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Sandy's heart was pounding, her body
was sweating, she felt dizzy and her mouth
was dryer than Death Valley in August. She came into
the classroom when it was time for her to do her final presentation
and announced to the class how she was feeling.
"Oh my god, I'm so nervous! I always
get nervous when I have to speak, and I know I'm going to
do a terrible job. I am sooo nervous!"
She stepped to the front of the class and delivered
a riveting talk. She juggled, she had us laughing,
she was fluid, and her talk was full of energy. As soon
as she was done, she sat back down and told us how nervous
she had been during her five-minute talk.
"Oh my god, my hands were sweating, my heart
was pounding, and I couldn't get my knees to stop shaking.
I'm sure you could see."
What Sandy experienced was not unusual. In
fact, according to numerous studies, the fear of speaking
in public is the #1 fear of Americans. It's so bad that
Seinfeld postulated that at a funeral, most people would
rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy!
But what happened next in the Public Speaking
workshop above was even more telling. When Sandy was finished
telling us about her speaking anxiety, we went around the
room to see if anyone could tell. And nobody, not
even the trainer (me), could tell that she had been racked
with anxiety.
The fact is that everyone gets nervous at
least once in a while before speaking. Our bodies react to
situations of perceived "danger" with a burst of adrenaline.
We should consider ourselves lucky that the scariest thing
we encounter in our daily lives is the occasional presentation
at a meeting or trade show. At least we don't have a hungry
tiger breathing down our necks!
But I digress. The fact is that we all experience
some degree of nervousness and yet we have to get up and
speak anyway. So how do we deal with it? Below are the
six keys to taming the tiger and not getting eaten. Remember
that the key is not to rid us of the fear completely but
to figure out how to present well in spite of it.
Six keys to dealing with speaking nervousness:
- Your audience doesn't know how nervous you are. This
is what we found out for Sandy. No matter what you are
feeling inside, chances are that nobody else can tell.
Don't give it away!
- Think of your speaking situation as a bunch of small
conversations - not public speaking - and talk to
each person directly (more on this next month).
- Practice. The better you know your material and
how you will present it, the more relaxed you will be.
This is really, really, REALLY important.
- Put your nervous energy to work for you. Gesture,
move around the room, be excited about your material! (If
you aren't, your audience certainly won't be).
- When it comes time to deliver, stop trying to practice.
- Breathe.
If you must picture the audience in their underwear, do
so at your own discretion. I once trained a man who taught
classes in San Francisco Country Jail, and he said that was
one tactic he refused to try.
The key to dealing with your speaking-inspired nervousness
is to take advantage of your speaking opportunities, prepare
for them and remember what Sandy found out: It's not how
you feel that's important; it's how you are perceived.
Robert Graham
Robert Graham is the Principal of GrahamComm (www.grahamcomm.net), a consulting and training company that helps clients increase their sales and deliver outstanding presentations. He can be reached at 415-652-0763 or Robert@grahamcomm.net.
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