How to overcome anxiety before public speaking. How to deal with pre-speech anxiety

Public speaking often causes excitement and anxiety. What if I forget something? Feeling overwhelmed and unable to deal with my emotions? Can't answer questions? Will my speech be of no interest to the audience?

Many people think that only timid and shy people are afraid of speaking in public. But according to oratory, in fact, almost everyone goes through such experiences. Even many experienced public speakers get excited when they go out to speak on a new topic or in front of an unfamiliar audience. Surprising as it may sound, the fear of public speaking is one of the most common phobias in the world (according to statistics, the fear of public speaking ranks first and second in different countries).

Any person experienced excitement, and sometimes even fear, if necessary, to make a report, make a presentation, deliver a speech at a meeting, a toast at a festive event, or recite a poem at an amateur competition. Depending on the importance of the event, on the audience in front of which to speak, the excitement can manifest itself in varying degrees. The pulse at such moments quickens, hoarseness, tremors appear (in the hands, knees, voice), the tongue stiffens, and sometimes even the face and neck become covered with red spots. Linking several words into a meaningful text seems to be an impossible task. Where to put your hands? Eyes to the ceiling or to the floor? How to overcome the fear of public speaking and cope with anxiety?

Fundamentals of dealing with fear:

1. Practice is the most effective way. To get rid of fear, you need to constantly overcome it. Approximately after the fifth or sixth (regular!) performance in front of the public, the fear will gradually begin to subside. Practice, practice and more practice. Take every opportunity to gain public speaking skills.

2. Preparation for the performance. The best way to reduce your fear of public speaking is to prepare for it. For a successful presentation, you need to know the topic of the report well. The prepared material can be shown to other people so that there are no doubts about its quality.

You can rehearse your speech in advance (in front of a mirror, listener), having thought through the pace of speech, movements, facial expressions, etc. The more confident you are in your knowledge, the less you will worry about saying something wrong and in the end be in an awkward position. It is the lack of confidence in their knowledge that keeps many people from performing in front of a large audience.

3. Give up the idea that you always have to be perfect. Most people are afraid of public speaking out of fear of making a mistake in front of everyone. This anxiety further increases the likelihood of errors. And even professional speakers are not immune from them. Ask yourself: "What is the worst thing that will happen if I make a mistake?" A mistake will not result in a death sentence. Remember: you won't be able to please everyone anyway. About 5% of the audience will still remain dissatisfied. There's nothing you can do about it, it's the law of life, so is it necessary to waste your nerves on this?

4. Appearance. Try to look good while performing. First of all, for yourself. This is where the next psychological moment comes into play. For example, a girl has an "arrow" on her pantyhose. She thinks about it, worries. Let 90% of people do not see her, but the girl knows about it. These thoughts do not give her confidence. Make sure that your clothes and shoes do not cause you internal discomfort and do not distract your attention during the performance.

4. If possible, take a training or course in public speaking

Methods of dealing with fear immediately before the performance:

1. Quickly move your jaw back and forth, this will help relax the facial nerves so that your face does not resemble an ancient theater mask.

2. Vigorously shake your brushes, move your fingers, stretch your palms. This gymnastics helps to remove the paralyzing effect of excitement, stimulates the speech apparatus; your reaction speed and eloquence are noticeably increased.

3. Walk vigorously, wave your arms. Physical activity helps relieve stress.

4. Move at a calm pace. Stretch your arms up without lifting your heels off the floor, stretch and throw your body down, shake your arms.

When excited, reflexively increases the frequency of breathing (worried, we breathe often and superficially). And since everything in the human body is interconnected, with conscious control of breathing, the psychological state of a person also changes. By learning to control and manage your breathing, you will learn to control feelings such as excitement, fear, panic. Slow and deep breathing will help reduce anxiety. Practice the following breathing exercises before your performance:

1. "Square Breathing": inhale through your nose, pause, exhale through your nose, and pause again. Do the exercise in four counts (inhale for one, two, three, four, pause for one, two, three, four, etc.).

2. "Breathing on the count": inhale through the nose for one-two, exhale through the nose for three-four-five-six. Take a break. (3-5 breaths and exhalations). Then increase the duration of inhalations and exhalations. Inhale through your nose for one-two-three-four, exhale through your nose for five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten-eleven-twelve (5-7 breaths).

