In Tip #17, I talked about coming to terms with the possibility of always been nervous as a Public Speaker. During this tip, I want to provide you with some ways to control your nerves. Many people think they can get rid of all of their nerves before they get on stage. For the majority, that simply isn’t true. You can practice for months, but when the time actually comes, your nerves can set in. So instead of focusing on trying to get rid of them, focus on controlling them. Besides, your nerves are reminding you that you’re human.

Nervous habits can show up in the form of bad habits. Touching your hair, avoiding eye contact, speaking too quickly.. these are all nervous habits. Sometimes, you could be talking and not recognize that you are doing these acts in the moment. By the time you are live and in the moment, it’s too late. But one way to see what your nervous habits are before show time, is to record yourself. That’s right.. take your phone or DSLR, set it up on a tripod and record yourself giving your speech. You can also use your camera on your computer. Perform your speech like an audience is in front of you. Move around, ask questions… you don’t want to simply go through the motions. The goal is to mimic what you would do on the stage BEFORE you hit the stage, so you can see what habits you need to work on. When you play back your recording, you may become aware of bad habits that you were once oblivious to. Along with recording yourself, try practicing in front of someone you trust. It can be a family member or friend, but it definitely needs to be a person that will keep it real with you and point out things you should work on… in a constructive way of course!

Watching more established speakers will give you an idea of how you should look when you are on stage. You don’t have to watch somebody who is speaking on the same topic as you. It could be somebody in a totally different field that you admire maybe because of their stage presence or interaction with the crowd. I’m a big proponent of looking at TEDx videos and paying attention to how those speakers occupy the stage when they are talking. If you are part of a larger line up of speakers, take some time to attend some of those talks. Not only can you see how they control their nerves, but you can get a feeling for how receptive the audience is to speakers. At the end of the day, you have to please them. So the more clues you can get to how their energy is on that particular day, the better off you’ll be. Make notes of how much they laugh or if they are predominately quiet. Look into the crowd to see if people are paying attention to the speaker or staring at the phones. Make note of it all, because the way the audience interacts with you as a speaker, will influence your nerves.

Being early is better than being on time. The number one factor that I find contributes to a person’s nervousness is being late. Sometimes, your arrival time is out of your control. Being late not only increases the pressure on the speaker, but it affects other areas of the conference you’re speaking at. Now the organizer is on pins and needles because they have an entire conference to worry about, and something small such as you being late can throw everything off. If you are presenting online, log onto the session 15 minutes early. Being that everybody is resorting to meeting online, you could experience problems with joining a conference. It adds unneeded pressure when you can simply join the conference line early. You don’t have to have your camera or audio turned on as soon as you join, but you need to make sure that you can make it in. If you are traveling to a physical location, it’s a little difficult to say. But make sure you map out your directions and give yourself more than enough to beat traffic, settle into your presentation space and become familiar with your surroundings.

One last way you can calm your nerves is to meet the people you’ll be talking to beforehand. Maybe it’s an official meet and greet, or maybe it’s something you choose to do impromptu. Whatever the case may be, meeting people beforehand can ease your nerves and help you establish direct connections with certain people. People in your audience will get the chance to talk to you individually and they may find you more likeable before you give your official talk. It all works in your favor. This can also be done virtually. If you get login to the session early enough and you see people join, reach out to them directly and say hi. See how there day is going. Even if it’s just a few short words, it can go a very long way towards your image and ultimately help you settle down!

Make your next presentation, your best presentation!

Sincerely,

Julian A. Leonard
(Founder of The JLeonard Group LLC)

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