How to deal with intense anxiety before a performance. How not to worry before a performance

You can cope with fear and self-doubt, for this there are many fairly effective techniques.

As you begin to fight your fear of public speaking, remember that there is nothing wrong with it. Many people experience the same fear, which consists of many small fears: fear of a poor performance rating, fear of looking bad in the eyes of others, worries about the possible loss of the thread of the story, and so on. These worries are usually groundless, but they exist, and there is nothing to worry about, you just need to try to minimize them.

Don't focus on yourself

One of the effective methods to eliminate the fear of public speaking is to remove the focus of attention from one's own person. Concentrate on your audience, look at the people gathered, answer your questions: who are these people? Why are they gathered? What do they want to hear from you? What is important to them? Focus on the interests of others and you will have no time to evaluate the strength of trembling in the knees.

The fear of the public is based on the fear of being criticized. A confident person will not be afraid of the assessment of others. How to increase the firmness of the position? Let's watch the video!

Remind me of reality

Understanding your good preparedness will help you neutralize the excitement before the performance. Several times aloud or mentally repeat the following phrases: “I know everything. I prepared my report very carefully. I have no objective reason to be worried.” The content of these phrases can be changed depending on the specific situation,

settle in

To make everything successful, train, rehearse your speech in a circle of relatives and friends or in front of a mirror. If possible, get used to the place of performance a little: walk around the audience (stage, hall) in which your performance will take place, determine your trajectory of movements in advance (if necessary).

Love the audience

Inspire yourself with the idea that your listeners are exactly the same people as you, they will be happy with your success. Think of the audience as devoted fans, none of them is hostile to you. Do not wind yourself up, watch your fears-thoughts as if from the outside, try to understand where they come from. Remember that these are not your fears, they come from outside. Let them move on, leaving you alone with your positive emotions. If you become aware of your fears, they lose their power over you.

Refuse bad forecasts

Do not create negative scenarios for yourself, solve problems as they arise. Programming for negative events will bring you nothing but excitement and frustration.

control the breath

If a panic attack took possession of you right during the performance, you. Take a deep calm breath and the same exhalation, feel how the abdominal muscles tense and relax. Breathe like this throughout the performance, it will help to find peace of mind. The technique of such breathing can be rehearsed long before the speech itself.

Always remember that your excitement, like everything in this world, is temporary and will end as soon as your performance is over.

It's perfectly normal to be nervous before public speaking. Even prominent personalities sometimes worry, but this does not mean that the problem cannot be solved. If you want to get rid of tension, it is important to prepare in advance, focus on trying to relax the body and mind, and use techniques that allow you to control yourself while speaking. This kind of preparation allows you to reduce stress levels and stay confident.

Steps

Part 1

Choose a topic that interests you. If possible, choose a theme that you like. If you understand the subject, it will be easier for you. Put a part of yourself into the speech and explain what exactly interested you in such a topic, even if you need to voice boring statistics about last year's wheat crop failure. It will be easier for you to prepare and rehearse if the topic is important or interesting to you.

• If you find the text interesting and important, then the audience will feel your enthusiasm and will certainly appreciate the sincerity of the words. For example, if you are interested in a complex scientific theory, your enthusiasm will help make your talk more engaging and make the theory clear to your listeners.

1. Become an expert on the topic. It is important for the speaker to have a good understanding of the topic. Otherwise, a person may be embarrassed if the data is inaccurate. You may also be confused by the audience's questions after the presentation if you don't know the answers.

   • When studying a topic, it is important to do some preparatory work to understand the basics and then focus on a specific issue. For example, if you want to give a talk about the plays of Shakespeare, you should first study the general information about the work of the playwright, and then move on to one or two specific plays.
   • Also keep in mind the questions you may be asked. Prepare answers to potential questions to feel empowered and less anxious.
   • Remember to prepare a response for situations where you don't know the answer. You can say: "That's a great question. I'll definitely study this aspect."

2. Write your speech beforehand. When people are nervous, they often hesitate and wait until the last minute to write a speech. However, it is easier to deal with anxiety if you have time to edit and rehearse your speech.