3. "Exhale through the mouth": inhale through the nose for one-two-three, exhale through the mouth for five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten-eleven-twelve (5-7 breaths and exhalations). We always speak on the breath. Speaking, it is better to inhale through the nose, and we, one way or another, exhale through the mouth. The longer our exhalation, the stronger, more melodic and without interruption we will be able to speak. It is important to learn to exhale more slowly than usual.

4. If you catch your breath, take a few deep breaths while exhaling any words with the vowel "y". For example: wow, circle, fluff ...

If you don't know where to put your hands. Before the start of the performance, the arms are in a natural position along the body or slightly bent at the elbows and slightly pressed to the body. During the speech, you can put your hands behind your back, on a table or podium. It is not advisable to cross your arms, close your hands, keep in your pockets. You can pick up some object (pen, book, sheet with your notes), but do not make unnecessary manipulations with the object. It is better to hold the object with one hand so that the other remains free.

In case of increasing anxiety during the performance, any movement will help. You can walk around, pick up something, a microphone, a visual aid. Come up with a reason for applause and applaud along with the audience.

We hope you find these tips helpful. Whoever wants to stop being afraid should start performing. It's only hard the first five times. Arm yourself with knowledge and gain experience in speaking, improve your oratory. And each time the discomfort will be replaced by the pleasure of a job well done. Try and find what works for you.

Vadim Kurilov leads the training "Voice", where he teaches to speak freely, expressively and fearlessly. He himself was very afraid to speak only once - when he spoke at a meeting of the stage speech department of GITIS. “At that moment, I was convinced that what I teach works,” he told ChTD.

When I start talking to a person, I immediately feel the degree of his tension in his voice. For those who have a lot of tension in the body, it is difficult to make speeches. The fear of speaking in front of an audience is individual, it's like a fear of heights - a genetic predisposition, life circumstances. This fear does not depend on the social status: recently I listened to the speeches of the tops of one large company, and only one of all was able to speak freely in front of the public and was not squeezed.

Relax the pelvic girdle

I work according to the method of the great Christine Linklater, it is called "Freeing the natural voice". This is not a staging, but namely the "liberation of the natural voice", the disclosure of your capabilities.

It is very important what you say to yourself. It has been scientifically proven that the brain equally believes in reality and in images. And you need to formulate it exactly: you don’t need to say “relax” to yourself, you need to say “let go, release” - “let go of yourself”, remove excess tension.

The specific tricks are very simple! They joke about me: “Well, Kurilov will again begin to advise you to relax your ass.” Yes, that is right! Culturally, we say:

1. Release excess tension in the pelvic girdle."Relax your ass" is not a metaphor, but really the most important thing. Pay attention to the word "superfluous" - not completely relax, but let go of the excess, but stay in good shape.

2. Release excess tension in the lower jaw. At the same time, your mouth opens a little, do not be afraid of this.

3. Relax your stomach. Here it is exactly relax, just throw it out! This is, of course, completely unusual for us. If you're uncomfortable with what it might look like, dress loose.

When you release the clamp on these 3 points, the air begins to enter the lower part of the lungs through the mouth, and you begin to automatically breathe from the belly. When you've done all this, you'll take a deep breath - Christine Linklater calls it "a sigh of relief."

Do not confuse "a sigh of relief" with the concept of "breathe deeply" - no, let go of the pelvis-belly-jaw and let the air in.

This not only helps the body, but also emotionally relaxes. Of course, such a technique will not immediately relieve severe stress, but it will help to calm down. You can perform the exercise both before the performance and in the process.

Pose and voice - it's your choice

Another secret not to be nervous is a stable posture: the legs should stand at a distance of 20-25 cm from each other. So that the foot is under the hip joint. This is less than shoulder-width apart: when the feet are shoulder-width apart, it is inconvenient to take a step forward.

The knees should be soft - not bent, as in flamenco, but slightly mobile, as in Argentine tango!

Breathe through your mouth while performing. The physics of the body, when we talk about performance, is, in fact, the voice. It is realized by sound. You need to understand your range, be able to include both lower and upper case, and learn to understand when which one is optimal. At first, you can even indicate in terms of speech: here I have confidential information, which means lower case. Then it happens automatically.

Men often say - why do I need tops, why should I squeak?

But a well-developed upper register gives richness, sonority, flightiness to your voice. It is interesting that sometimes vocalists come to me, asking me to work with them in a speech voice - and then they say that they even began to sing in a different way.

