How to control your nerves when public speaking
Public speaking is not that difficult.
Before climbing the steps of the podium to give a talk, many of us have to face our own personal insecurities.
Some people feel insecure about the way they look. They worry that they’re too old, too young, too fat or too thin. They don’t like their hair, their nose or their teeth. So they feel doubly exposed when they stand up to speak in public.
It may be worth remembering that many people in the audience aren’t particularly in love with their faces or their bodies either and aren’t judging you nearly as much as you think you are.
Dealing with nerves
So there you are, standing up in front of a group of people.
Your muscles start to shake, you feel sick, you can’t remember a word, your mouth goes dry, you can’t swallow and your voice stops working. Not great, is it?
Why does this happen?
Back in the days when we were living in caves and being attacked by wild animals, our bodies sent panic alarms to the neural pathways in the oldest part of the brain, called the amygdala. This is the so called ‘fight or flight’ response.
The brain is often unable to judge the severity of danger and can respond to fear disproportionally. So whether we are being attacked by a wild animal or facing fifty colleagues at work, the brain sends signals along those ancient neural pathways.
These signals, identified as the seven fight or flight responses, tell us either to fight or to run.
The seven fight or flight responses:
At times of life threatening danger, the brain downgrades the importance of its own functions. Running away is far more important that thinking about running away. So the brain sends a message to the heart, to increase the blood flow so that it can send oxygen and adrenalin via the blood supply to our legs and arms to fight or to run. Therefore we have less blood running in the brain, which can result in forgetting our words or, as in the worst case scenario, actually fainting!
People that have done heroic acts in dangerous situations often say afterwards, ‘I don’t remember much about it – it was all just a blur.’
A message is then sent to the lungs. We’ll need more oxygen if we are to fight or run, so we’ll need to increase our breathing rate. But as we’re giving a speech and not using up this extra oxygen we can end up hyperventilating, making us feel light-headed.
The brain sends adrenalin to our eyes, so we can find an escape route. We can often see a speaker’s eyes darting around the room wildly or looking slightly scared.
As there’s a small chance the ‘wild animal’ hasn’t seen us, the brain turns off our voice box to protect us from being detected. So now we can’t speak.
We don’t want to choke on our own saliva as we run, so the brain stops producing saliva. That’s why we often have a dry throat and mouth.
The brain sends signals to draw blood away from the stomach as there’s no time to digest food. The blood is now needed to give your muscles extra fire power. This can leave us feeling slightly sick – not a great prospect for after dinner speakers!
You’re standing up in front of your audience, and the body is sending ancient chemical signals urging your body to run. But you are about to give a speech and you can’t run. So the muscles become overloaded with oxygen and adrenalin and they simply cannot stand still any longer. This is the physiological reason why we shake.
What we, as speakers, have to do is to learn how to cope with these responses.
We have to learn how to use all that adrenalin to our advantage.
Dealing with fears
There are two types of fears:
Internal fears – how we respond personally, and
External fears – caused by things that we feel are outside our control.
The five most common internal fears are:
1. Fear to forgetting our words
2. Fear of being judged
3. Fear of large audiences
4. Fear of panicking
5. Fear of looking nervous
The five most common external fears are:
1. The importance of the outcome of the speech
2. The size and composition of the audience
3. The venue
4. The audience reaction
5. Something unexpected goes wrong
Top tip of the day
It is almost physically impossible to shake if you squeeze your thighs, not squeezing them with your hand, but by tightening the muscles themselves. I promise you it will stop you from shaking.
In the fight or flight mode, by squeezing our thigh muscles the body thinks we are moving and stops producing adrenalin. So, miraculously, we will stop shaking.
Also, the more we squeeze our muscles, the more we are sending blood back up to the brain. So now we are less likely to feel light-headed or to forget our words.
Useful Exercises
1. Exercises you can do in private before your speech:
a. Push a wall – stand and face a wall. Place both hands on the wall about shoulder height and push really hard for a few seconds, as if you were trying to push the wall a couple of metres in the direction you are pushing. This is a great exercise for releasing tension in the upper chest. It frees your voice and helps relax any nervous tension.
b. Push your hands together – sit upright in a chair. Put your hands together in a pray position. Make sure your forearms are parallel to the ground. Breathe in through your nose and hold for a couple of seconds. Now push your hands together as hard as you can and squeeze the air out from your lungs through your mouth. This releases tension in the upper chest and also engages the diaphragm triangle as you push your air out.
c. Calming raising panic - breathe in through your nose slowly for a count of three. Then breathe out through your nose for a count of three. Repeat this two more times. Then take one more long breath in – but this time, hold the air on your lungs. When you are ready, slowly let the air out of your mouth. Because we are focusing on holding our breath we tend to stop thinking much about our nerves. Breathing in this way really can help us calm the mind and stop it from racing.
2. Exercise you can do even when people are watching you:
a. Slowing down your heart rate – breathe in through your nose slowly for a count of three. Then breathe out through your nose for a count of three. Repeat this three times. That should take a total of 18 seconds. In that time you will have significantly lowered your heart rate.