Overcome Your Speaking Nerves

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Overcome Your Speaking Nerves
OVERCOME YOUR
SPEAKING NERVES
Fly your butterflies in formation

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Attribution: All images are from sources where a Creative Commons license exists for commercial use. All icons are on subscription
from thenounproject. All clipart is from free sources. The MTL Professional Development Programme is copyright of Manage Train
Learn.
Overcome
Your Speaking
Nerves
Introduction: The symptoms of nerves before a presentation are the symptoms of
stress. When the mind perceives a threat, as it does when it thinks about everything
that could go wrong, it automatically switches on the aggressive or submissive fight-
flight response. Being able to manage your nerves is crucial to becoming a skilled
presenter. In this topic, we’ll show you 7 key features of controlling your nerves.

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1. FACE DOWN
YOUR FEARS
If you feel your knees turning to jelly out of fear,
remind yourself that fear stands for False
Evidence Appearing Real. Almost certainly,
whatever it is that you're frightened of won't
happen. If there is a real worry, for example
you've forgotten an important prop, do
something about it and then stop worrying.
Remember, you can always rationalise yourself
out of fear.
It’s not anywhere near as bad as you think
Flickr attribution: /golos/16132891615/

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The 10 Worst Human Fears
The ten worst human fears recorded by David Wallechinsky in "The Book of Lists" are:
1. Making a
speech
2. Heights 4. Money
problems
3. Bugs 5. Deep water
10. Dogs
9. Loneliness
8. Flying
7. Death
6. Sickness
Flickr attributions: /maveric2003/487418200/; /78139009@N03/8687062948/; /lodefink/756608073/; /teegardin/6093699369/;
/27565889@N00/2927080618/; /ayguey/10439951/; /wdm/9246235469/; /ask9/339802887/; /x1klima/9880255744/; /talibamba/3944338401/

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2. BREATHE
DEEPLY
Practising a breathing exercise before you go on
will relax your body and mind. Here's one that
you can do anywhere, even in the wings. Stand
still and feel the ground beneath your feet. Close
your eyes and imagine yourself suspended from
the ceiling by a thin thread. Just listen to your
breathing and tell yourself there is no rush. Slow
your breathing until you can count to 6 seconds
of in-breath and 6 seconds of out-breath. You'll
now go on in a totally relaxed and confident
mood.
Relax body and mind
Flickr attribution: /williespics/406658456/

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3. RELAX
Relaxing is the art of letting go. There are many
ways to let go. You can imagine you're made of
rubber and go wibbly-wobbly. Or you can sit in
front of a mirror and make a horse's laugh with
your lips. Why not lie on the ground and pretend
you're floating? Or, just collapse on the ground
like a limp doll. Letting go un-tenses the body
and makes you more at ease and relaxed.
Take a moment to compose yourself from your centre
Flickr attribution: /intelfreepress/10012530903/

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4. CHANT A
MANTRA
A mantra is a mystical Hindu chant. The more
you repeat it, aloud or quietly to yourself, the
more focused your thinking becomes. Here's a
mantra that will put you into the right frame of
mind to face any audience:
"I'm pleased to be here
I'm pleased you're here
I care about you
I know that I know."
Remind yourself to have a good time
Flickr attribution: /cesar/6467325527/

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How to Recognise the Onset of Presentation Nerves
The symptoms of nerves before a
presentation are the symptoms of stress.
When the mind perceives a threat, as it does
when it thinks about everything that could
go wrong, it automatically switches on the
fight-flight response.
In gearing up for this reaction, the following
symptoms of "nerves" will appear:
stage-fright
butterflies
sweaty palms
shallow breathing
thumping heart
weak knees
panic
loss of control
If you feel nervous facing a large audience,
imagine that you are just talking to one or
two close friends instead.
Flickr attribution: /briannalehman/4339457187/

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5. THE WALL
PUSH
The wall push was a technique used by Yul
Brynner, star of the musical "The King and I". This
is what you do. Stand about 18" away from a wall
and place your palms flat on it. Push against the
wall. As you push, your abdominal muscles will
contract. As you breath out, hiss and contract the
muscles below your rib cage as if you were
rowing a boat against the current. Do this a few
times, and you'll banish all feelings of stage-
fright.
An Oscar-winning cure for stage-fright
Flickr attribution: /slightlyterrific/5190358045/
Yul Brynner (1920 – 1985) was a Russian-born
United States-based film and stage actor. He
was best known for his portrayals of Rameses II
in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille blockbuster, "The
Ten Commandments", and of King Mongkut of
Siam in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical,
“The King and I”, for which he won an
Academy Award.

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6. WILL IT TO
HAPPEN
A quick and easy technique to deal with any
phobia like fear of speaking is to will the phobia
to happen. Strange as it may sound, this really
works. That's because you no longer give any
credence to the fear part of what you fear and so
the fear goes away. So, if you fear losing your
place, tell yourself that you will, that everyone
will find it hugely amusing and so will you.
Almost certainly, your brain will now stop this
from happening. Incidentally, the same idea is
used for curing insomnia not by trying to sleep
but by trying to keep awake.
When you accept the worst, all fear goes
Flickr attribution: /quinnanya/3571532420/

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Andrew Dlugan of sixminutes.com says that there are 7 deadly sins of public
speaking that far outweigh the occasional slip-up or "ah" and "um". These are:
7 Deadly Sins
1. Sloth, or failure to prepare
You cannot wing a presentation. It is unfair
on you and unfair on your audience.
3. Lust
The idea that all you have to do to
overcome your nerves is to imagine your
audience naked won’t help you at all
2. Envy of “natural” speakers
There’s no such thing as a “natural”
speaker. A “natural” speaker is someone
who has mastered the art.
4. Gluttony, or info overload
There is a limit to what people can take in,
so where presentations are concerned, less
is always more.
5. Greed, or talking too long
Instead, finish early but with everything
fully covered.
6. Anger, when things go wrong
Don’t do this or you’ll lose all credibility
with your audience and make them feel
uncomfortable.
7. Pride, or putting yourself first
It's never about you. It's always about
them.

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7. GET CLOSE
TO YOUR
AUDIENCE
One of the most effective techniques for
dispelling your presentation nerves is to take a
bit of time to get to know your audience before
your talk. Mixing with them has the effect of
discovering that they are just like you and not
hostile at all. You may even discover that some
people are more nervous for you than you are!
They’re not as bas as you think
Flickr attribution: /strelka/25105276209/

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What Did Lee Iacocca Tell Bill ClintonAbout Presenting?
In his years at Ford and Chrysler, Lee
Iacocca was a strong advocate of
training in presentation skills. It was
his communicating ability rather
than his engineering talent that
persuaded Congress to make loan
guarantees of $1.5 billion to bail our
Chrysler in 1979.
By 1983, Chrysler had paid off the
loans and the US Treasury was $350
million richer.
In his autobiography, Iacocca wrote,
“I’ve known a lot of engineers with
terrific ideas who had trouble
explaining them to others. It’s
always a shame when a guy with
great talent can’t tell the board or
committee what’s in his head.”
Image attribution: Wikipedia

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This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn
AFinal
Word
Being a skilled presenter means managing your stress. This means having a range of techniques to
combat the flight-fight response and keep you calm, confident and focused. With practice, these
responses will become a natural and effective part of your presentational success.

Overcome Your Speaking Nerves

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