Germans and Russians don't know how to relax

I started with voice lessons. I studied at the Pedagogical Institute. Lenin at the Faculty of English, and in the last years of the institute he began to study with Laura Eremina, who hosted the Poetry Notebook program on the all-Union radio.

I have owned a PR agency for many years, and the scene is familiar to me: I organize presentations, conduct them, and help clients do the same. I myself never had a problem with performances - I did this because I felt a "social order" from the clients of my agency.

We have an overstressed lower jaw. Do you know why? Because we have lived for 70 years "gritting our teeth."

Life is pain: pull yourself together and fuck off. We have it genetically incorporated, even among those who did not find this ideology. The Americans and the British are better at this. But the Germans, by the way, are also not easy. My German teacher says so: "We have big problems with jaw relaxation."

Is it necessary to imagine that everyone in the hall is naked?

The audience is 2 people, and 10 people of the board of directors, and 500 people at the conference. One interlocutor is also the public. Recommendations “imagine that everyone in the hall is without clothes” or “with big ears” - honestly, they don’t work. After such a thing, it is difficult to return to your topic, this is too much.

Imagine them as little defenseless children? Maybe it's all over the place. But I would not introduce anyone to the people in the hall. I would work with myself. This is my problem, my emotions, and I want to change them. Fear is an emotion and I need to change my emotional state.

Things to do with your brain while you're talking

Of course, the performance technique, like any action, has two components - the brain and the body. The body, from my point of view, is primary here. But, of course, no one canceled the analytics.

So brain. How do we usually analyze? I'm smart, I went through trainings, read books. I will make a plan, make a summary, make a presentation, write a text for each slide. And it seems that at this moment it would be necessary to rehearse. When will my performance be? Tomorrow at 9 am! What time is it now? Two o'clock at night. Will there be a rehearsal? No. And in general I will not get enough sleep and will not be in that condition. It turns out that I seem to understand what needs to be done, but there is too much information and anxiety.

Find an unfortunate victim

It is impossible to memorize the text categorically! Nobody. The preparation must begin with what I call "the search for the unfortunate victim." She can be a great coach, of course! When the tops come to me, the referents usually have already written the entire presentation, and then these same referents hate me. Because they have to redo everything.

A friend can also act as a “victim”. The main thing is that he was not in the subject and asked stupid questions. Sit down with a cup of coffee and just talk, this is how ideas and formulations crystallize, this is how you get an understanding of what is really important and what can be omitted. It is more difficult to do it yourself, but it is also possible: in front of a mirror and with a shower instead of a microphone.

Include writer and director

After practicing on the "victim", answer yourself two questions. The first one is usually formulated as follows: why are these people interested in my presentation? The most important thing here is this: why is my performance interesting to these people right now? What is happening right now that makes my speech important? Maybe some kind of economic situation or a new law - that is, the agenda in the broadest sense. It is not necessary to speak directly about this, but it is necessary to think about it. And chances are, if you think about it, you'll want to say it.

The second question is the purpose of the speech. I have worked a lot with different speakers. And so, for example, I say to the brand manager - what is your goal? 99% respond: “Tell about a new product.” Despite the fact that their basic goal, of course, is to sell, but they don’t even talk about it. But the fact is that if you sell, this is one goal; if you came, for example, to the director of a store and you need him to learn how to motivate sellers, - another; if to the press - the task is that they write well.

The famous director, trainer and teacher explains how to remove the clamps, breathe correctly and perform in public with maximum effect.

"On the effective analysis of the play and the role" Maria Knebbel

People's Artist of the USSR and a teacher sets out the basics of acting text analysis and work with it, which will be useful to any speaker.

"Convince and Conquer" Nikita Nepryakhina

The business coach and radio host offers argumentation techniques and techniques to help convince any audience that you are right.

The goal depends on the audience. To formulate it, you need to put the question like this: “What do I want the audience to do after my speech?” And in order for them to do something, they must learn about something and remember something. Of course, I will talk about the properties of the product, but this information will only be a means to an end. For example, I'm talking about my Instagram channel: the goal is to get more subscribers. The audience should learn from me what my channel is about and what it is interesting for, and remember what it is called.

What does a director do when he analyzes a play? He looks at his three main events - the initial, main and final.

Source event lies outside the territory of the "play" - which led the characters to where they ended up. What happened before my performance such that I came to speak? This plot can be anything - from events of world significance to what I dreamed about tonight. For example, I looked at my friend’s Instagram, envied that he already had 100 thousand subscribers, and decided to expand the audience. You can admit it, why not!

