How To Overcome Public Speaking Anxiety: Tips and Tools
Got a speech or presentation coming up? We share tips, techniques and tools for getting over public speaking anxiety.
Sweaty palms, a racing heart, and a light head – however you experience public speaking anxiety, you’re not alone. The fear is thought to affect up to 75% of the population to some degree, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be conquered (or at least reduced).
Below, we share tips, tools, and techniques to ease your public speaking anxiety and become a better, more confident speaker.
Your physical symptoms are normal
Before we begin, you should know that it’s completely normal to experience a variety of physical symptoms before public speaking.
An increased heart rate, butterflies in your stomach, and sweating are all signs of nervousness. But guess what? These exact symptoms are also how your body responds to excitement. Physically, the two emotions are experienced the same way – the body can’t tell the difference.
That’s why overcoming public speaking anxiety is all about changing your mindset – reframing the nervousness as excitement. That’s easier said than done, of course. But keep reading for various tips, tools and techniques to help you get there!
How to overcome public speaking anxiety: the month before your speech
Video yourself and watch it back
The best way to practice your speech or presentation is to video yourself and watch it back. You should deliver the talk exactly how you would on the day of your speech – that means standing up and walking around if you’ll be on stage.
When watching your video back, here are the things to look out for:
- Your posture – are you standing up straight? Do you look comfortable and confident?
- Your appearance – are you happy with how your hair is sitting? Are you comfortable in the clothes you’re wearing?
- Your voice – are you speaking too quickly or too quietly?
- Your hands – are you fidgeting?
- Your eyes – are you looking toward the crowd?
- Your words – is your speech as helpful and succinct as it can be?
- The things you did well – don’t just focus on the negatives. Note down what you did well and give yourself a pat on the back.
Each time you record yourself, focus on just one thing to improve at a time e.g. ‘I should try to speak more slowly’. That way, it will be easier to gauge if you’ve made an improvement, and you’ll be less likely to feel overwhelmed.
Keep recording yourself and making changes until you’re happy with the result. Then, on the day of your speech, all you have to do is recreate the video.
Give your speech to your friends
Once you’re happy with your presentation, ask a friend if you can practice in front of them. Don’t skip this step – practising in front of a real person is completely different to doing it on your own, even if it’s a friend.
Your friend will be able to give you feedback on things you might have missed – that includes the positive stuff too!
Join Toastmasters
Toastmasters is an international organisation designed to help people develop communication and public speaking skills. It’s a safe and encouraging place to boost your confidence and overcome your public speaking anxiety at your own pace.
Many people who have tried Toastmasters swear by it, with some recalling how it has helped them get over their public speaking anxiety for good.
Toastmasters is cheap to join too – your one-off membership fee will depend on which club you choose. Clubs can be found in businesses, colleges, and all over major cities. To find your local club, visit the Toastmasters website.
Take an improv class
For those who enjoy theatre, taking an improv class could be another way to reduce public speaking anxiety in a fun and supportive environment. It can help you get used to performing in front of other people – you may even start to enjoy it!
Visualise your speech going well
Most people’s anxiety stems from worrying about the ‘what if’s – What if I mess up? What if people find my presentation boring? What if I look too nervous?
Focusing on the negatives is not only pointless, but it exacerbates your anxiety and will distract you from getting the important work done.
On the run-up to your speech, take some time in the morning and evening to visualise your speech going well. Think about how confident you’ll look, how great you’ll sound, and how people will love it.
This isn’t a woo-woo technique, either – even Olympic athletes do it. When you visualise your success, it stimulates the same parts of the brain that physically perform the action. It’s an effective way of conditioning your brain for successful outcomes and alleviating anxiety.
Know your material inside out
Worried about forgetting your lines? Learn your script off by heart. This will obviously take up a considerable amount of time, but it’s worth it for the added peace of mind.
Split your script up into sections and practise each one individually as you go about your day. Recite your lines in the shower, as you commute to and from work, or as you make dinner.
Practice at the venue if possible
Having access to the venue of your speech will help enormously, especially if you’ll be on stage. You should run through your entire speech as many times as possible. Take a mental note of how much space you have to walk around or things in the room you can look at.
Go first if you can
If you’re not the only person giving a presentation or talk, you could request to go first or do your speech early in the day. Anxiety can snowball when given time to build up, so getting your speech over with first thing will allow you to enjoy the rest of your day. You’ll also be able to remind yourself of how quickly it’ll all be over – ‘in 4 hours, I’ll have done my speech and will be having lunch with my friends’.
Love your speech
Trusting and loving the content of your speech is a key factor in overcoming your anxiety. Ultimately, the audience is there to hear what you have to say, rather than evaluate your public speaking skills.
With this in mind, you should invest a lot of time into your presentation and let the data do the heavy lifting. If you’re proud of what you’ve put together, your passion will radiate to the crowd and they’ll love it.
Top tip: don’t even think about what you’re doing as ‘public speaking’. Instead, consider it an opportunity to share your story or information with people who could really benefit.
How to overcome public speaking anxiety: the morning of your speech
Do stress-relieving activities
It’s normal to feel a little nervous on the morning of your speech. But rather than letting your anxiety snowball, try to relax your body and mind with some stress-relieving activities like:
- Meditation
- Listening to happy music
- Light exercise like yoga or a brisk walk
- Positive affirmations
- Having breakfast with friends
Moving your body in some way is particularly effective as it releases endorphins and decreases stress hormones, making you feel more relaxed.
