Public Speaking, get excited, not scared!

For many getting up in front of a group of people is terrifying! How do those who do deal with that fear? The truth is the sensation of public speaking is still there, but after time you know how to manage it. One of the books I read it gave a perfect analogy with sports. When a superstar athlete goes to compete they can have the same feeling or nervousness, anxiety, and fear. They way they overcome it is to think of it differently than most. Rather than think of all those negative feelings that trigger our flight, they just get excited! The feeling of excitement is the same as fear. Adrenaline, breathing, heightened awareness, all come to us whether excited or scared. So rather than focus on the fear, focus on the excitement! Be excited to go on stage and present, your doing something most won’t.
There are tools to help with this, breathing being one of the most important. Slow down and breath, open your body up, let air into your lungs. This helps you to relax and intern helps you to speak. Slow down, this can be a tricky one, but if you can slow speech then the audience will be more receptive. Focus on one person, what usually causes anxiety is we try to focus on speaking to everyone at once. Talk, chat, have a conversation with one person at a time. You are only speaking to them, this makes the speech seem more natural. If you know your material well, then it’s just a conversation to tell someone about it.
There are many other tricks, but these are some of the more valuable that seem to help most people.
Another is read books and watch videos on presenting, there are may tricks and actions that help the audience to receive you and for you to know they are listening.
A good book I’ve used is “The Power Presenter” by Jerry Weissman, he goes through a lot of dos and don’ts and how to help get over the anxiousness of presenting.
It’s not easy, but with a few tools it becomes doable and with practice becomes easier and with technic you become powerful.