Main event (climax) can be different - the main idea or, for example, some figure. Or drama - if you don't subscribe to my channel, that's it, my life is over.

End Event similar to purpose. What will the audience do if they liked my performance? This should be quite clear in the final part.

The theater of the absurd is built in the same way as the classical one, it's just that the events there are different, absurd. Therefore, any performance in front of any audience should be based on these principles. If you think in these categories, in terms of "events" and "action", if you know exactly what is "happening" during your speech, you feel confident and less afraid to go out in public.

Where to put your hands and how to cry on stage

If you are the kind of person who is constantly tense, that's okay, with experience this will change. You just need to constantly practice, use every opportunity for this: for example, toast during feasts or tell stories to friends on occasion.

Everyone says you need to get out of your comfort zone? - no need! When speaking, there is already a lot of stress, where can I go out here. I prefer to formulate it like this: "expand your comfort zone." If you are comfortable talking with the “victim” over a cup of tea, you don’t have to immediately run out to the millionth stadium - you need to move a little bit. Try speaking to a friendly audience first, then add more in the next step. Gradually, a person begins to get used to the fact that the stage is not the place where you constantly think about what to do with your hands. Everyone asks: where to put your hands? No way! If you are focused on the topic of your speech, you forget about it.

Never in your life say "I'm worried" to an audience. Those who believe that this is a captivating sincerity have had bad teachers.

After such a phrase, they stop taking you seriously, they unconsciously qualify you as a non-professional. Such techniques are more subtle. I had a friend who was so worried that she started crying when she went on stage! I told her - when this happens, you need to pause and say: "Our meeting means a lot to me, and I feel strong emotions just from the fact that I'm here." She did just that. Then the audience approached her and said: “We wept with you!”

Author: Medvedkova Lyudmila Nikolaevna, primary school teacher at the Makeevskaya secondary school with preschool institution No. 102
Material Description: I offer you the article "How to cope with the anxiety before public speaking." This material will be useful to teachers who have experienced anxiety before public speaking. This article will introduce you to the causes of anxiety and how to deal with the fear of public speaking.

