Controlling Nerves: 5 Tips to Managing Anxiety When Public Speaking…
Many of us will relate to that sinking feeling when we’re told we need to give a talk or presentation. The heart starts to pound, hands get a little clammy, mouth dries out, collar suddenly feels rather warm.
And then comes the public speaking itself. Voice gets shaky, it feels like we’re running out of breath and we can’t focus on what we’re talking about. That anxiety cycle we can fall into is something that might take some time to overcome; only with gradual and carefully managed exposure to the event of public speaking can we begin to change our feeling towards the idea of public speaking itself. And in many cases, that initial feeling of fear may never go away entirely, we may always feel some nerves when we go to speak. And that’s ok, because it’s a totally natural response to what can be an intimidating environment.
However, what can change is our ability to manage our physiological responses in the event of public speaking itself, which in turn, can give us confidence in our ability to speak and communicate effectively in those situations. In other words, we can feel the fear, but still deliver a confident looking speech or presentation. And the more we do this, the less we will fear it.
Here are five quick tips to help overcome some of our physiological presentations of anxiety when speaking in public.
Release of the abdominal wall.
What does that mean? Our physiological responses to anxiety in the face of public speaking come from our fight/flight/freeze response. One of the first things that happens is that our abdominal wall engages. This is preparing us to either take on a predator, run a mile (as most of us really want to do when we’re about to speak in public!), or freeze on the spot. The result of this gripping of the abs is that we lose the ability to breathe deeply – try tensing your abs and then taking a deep breath whilst keeping the abs tense… tricky right! So as a result, our breathing becomes shallow and quick, which in turns raises our heart rate, which continues to feed into the anxiety cycle. By consciously releasing our abdominal wall – and this takes practice – we can get control of this physiological response and begin to manage our anxiety. This is where the old adage of taking deep breaths can really help!
Keep the abdominal wall released… for the voice.
We’ve talked about how an engaged abdominal wall can stop us from breathing deeply and contribute to our feeling of anxiety. But it also has an impact on our ability to use the voice. When the abdominal is tense it tends to push too much air at the voice and causes a closing up of the throat. This means our voice can become gripped and lose resonance. Releasing the abs and practising opening the throat will help keep your voice open and free, allowing you to use this important tool to communicate with your audience with clarity and authority.
Reframe your nerves as excitement and visualise success.
The physiological responses to anxiety and excitement are often very similar: heart starts pounding, butterflies in your stomach, thoughts start racing. By reframing your anxiety as excitement, we can start to take control of these responses. Try saying to yourself as a mantra, ‘I’m excited about this event’, and then start picturing what success looks like. Write down the positive scenarios and then visualise yourself fulfilling those scenarios when you speak.
Structure your thoughts.
When we get nervous and anxious, our brain starts firing on all cylinders. It’s part of the fight/flight/freeze response, the brain gets hyper alert in order to think about how to escape and survive this event – great if we’re actually in danger from a predator, but not if we need the brain to be focusing on telling a good story whilst keeping our message clear and compelling. So, it’s useful to practice structuring your thoughts. Figure out what your structure is, then summarise each section in a sentence. Then in a few words. Then in one word. This will help clarify your message and will help you remember what each section is really about. Then, you can try building your talk back up again, keeping those sections clear and distinct.
Practice.
It’s all very well to know what to do, but doing it is another thing. Practice these tips so that when it comes to the event itself you have some muscle memory, some synaptic pathways to rely on. That’s how we learn to do something new or differently; attentive practice.
Hopefully you will find these tips useful. If you would like to hear more about how you can work on and strengthen your public speaking and communication, get in touch with a free consultation now. We offer both 1:1 coaching and courses that are designed to build tangible skills that you can start to rely on.