Tackling nervousness is tough. The majority of people who come to our professional programs or engage in one-one-one coaching have a common priority: How do I manage my nerves? There are several components to the advice we provide:
- Embrace the nerves. We get nervous because we care. We want to do a good job, we want to accomplish our objective and we want to impress our audience. If you don’t get nervous at all you may be a little too comfortable and can misgauge the stakes.
- Focus on one person at a time. Stop looking at everyone in the audience at the same time. Change your lens from seeing the crowd to seeing one person at a time. Think of it not as a group presentation but rather a series of one on one interactions.
- Change the tape playing in your mind. Instead of saying to yourself, “I’m so nervous,” over and over, delete that tape and play a new one. Tell yourself, “I’m so excited!” It is a slight tweak to the state of mind that will have a positive impact on your speaking performance.