   • A short speech for a school lesson should be written in about a week. This will give you a couple of days to make the necessary changes, as well as a few more days to work out the finished version.
   • If you have to give a long speech in front of hundreds of people (for example, an hour-long lecture), then start writing the text of the speech a few weeks before the appointed date.
   • If you are writing a speech in advance, then depending on the topic, you need to keep track of new information and discoveries so that your material does not lose relevance.

3. Practice speaking out loud. Rehearsals help smooth your speech so that all words and ideas sound natural and at ease. Good preparation allows you to reduce anxiety and feel confident in your abilities.

   • Rehearse the speech in front of a friend. It will help you get used to the presence of the audience.
   • Set up your camera and record your speech. Review the recording and highlight points that need to be corrected or improved. Deficiencies are always best eliminated in advance!

4. Write the final version of the text. On the day of the performance, it is better not to experiment with a new style and not to make changes to the material. If you don’t give the speech that you have been preparing for so long, then excitement cannot be avoided.

   • That doesn't mean you can't make small changes like a couple of extra examples or tweaking dissonant sentences. The main thing is not to change almost the entire speech before the start of the speech.
   • Sometimes it is necessary to update statistics or titles that may have changed since you wrote your text. In case of significant changes, it is better to consider them at the end of the speech (depending on the topic of the report).

   Part 2

   How to relax your mind

   1. Leave negative experiences in the past. Some people are afraid of public speaking due to a humiliating situation that has taken place in the past (usually in childhood). Such events can traumatize the psyche and cause a fear of public speaking for the rest of your life. Even if the fear is not a phobia, it is often associated with past failures and embarrassment.

      • Don't forget that all great speakers were once inexperienced beginners. They all became successful because they decided to improve and learn from past mistakes.
      • If your fear is related to past events, then see a therapist or counseling psychologist who specializes in phobias. Contrary to popular belief, phobias can be cured through hard work and regular therapy sessions.

   2. Mentally imagine the desired result. Often people who are afraid to speak in front of an audience mentally imagine their speech as a complete failure, which negatively affects the performance. Instead, imagine that you are successfully delivering a speech. Remember to anticipate success in order to get the desired result.

      • Mentally imagine how you calmly and confidently give a speech to an appreciative audience. Try to hear the clear and measured sound of your words. Imagine that you have a straight posture, easy and free breathing. This is how you program yourself for success.

   3. Get rid of bad thoughts. Every time you start to doubt yourself or imagine a disappointing outcome, switch to something else. Say to yourself firmly, STOP. Do anything to keep from thinking about failure: sing, whistle, read poetry, walk, or call a friend.

      • Try replacing scary thoughts with funny ones: imagine the audience in clown costumes or underwear.

   4. Listen to relaxing or uplifting music before a performance. One of the best ways to calm your mind is to listen to your favorite music. It will help you cope with anxiety and lift your spirits.

      • Specific compositions depend on your musical preferences and upcoming speech. For a motivational speech, it is better to listen to energetic music. Before speaking on the topic of problems in society, listen to calm compositions.

   5. Forget that everything has to be perfect. Often people are afraid of public speaking because of the fear of making a mistake and feeling embarrassed in front of an audience. Such anxiety only increases the likelihood of errors. Even professional announcers can make a reservation. The difference is that they don't see mistakes as insurmountable obstacles to success.

      • The secret is simple: accept the fact that occasional mistakes are inevitable. Only in this way will you learn to quickly recover from missteps.
      • See mistakes as opportunities to improve so that striving for perfection doesn't become a heavy burden on your shoulders.

   Part 3

   How to relax the body

   1. Rest. Prepare in advance and try to get enough sleep before the performance. Fatigue will deprive you of the ability to deal with stress during a presentation.

      • If you can't sleep, drink warm milk and think of something pleasant. It is also helpful to listen to calm and relaxing music or read entertaining literature.

   2. Minimize the amount of other stressful situations before the performance. Strive to remove any difficult meetings from your schedule that can impair your ability to focus and speak confidently. In other words, you don't need to schedule an interview, a visit to the dentist, or a meeting with your ex-spouse's lawyer on the day of an important speech.

