How can I stop myself from shaking at presentations?

Question

Overall I talk very well to people and with my friends etc, but when it comes to standing up infront of a class ( even as small as five or six people I get so nervous and shake. Especially when I am holding some of my work up to them. I find it so embarressing. I know a huge part of it is nerves, but I don't seem to know how to control them. I'm in my mid 20's now and have always been like this. It never seems to improve the more I do them/ Does anyone have any advice in this situation?

Answer 1

I wish I could help you, but I am terrible at public speaking myself (so much so that I might even fail my public speaking class.) The only suggestions that I have is to know your material really well. That might mean going over it 12 times. That's the number my public speaking professor told us. Maybe practice some breathing techniques. Use notecards and powerpoint, instead of paper. Then, your shakes won't be as noticable. Imagine everything going well. Make sure to make eye contact with all sides of the room. I'd also suggest checking out some books or online sites about giving effective speeches.

Many people are frightened by presentations, so it is normal. Good luck!

Answer 2

I have given lots of presentations lately and the thing that I have found that helps me. Is not to look at an object or focusing on something specific. I have found that looking at nothing on no one is the best way to go. That way the people that you are presenting to don't think you are staring them down when you are looking at them.

How do you not look at anything well practice makes perfect and I think the more times you do the presentations the better you will do as well as make sure you use your whole body when trying to communicate. Focus on the presentation and not the people. If you all those other things to think about then you won't think about the other people or what you should be doing.

Good Luck and I hope I made sense! :)

Answer 3

I was just the same when I first spoke in public. The advice from my boss was simple. (Assuming you know your subject) just stand in front of your audience for a minute or so, trying to make eye contact - do not say anything. They WILL stop speaking to each other, and look back at you. Then, just imagine they are all wearing pretty pink long-johns, maybe with sky-blue dots all over (that is, male and female alike!). You will, or you should, feel very superior at that point, and you shouldn't have any further problem.

Answer 4

For me it was practise but it fades over time. A lot depends on the type of material you're going to deliver, but there are a number of tricks you may be able to try:

Content:
~Consider what you are delivering, who the audience is and how you are delivering. An active, participative 'workshop' style presentation can help the material to stick and can take the focus off you at the front of the room. A well designed group exercise can have the groups doing the work and you just have to consolidate their learning
~Prepare powerpoint/slides minimally, they underline what you say rather than the other way around. Good handouts to take away at the end are great though.

Practice:
~Spend some time practising but not too much, if it sounds like it's been learned word for word then the audience will switch off and ask for the notes you were reading from. There's no substitute to being confident in the material
~Spend some time visualising: Eyes closed, imagine the room with you at the front and your equipment around you, slowly people begin to enter and take their seats, it's time to start so you stand ...it's the end and you tell them so, think about how well it went and how it feels to have succeeded. [make it as elaborate as you like but focus on doing well]
~Try recording yourself 1) delivering the material and 2) write a list of the q's the audience might ask, record them, play them back and answer them (without a script!)
~Get used to anxiety: Eyes closed again, imagine the most anxious you have felt. Which parts of your body did you feel the anxiety in? What were the sensations? How did you know that you were getting anxious? How did you know you were calming down again? [Anxiety is a kind of bell curve, it rises peaks and diminishes, negative thinking can escalate it but more positive thought can allow it to come down again]

Negative Thinking:
~Get a piece of paper with 3 columns headed 1)Negative thought, 2)If...then, and 3)rational challenge. Writen down a common negative thought in Column 1) e.g. "I can't do this". In column 2 complete the sentence "If___, Then___" using the negative thought in Col 1), e.g. "If I can't do this, then they won't respect me", Write down "they won't respect me" in col 1 CONTINUE FOR AS MANY STEPS AS YOU CAN. Now the important part, in column 3 write down a replacement thought to counter each negative one. So, for "I cant do this", you might write "This is going to be tricky, but I'll get there"; for "They won't respect me" you might write "my bro/sis/friends will always respect me" Continue for the whole chain.

Sorry, got carried away (is there a prize for longest ever answer?)

Let us know how you get on in future, you'll do great.

Answer 5

My daughter used to have this problem. She went to Uni as a mature student and really had to overcome the problem.
Here are some of the things she did.
Practice giving presentations to small groups - family - friends. Do that a lot!
Learn Yoga breathing.
Take singing or elocution lessons.
Tell yourself that you are now, with these pieces of advice, taking steps to overcome your nerves. That will give you a positive feeling - and THAT is the secret of getting better - feeling good while you are working to overcome your nerves.
Good luck, Mr L

Answer 6

First of all be thoroughly prepared abt your topic/subject on which you are going to give presentation. Then try to be calm and relaxed before going in front of the audience. take deep breath hold for a second and exhale. pl. follow this for 5 to 10 times. Try to look into the eyes of the audience while speaking to them. You can try practicing in front of the mirror. It works. I have tried it myself. Now I don't face stage fright.

Answer 7

you are probably making it worse because you are self conscious of what you are doing. thing is the people you are talking to are probably not even noticing you shaking. what i do is to not actually look at the people individually just scan them as a group and don't focus on one thing. also concentrate on what you are saying not on what you are doing. also they are only people and are no better than you so chill. if it gets really bad take 2 nuerofen plus about half hour before it used to help me at first.

Answer 8

reverse phsycology...nervousness and excitement have the same physical effects on a person...just tell your self your excited...make your negative energy into positive energy. practice in front of a mirror (out loud) and don't try to hold perfectly skill during the speech, move your hands around (talk with your hands, i think is the expression) this will put that nervous shakey energy to good use...it will make you look enthusiastic about your speech. and trust me when I say practicing in front of the mirror, listening to yourself and watching yourself over and over again will make it come out alot smoother when it comes time to stand in front of the class.....practice, practice, and practice some more. good luck

Answer 9

Try joining Toastmasters. www.toastmasters.org. They will give you lots of practice in a safe environment, and they coach you in how to give a presentation. It's usually a once-a-week meeting, and they're all over the world. It really does feel very safe and supportive.

Answer 10

I always breathe in really deep for 4 seconds repeating positive, then breathe out for a longer 4 seconds repeating negative, do this a couple of times, hopefully it should work for you.