How to deal with anxiety before public speaking

In the modern educational space, the requirements for the personality of the teacher are increasing. Every day, the teacher is forced to advertise his educational services, the effectiveness of pedagogical developments in order to position himself as a successful teacher in the field of education.
Countless number of seminars, conferences, presentations, competitions make teachers speak. Every teacher is faced with public speaking every day. Audiences can be different: children (children) and adults (parents, colleagues, administration). And all this can cause excitement, fear or even horror. Such experiences affect the health of the teacher, as well as the productivity of his pedagogical activity.
We often hear: “I can’t perform because I’m very worried! And Marya Ivanovna is excellent on stage! She has a talent!”.
They say that good speakers are not born, but made. How can you become a good speaker if the mere thought of public speaking inspires fear, causes a storm of unrest.
In this article, we'll talk about how to deal with public speaking anxiety and learn to enjoy the stage.
Fear of public speaking has its origin in instincts. You seem to be challenging the audience, appearing on stage in the rays of attention of a large number of people. You literally feel at gunpoint, how you are comprehensively evaluated, every gesture and every word is caught. Surprisingly, the fear of public speaking ranks second in the classification of phobias after the fear of death.
Any person experiences anxiety at this moment. To be in this position is a lot of stress, and instinct tells us that when stressed, we must run away! But we are people, which means we can pull ourselves together and not succumb to instincts. Let's try to help ourselves!
There is an opinion that in order to defeat fear you need to look into his eyes.
So let's find out causes of anxiety before public speaking:
- Overestimated expectations and overestimation of the significance of this event. We often attach great importance to an ordinary speech lasting 3-5 minutes, and if something goes wrong, then something terrible will happen after that. We compare the very chance to speak to a speech before the president or in court, where our freedom is at stake. It is important to learn to objectively assess the importance of such an event.
- Past public speaking experience. If in a previous similar situation you were very agitated or defeated, then in this situation you will experience the same emotions. Try to forget what happened to you in the past situation and start everything from scratch.
- The erroneous belief that the audience in which you will have to speak publicly is initially hostile. This is not true. People treat the speaker at least neutrally and at first give the speaker a certain credit of trust. Of course, there are initially negative listeners, but they criticize everyone, not only us, and you should not judge all listeners by them.
- Fear of forgetting prepared speech. In this case, you need to rehearse your speech in advance and make a plan so as not to get confused in front of the audience.
- Fear of additional questions on the topic. In this case, it is important to understand that it is impossible to know absolutely everything and if you are asked an additional question to which you do not know the answer, you can turn this question to the audience itself. This will be sincere and honest on your part. And in a speech, the main thing is the speaker's trust in the audience.
- Inexperience of the speaker. This can only be corrected by systematically speaking to different audiences and on different topics. Practice is the most effective way. To get rid of fear, you need to constantly overcome it.
To overcome anxiety, you need to use ways to deal with fear:
1. Quickly move your jaw back and forth, this will help relax the facial nerves.
2. Wiggle your hands, wiggle your fingers, stretch your palms. This gymnastics helps to remove the paralyzing effect of excitement, stimulates the speech apparatus; your reaction speed and eloquence are noticeably increased.
3. Walk vigorously, wave your arms. Physical activity helps relieve stress.
4. Move at a calm pace. Stretch your arms up without lifting your heels off the floor, stretch and throw your body down, shake your arms.
When excited, the respiratory rate increases. By learning to control and manage your breathing, you will learn to control feelings such as excitement, fear, panic. Slow and deep breathing will help reduce anxiety. Practice the following breathing exercises before performing:
1. "Square Breathing": inhale through your nose, pause, exhale through your nose, and pause again. Do the exercise in four counts (inhale for one, two, three, four, pause for one, two, three, four, etc.).
2. "Breathing on the count": inhale through the nose for one-two, exhale through the nose for three-four-five-six. Pause (3-5 breaths and exhalations). Then increase the duration of inhalations and exhalations. Inhale through your nose for one-two-three-four, exhale through your nose for five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten-eleven-twelve (5-7 breaths).
3. "Exhale through the mouth": inhale through the nose for one-two-three, exhale through the mouth for five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten-eleven-twelve (5-7 breaths and exhalations). Speaking, it is better to inhale through the nose, and we, one way or another, exhale through the mouth. The longer our exhalation, the stronger, more melodic and without interruption we will be able to speak.
4. If you catch your breath, take a few deep breaths while exhaling any words with the vowel "y". For example: wow, circle, fluff ...
And finally, the last method that will help you relax and relieve tension 3-5 seconds before the start of your speech is to look around the audience and say something good to yourself, for example: "My good, how glad I am to see you!". This will bring a smile to your face and help you emotionally tune in to the pleasant sensations.
Thus, in order to cope with the excitement of public speaking, theory is not enough, it is necessary to speak, speak and speak again ... at every opportunity. If you have something to say, stand up and speak. Even if your inner voice tells you that you don’t need to do this, you won’t succeed. Public speech should become as familiar to you as washing and brushing your teeth in the morning. Remember that every speech you make improves you as a speaker, helps you feel more confident in front of an audience. The law of dialectics: quantity turns into quality, then begins to bring pleasure. When the speaker himself enjoys the process of speaking, then the audience will be delighted with the speech.

Public speaking is a common cause of tremors in the knees and horror. People are sure that anxiety before such a performance visits shy individuals. But in fact, everyone goes through such feelings. Even seasoned speakers get excited when they have a presentation with a new topic and an unfamiliar audience.

Strange as it may sound, this fear is the most popular phobia on the planet. Everyone felt anxiety when delivering a report, a toast, a speech, or even a poem at a creative evening. Depending on the audience, the importance of the event, anxiety has a different degree. At these moments, the heartbeat quickens, trembling, hoarseness occurs, the body is torn with red spots.

Causes of fear of public speaking

The reason for the fear of speaking in public is the unknown. This scares people most often, especially those who have no experience. It becomes a cause of unrest even among speakers who are wise by experience.

In addition, the basis of fear is education. Parents do not allow kids to speak loudly in public. This is argued by the fact that people are watching, it is not beautiful, etc. As a result, when the baby grows up, the adult person begins to be shy of the public.

The main thing is to understand that you are not alone, 9 out of 10 speakers face such a phobia. But the excitement visits before the very performance of all people. Those who are afraid of speeches to the point of trembling are called glossophobes.

Getting rid of fear. Main ways

The real way is practice. In order to avoid anxiety, it is necessary to constantly overcome it. Regular performances reduce this fear of the public. Take every chance to get practice.