      Do not take psychotropic substances. Some people mistakenly believe that alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, or a sedative will help them speak better. You should know that such substances will become a crutch for a healthy person. It is better to bypass them and use all your mental abilities.

      • One of the problems is the difficulty to control the dosage. There is always a risk of missing too much. Since the substances quickly enter the bloodstream, it will not be possible to change the situation. Your relaxation can turn into slowness, and your enthusiasm can become nervous excitement.
   If before the performance you feel an excess of energy, then go in for physical education. A light workout will release excess energy and will not deprive you of strength.
   • For example, a few hours before the presentation, you can go to yoga or take a walk to relax and prepare.

   3. Consider your appearance. Choose a comfortable and formal suit. Polish your shoes to a shine and style your hair. Wear attractive business attire. If you look good and feel comfortable, then self-confidence will increase.

      • If you don't know how to look, then talk to friends or relatives who can boast of good taste. Ask which color or style suits you best.
      • If you have a very important speech coming up, you can contact an image consultant or stylist. A good consultant will help you look your best without going broke.

   4. Before the performance, eat something healthy and light. On the morning of the performance, you should choose a healthy breakfast that will charge you with energy for the whole day. 1 hour before the presentation, you can eat something light or eat nothing. A full stomach interferes with concentration and robs you of energy as your body is busy digesting food. Nevertheless, the feeling of hunger is also a bad ally.

Public speaking is a common cause of tremors in the knees and horror. People are sure that anxiety before such a performance visits shy people. 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, tremors, hoarseness occur, 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 in focusing 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.

What should you do if your palms sweat, your mouth dries out, and your stomach starts to cramp at the thought of public speaking? How to cope with the irresistible desire to run away and how to remove the excitement before the performance? There are 2 positive news for you. First, many well-known speakers have experienced similar feelings, and second, this problem is solvable.

A powerful adrenaline rush in response to a threat makes you nervous. A threat is the thought that you have to say something reasonable and consistent in front of an audience that is staring at you. However, a surge of the hormone that causes excitement and anxiety can become your active assistant. It is he who is responsible for the speed of reaction, the sharpness of thought and concentration. The main thing is to direct the energy of adrenaline in the right direction.

Here are a few ways to relieve anxiety before a performance:

1 Self-discipline

It doesn’t matter if you have a week or a month to prepare, don’t put it off until later. Decide what you will say and how you will present the information. Even if you know the material perfectly, practice is necessary. Speech brought to automatism will relieve unnecessary anxiety that you will forget the text. By rehearsing aloud in front of a mirror, you control your gestures and facial expressions and get an idea of ​​how you look at the moment of performance.

2 Reasonable approach

3 Imagination to the rescue

Have you ever heard the expression "imagine your audience in your underwear"? An interesting psychological trick will help to overcome the barrier between you and the audience. Not only you, as if naked, are standing on the stage, but your audience is in an equal position. Another effective technique: imagine that your relatives are in the room and you are talking directly to them. An imaginary picture will create the impression of a homely environment in which you hardly have to be nervous.

4 Physical activity

Muscle tension is a direct companion of fear. If possible, take a walk outside before performing, or do some basic exercise to kick off the adrenaline rush.

Inhale slowly through your nose, hold your breath for a mental count of 5, and then exhale through your mouth. Focus on the process of breathing until you feel relief. This is a simple but effective exercise. The practice of deep breathing has been scientifically proven to lower your heart rate and blood pressure.

Clench your fingers into fists, pressing your hands to your body and tighten your abdominals as much as possible. Then throw your hands forward, unclenching your fingers. This technique relieves tension in the muscles.

Often fear binds the cheekbones. It is easy to overcome this attack - yawn, opening your mouth wide. In addition to the relaxing effect, this useful exercise will improve your voice and diction.

So, you can remove the excitement before the performance with the help of common sense, autogenic training and physical exercises. But it is more correct to combine all these methods. Remember that anxious feelings are just a side effect of adrenaline, and that's partly because you're excited about the prospect of performing even if you refuse to admit it to yourself!

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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" - do 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.

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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!”