Speaking to an audience can be a nerve-racking experience for anyone; especially if you are speaking in front of family, friends or people you may know. However, speaking in front of strangers doesn’t subtract from all of the nervousness either. You may notice that the anxious feeling of “life or death” does dissipate a bit when the audience is not related to you; but maybe this is just because you know that if you do a terrible job, you never have to see them again!
I have spoken to thousands of people on spectacular stages in 10 different countries. I have spoken to English speaking audiences and I have spoken and been translated consecutively and simultaneously into Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Japanese and Portuguese, to name a few. Although I rarely get stage fright anymore, I still get butterfly’s in my stomach; albeit, they now fly in formation.
While experience is helpful, there are a few tips one can use to calm their nerves, and sound a little more professional. I start with the little things:
• I remove my name tag (which will reflect the bright lights on some stages)
• I remove the change from my pockets as to avoid distraction. (Through my experience, I’ve watched nervous presenters often shoves their hands into their pockets and fiddle with the change inside; and for some reason, the presenter is unaware they are fidgeting so overtly.)
When you get nervous, your mouth tends to get a little dry; in order to combat a dry mouth, here are a few tips:
• Avoid caffeine the morning of your talk, as it will further dehydrate you.
• You should also always avoid fruit juice because the sugar will leave a residue in your throat and will gum you up.
• Drink enough water to keep your pipes clear, but be sure to visit the rest room before you talk, in case you drank too much water.
• Suck on a wedge of lemon a few minutes before you talk. (This will clear your throat and vocal cords.)
• Lastly, apply some lip chap just before you speak; this will prevent saliva from building up in the corners of your mouth. Ever see a speaker talk, get dry, and strings of white saliva build up on their lips? It’s bad enough that you don’t want to listen to someone, but when you have to stop looking at them too; it’s a disaster!
Now that you are ready to jump up to give your presentation:
• Make sure you are sitting close to the stage so that when you are called up, you don’t get out of breath before you speak.
• It’s also always a good thing to ask a friend to give you a quick glance over too. (There is nothing worse than going on stage with your fly down, or a piece of dental floss hanging from your elbow. If you are going to be on camera, a quick roll of a lint brush never hurts on a dark suit.)
Now that you’ve jumped up from your seat, you must be prepared with what to say:
• The first lesson is to know exactly how long you are to be on stage, and then do not exceed the time limit for any reason at all!
• When people get nervous, they tend to repeat themselves, and then ramble on. Know what you want to say and know that it is OK to bring notes on paper, or on recipe cards. As they say, “first be brief, and then be brief.”
• If you add a joke, enjoy the laughter, but control your own snickering. If you laugh into a microphone, your noise will be the loudest in the room, and that’s just not funny. A good rule to follow is that if you find a joke in Readers Digest, it is likely clean enough for most audiences.
• If you are going to make some adlib comments, remember that the best adlib lines are well rehearsed. In other words, make something look adlibbed by practicing it first.
• And finally, if you read from a script, print the comments in font 25 so that you can glance at your notes. This gives you more time for eye contact with your audience.
Try these tips, and they will make you feel more comfortable. If you are comfortable, you will engage your audience more than if you were uncomfortable.
And if you still don’t want to get up on stage, just visit corrycollins.com. We are now booking for Canadian cities for 2016.
I have spoken to thousands of people on spectacular stages in 10 different countries. I have spoken to English speaking audiences and I have spoken and been translated consecutively and simultaneously into Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Japanese and Portuguese, to name a few. Although I rarely get stage fright anymore, I still get butterfly’s in my stomach; albeit, they now fly in formation.
While experience is helpful, there are a few tips one can use to calm their nerves, and sound a little more professional. I start with the little things:
• I remove my name tag (which will reflect the bright lights on some stages)
• I remove the change from my pockets as to avoid distraction. (Through my experience, I’ve watched nervous presenters often shoves their hands into their pockets and fiddle with the change inside; and for some reason, the presenter is unaware they are fidgeting so overtly.)
When you get nervous, your mouth tends to get a little dry; in order to combat a dry mouth, here are a few tips:
• Avoid caffeine the morning of your talk, as it will further dehydrate you.
• You should also always avoid fruit juice because the sugar will leave a residue in your throat and will gum you up.
• Drink enough water to keep your pipes clear, but be sure to visit the rest room before you talk, in case you drank too much water.
• Suck on a wedge of lemon a few minutes before you talk. (This will clear your throat and vocal cords.)
• Lastly, apply some lip chap just before you speak; this will prevent saliva from building up in the corners of your mouth. Ever see a speaker talk, get dry, and strings of white saliva build up on their lips? It’s bad enough that you don’t want to listen to someone, but when you have to stop looking at them too; it’s a disaster!
Now that you are ready to jump up to give your presentation:
• Make sure you are sitting close to the stage so that when you are called up, you don’t get out of breath before you speak.
• It’s also always a good thing to ask a friend to give you a quick glance over too. (There is nothing worse than going on stage with your fly down, or a piece of dental floss hanging from your elbow. If you are going to be on camera, a quick roll of a lint brush never hurts on a dark suit.)
Now that you’ve jumped up from your seat, you must be prepared with what to say:
• The first lesson is to know exactly how long you are to be on stage, and then do not exceed the time limit for any reason at all!
• When people get nervous, they tend to repeat themselves, and then ramble on. Know what you want to say and know that it is OK to bring notes on paper, or on recipe cards. As they say, “first be brief, and then be brief.”
• If you add a joke, enjoy the laughter, but control your own snickering. If you laugh into a microphone, your noise will be the loudest in the room, and that’s just not funny. A good rule to follow is that if you find a joke in Readers Digest, it is likely clean enough for most audiences.
• If you are going to make some adlib comments, remember that the best adlib lines are well rehearsed. In other words, make something look adlibbed by practicing it first.
• And finally, if you read from a script, print the comments in font 25 so that you can glance at your notes. This gives you more time for eye contact with your audience.
Try these tips, and they will make you feel more comfortable. If you are comfortable, you will engage your audience more than if you were uncomfortable.
And if you still don’t want to get up on stage, just visit corrycollins.com. We are now booking for Canadian cities for 2016.
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