous whenever I would go in front of the class and give a speech or report, but the reason I got nervous is because I would always wait till the last minute to write speech or report and I never would practice what I had to say. All you have to do study whatever you have to do, rehearse it over and over to the point that you memorize the whole entire thing, and when you go in front of the people you have to present to, stand up staright, take a deep breath, place your palm on your stomach if you have to, to help speak louder and more clear, look around the room and never make eye contact cause thats weird, but instead look at their forehead so it looks as if you are starring at them. and thats pretty much it. Always take deep breathes whenever you have to.

Answer 7

Knowing exactly what you are talking about takes away a lot of the nerve. When you know your subject you will hit a groove and slowly get more comfortable even when you are nervous. Preparation is everything with public speaking. If you can practice at the forum where you will speak or somewhere similar but before that know your subject. Anytime I have been nervous it was because I did not know what my subject as well as i thought I should.

Answer 8

When I was in college, engineering majors were required to take a speech class. This is a great place to practice since everyone in the class has to give speeches and everyone is just as scared. I was just as scared when I went into the business world and had to perform my first few speeches but the experience and confidence that I receved in this class was of immeasureable value. I soon became very comfortable with public speaking and even learned to enjoy it.

Answer 9

Look up "Toastmasters" national organization on line. It's a fun way to get together with people who have a similar fear and want to overcome it. Every week you practice public speaking and, as they say, practice makes perfect! The more practice you have speaking in public, and the more prepared you are, the more confidence you'll have ... and less fear. Good luck!

Answer 10

Well for me when I had that problem I just took alot of speech classes in college and that helped me out. And there they tell u to breath than relax and take your time, and if that fails picture the audience naked or with big sombrero hats on!

Answer 11

I can certainly relate to your fear. My way is to take some deep breaths before speaking and try to focus on the person I am talking to or if before a group pick an object at the back to focus on.