The next step is preparation. The best method for reducing anxiety is good preparation. For a successful presentation, it is important to have a good understanding of the topic. You can rehearse the performance in advance, think about all the nuances. The stronger your confidence in knowledge, the less fear arises that you will find yourself in an absurd position.

Don't think that you have to always be perfect. Many of us are afraid of the public because of the fear of making a mistake in public. It only increases the likelihood. But mistakes do not cause a death sentence, nothing terrible will happen.

Consider the look. It is important to look good in a performance. There is a psychological moment at work here. For example, a girl has an “arrow” on her pantyhose, she is worried because of this, but even though 90% of people will not notice her, she will still be worried. Such thoughts steal confidence. Think over all the nuances so that there is no discomfort.

How to get rid of the fear of speaking

So, let's figure out how you can get rid of fears specifically before the performance:

rehearse and prepare;

It is very important to scrupulously analyze the audience. Stage fright is often a combination of several. Negative influence brings fear of the unknown. To get rid of this, it is important to find out where, how and in front of which listeners you are. If possible, analyze how many people will be, their interests and views. Getting rid of fears is connected with your knowledge and awareness.

Once you know who your audience will be, start preparing hard. The report needs to be built based on the average intelligence of the listeners. You should not make complex logical chains, use narrowly focused terms, etc. Don't use words whose meaning you don't fully understand. If there is a short report to be made, the preparation cannot be ignored. The topic is important to study carefully.

After writing a speech, it is worth thinking about questions from the audience. Be sure to train in advance, imagine a state that is comfortable for you. Practice performing in front of a friend or acquaintance.

calm down;

If you do not understand how to relax and get rid of fear, then some exercises will help. Meditation is distinguished by a technique called mindful breathing. Its essence is to focus on exhalation and inhalation. It is necessary to keep the air on the count from 1 to 5. This gives a chance to reduce tension and anxiety. Another option: tense all the muscles in your body for a couple of seconds. Then relax completely and repeat again.

find support;

If there are acquaintances or relatives among the public, then ask for support from them. Any contact will be helpful. Before the start of the speech, find your friend among the audience.

think about the non-verbal part.

It is important to assess the need for a non-verbal part of the report. It is curious that 60% of the data each person receives from this source. If the phrases sometimes give an erroneous impression, then the gestures are read by the subconscious mind correctly.

How to overcome fear while speaking

Even if you manage to completely calm yourself before a speech in public, the fear again arises when you enter the stage. There are methods that make it possible to get rid of fear directly during the performance.

A popular stress relief technique is affirmations with text that uplifts and reassures you. It is important to choose positive phrases, such as “I love everyone present, and they love me”, “Everyone is waiting for my interesting report”, “I can be a good speaker”, etc.

Another way is to accept fears. Allow yourself to worry, because you are a living person. After accepting this fact, it becomes noticeably easier. But remember that it is important to tune in to a good outcome. Don't waste your energy on negative memories.

Experts say it is important for overly worried people to publicly acknowledge their own fear. This removes responsibility if you suddenly forget information or get off topic. But often you can’t use this method, because the audience will react negatively to the statement next time. Frankness is good for the first speech. Use this method only if others do not help.

For speakers without experience, impromptu is not the best solution. Few of us have the ability to extricate ourselves from difficulties. For this reason, it is better not to put yourself in a difficult situation. If you have to give answers to questions, then it is more correct to pronounce platitudes suitable for the situation.

There are other interesting tips on how to overcome your stage fears. Imagine that the audience is not serious figures, but kittens or rabbits. Positive thoughts will bring positive thoughts. But these tips are given by experienced speakers, and they work for those who do not have panic fear.

For glossophobes, any option listed above is suitable to relieve anxiety and tension. If you do not neglect the practice, you will see progress very soon.

Experience is the main key to success in the art of public speaking. Start small - toast with friends. Then practice a loud voice in public places. This helps fight the fear of negative reactions from people. You will see that the tone will become more imposing, more patronizing.

Once you've gained some confidence, start taking action at work. Ask questions to other speakers. So you will reduce the fear of being in the center of someone else's attention and notice your desire to speak.

How to stop being afraid of public speaking? - a topical issue for people of all ages and professions. For the first time, we are faced with the need to speak to a serious audience already at the institute or at work. And if at school, speaking in front of classmates gave you discomfort, and you caught yourself thinking - “I'm afraid to do this,” then work assignments where you need to convey certain information to professionals most likely terrify you.

But all this fear of public speaking is only in our head, so you can easily get rid of it by first explaining to yourself how it arises and what ways to overcome it exist.