Power pose
Doing some power poses right before your speech might feel a bit silly, but many public speaking pros swear by it. In fact, there’s scientific evidence to suggest that power poses can release testosterone in your brain and make you feel more confident.
One of the most effective power poses to try is the Superman/Superwoman pose. Just like the hero, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and place your hands confidently on your hips. Stand tall in this pose, taking up as much space as you can for about a minute to get an instant confidence boost.
Avoid caffeine
As a stimulant, caffeine elevates your heart rate, so it’s something you should definitely avoid if you’re already feeling anxious. Even people who aren’t prone to anxiety can experience panic attacks if they drink too much coffee.
If you feel like you need a pick-me-up on the morning of your speech, go outside for 15 minutes as soon as you wake up. The direct natural light will stimulate your circadian rhythm and help you wake up more naturally.
How to overcome public speaking anxiety: during your speech
Drink water
Keep a cup or a bottle of water on hand while you’re speaking. Any time you feel a bit flustered, take a sip of water to recollect yourself.
Drinking water will also help if your voice starts to shake (although most people in the audience won’t notice this anyway).
Laugh off your mistakes
Mistakes are totally normal. The important part is how you handle them.
Laughing off your mistakes – or even making a joke of them – will put you more at ease and help you relax when they happen.
Remember – people aren’t there to evaluate your public speaking ability. Your audience want the best for you, and won’t pay much attention to your mistakes, much less remember they even happened when it’s all over!
Do you have to look at people?
Your audience won’t be able to tell who or what you’re looking at, so long as you’re looking vaguely in their direction. That means you don’t have to make direct eye contact with people in the crowd if that makes you uncomfortable.
Here are some options of what you can look at while giving your speech:
- Look ‘through’ the crowd rather than directly at people i.e. look at the top of someone’s head or an empty chair.
- Make eye contact with someone new every few seconds, before checking your notes again. This way, you don’t have to maintain eye contact with any one person.
- Talk to the back wall and occasionally bring your gaze to the front row. This gives the impression that you’re talking to the people at the back of the room.
- Find someone with kind eyes or ask your friend to sit at the front of the audience. You can return to looking at this person throughout your speech.
There’s no right or wrong way to look at the crowd when it comes to public speaking. As long as you face the crowd and your head isn’t stuck in your notes or staring at the ground the entire time, you’ll be fine.
Slow down your speech
When we’re nervous, we tend to speak at a faster pace. But speaking too quickly can cause you to trip over your words, and makes it harder for your audience to digest what you’re saying.
Purposefully slowing your speech down will give you more time to think about what you’re saying and make you appear more confident – a win/win!
Allow yourself to pause
If you tend to speak quickly when you’re nervous, you probably also feel awkward during moments of silence. Rather than filling the quiet moments with ‘umms’ and ‘ahh’s, embrace the pause.
Pauses are powerful – they encourage people to consider your point, giving your words more weight. Taking mindful pauses will also help you appear more confident and give you time to prepare what you’re going to say next.
Smile
Just like power poses, smiling activates parts of your brain that influence your emotions i.e. look happy, feel happy.
Your audience will also feel more engaged when you seem happy to be giving the talk.
Take deep breaths
Slowing and deepening your breath can reduce anxiety in a matter of minutes. It also increases oxygen supply to your brain, helping you to think more clearly.
If you feel your voice or body start to shake during your speech, take a deep breath before you carry on. Your audience won’t even notice a pause unless it’s longer than 3 seconds.
Hold something in your hands
Unsure what to do with your hands while you’re speaking? Hold something like a pen, notepad, or a tablet. This will keep your hands busy and make it easy to glance down at your notes if you need to.
Use a teleprompter
If you’re anxious about forgetting your lines, you might want to use a teleprompter. Teleprompter Pro is a free teleprompter app you can download onto your phone or tablet. You can import your entire speech and set the scroll speed to a pace that sounds natural to you.
Long-term solutions to overcoming public speaking anxiety
Use a body language coaching tool
If you have a VR headset, you can try a body language coaching tool like VirtualSpeech. It allows you to practice your speech through VR with AI-powered roleplay exercises and feedback.
You’ll find VirtualSpeech particularly useful if you have to do presentations often. Alternatively, you could purchase the tool as a one-off for the month before you speech (which will set you back $45).
Take an online or in-person public speaking course
There are tons of public speaking courses available both in person and online. If you’re looking for a quick and affordable course to learn in your own time, check out these Udemy courses on public speaking.
If you have a higher budget and would prefer to learn in more intensive group setting, you could explore highly-renowned course providers like Dale Carnegie.
Voice or speech therapy
Voice and speech therapy isn’t just for people with severe speaking issues – they can help you with specific things like voice projection, rate of speech, and articulation. Many voice coaches even specialise in helping people get better at public speaking. A quick Google search for ‘public speaking voice coach’ should provide you with some options near you or online.
Just keep doing it
The best way to overcome your public speaking anxiety is, well, to just keep doing it. Most people who have overcome their crippling fear say practice as the thing that helped the most.
Each time you do it will feel a little bit better, you’ll naturally improve, and you’ll feel proud of yourself for having done so.