The excitement before performing on stage is different, but we feel the same state, which is extremely difficult to overcome: hands and knees are shaking, the mouth dries up, the voice sounds as if from the outside, the audience turns into one frightening mass. To understand why fear controls us so much and how we can deal with it, let's find out its causes.

Perhaps the very first and underestimated reason that provokes the fear of public speaking begins in childhood. When a small child speaks loudly for the first time in a public place, the parent will silence him. In the future, this will be the explanation of why a person has a phobia to express thoughts loudly in front of an audience.

When the voice is clamped, it leads to excitement, and ultimately to fear. Adding fuel to the fire, of course, will not be forgotten by school teachers who belittle abilities, and classmates who can hurt feelings without thinking about the consequences. These moments are the causes of social phobias, including provoking fear of public speaking.

The second reason why fearless public speaking bypasses us has to do with the psychological component of fear. In the past, fear was synonymous with danger. I felt cold - I tried to warm up faster, went to the edge of the abyss - I was afraid of heights and walked away. Under the influence of everyday stresses: work, study, economic and political changes in society, the instinct of self-preservation has undergone changes. As a result, we begin to worry in unjustified situations, including before performing on stage. The reasons that awaken this fear in us are the following:

• Fear of people as such due to low social activity.
• Fear of saying stupid things or making a reservation.
• Constantly winding up the idea that the audience is negatively disposed towards you, and will closely evaluate the performance.

Another reason is not having the information necessary for the performance. And the last one is agoraphobia, or the fear of crowds. Unlike the fear of people, which is written above, this fear is deeper, and people do not even realize that they are afraid of large crowds of people and suffer from this type of phobia.

Why you shouldn't be afraid to perform on stage

Having understood the sources of the formation of a phobia for stage performances, you must first convince yourself that this fear does not exist, that we start to worry in vain.

The main point on the way to overcoming fear that you need to realize and feel is that public speaking is an opportunity to prove yourself from the best side and evaluate your skills in working with an audience. This is important because every day, at work or school, we communicate with people, and when this discomfort brings us, our productivity drops, our mood deteriorates, etc.

Fearless public speaking is the key to your self-confidence. By training skills by presenting information in front of other people, you bring actions to automatic execution, and over time you will no longer feel uncomfortable when communicating with people. We summarize the useful aspects that can be obtained from performing on stage:

• Experience in communicating with a large audience, which will help develop communication skills.
• In the process of preparation, you will deepen your knowledge related to the topic of the speech.
• At work conferences or student summits, your speech will be noticed by influential figures, which may do you a favor in the future.
• With proper preparation for reports, soon your speech will become more literate.

How to overcome stage fright

If you apply the above tips too late - the performance is already on the nose, and the phobia haunts you, and you cannot get rid of it, then use the following techniques:

• Relax. When the body is tense, you involuntarily want to shrink and not be the center of attention. Relax your body so as not to reinforce psychological discomfort with physical tension.
• Your posture on stage should be confident: both feet are on the ground, arms are not in a closed position, and your back is straight. Place your supporting leg forward for stability. This will allow blood circulation to circulate better, deliver more oxygen to the brain cells, and you will become less worried.
• It is important to normalize breathing so that the body is not under stress. To do this, inhale, count to 4, then exhale sharply. Repeat 10 times.
• If you feel that your voice breaks with excitement, do speech exercises in advance. Tell the speech without opening your mouth. Speak the letters as clearly and expressively as possible. This exercise will relax the muscles of the face and larynx and help to cope with anxiety. Take water with you, otherwise at the wrong moment you will lose your voice and have to interrupt the performance.
• If a fearless public speech for no reason is accompanied by trembling in the knees, then try mentally directing attention to them. Or fool your brain and consciously make your knees tremble. After that, the trembling often stops.
• Make eye contact with your listeners to keep in touch with them. This is how you show that the performance is aimed at their interest and return.
• If you make a mistake, the right decision is not to focus on it, and continue speaking. In addition to the task of presenting information, it is important to be able to focus on the main thing. Therefore, if you succinctly omit the error, none of the listeners will even notice it.

The recommendations in this article will help overcome fear, and fearless public speaking will become a constant companion of stage performances. You will never say - "I'm afraid to perform on stage, I can't handle it." When you feel confident in front of an audience for the first time, you will realize that in life you have become much more liberated, and the phobia that haunts you has receded.