5 ways to reduce your fear of speaking in public

• Breathing exercises – when you’re nervous, your breathing can become shallow and rapid. Breathing from the abdomen can instantly aid relaxation. Place one hand on the navel area and watch it move outwards as you breathe in and inward as you breathe out. If your hand does not move, you are not doing the technique correctly.

• Visualisation – try to imagine yourself successfully presenting a speech in front of an audience. Visualise yourself walking onto the stage, the whole speech going well and the audience bursting into applause at the end of it. Take time over the whole visualisation. As fear of public speaking is all in the mind, positive visualisation can work wonders.

• Rehearse your speech. People who are very nervous about public speaking often think that because they get nervous every time they think about their upcoming speech, the less they think about it the better. In fact the opposite is true – the more you rehearse your speech, the more confident you will be, because if you know your material well, not only will you appear more authoritative, but even if your mind goes blank, you’ll be able to continue on autopilot. Knowing that will give you inner confidence.

• Practice speaking in front of an audience. Any audience. Go up to a group of people at a bus stop and ask if anyone has change. Ask a question at a public meeting. If you’re very nervous, take baby steps – start by addressing two or three strangers, and build up to a bigger audience each time. Much of the fear of speaking in public emanates from the fear of the unknown, and the more you do it, the less scary it becomes. Bear in mind that every time you speak in front of an audience, you gain a little more confidence.

• Hypnotherapy – fear of public speaking is all in the mind, and by relaxing your mind in a controlled environment with a professional hypnotherapist, you can reduce the fear.

The day I nearly died (on stage)

It was April 1st and I had been asked to be Contest Chair for the Toastmasters Area Speech Contest, which was being hosted by Glasgow Toastmasters.

Toastmasters is an international public speaking network based in California with clubs all over the world where people learn and practice public speaking.

This particular inter-club competition was a Humorous Speech Contest, and as Chair I had been given the option of presenting a brief warm-up speech to get the audience warmed up for the proceedings. As the date of the event was April 1^st, I decided to present a speech relating some of the greatest April Fool’s Day hoaxes ever.

I did my research on the internet, compiling a hilarious selection of hoaxes. I rehearsed the speech five or six times, with my main concern being not to burst into uncontrollable giggles as I described the hoaxes to the audience. As I had only been given a few days notice of my role, I decided to read the speech from notes rather than trying to memorise it.

My role as Chair also involved a lot of organisation – briefing the contestants, taking short biographies from them, signing certificates – so I arrived at the venue with a big file full of paperwork which I had to carefully sort out and place on the lectern.

The audience numbered about 40 people, mainly from Toastmasters clubs in Scotland, with some having come from England and Ireland. I knew about half of the people in attendance.

The Area Governor opened the proceedings, welcoming everyone and explaining the format of the contest. Just as he started to introduce me, I was struck by a horrifying realisation. I couldn’t find my speech notes.

I was standing at the side of the room, ready to walk up to the front to speak. As the panic rose in my chest, I crept up to the lectern and started to rifle through the papers arranged on the desk. There was no sign of my speech, and I began to clearly remember that I’d left the notes lying on the sofa in my flat. I crept back to the side of the room and simply went into a panic. My heart started pounding and I could just vaguely hear the voice of the Area Governor saying “When Natalie joined Toastmasters 18 months ago she was terrified of speaking in public. She is now an accomplished public speaker…”

I felt as if I had just retreated back to the days when I was a public speaking phobic. My whole body now seemed to be shaking, and sweat was gathering in the palms of my hands. I wouldn’t be able to remember any of my speech. What would I say to the audience?

For a few seconds I wondered if the best thing would be just to quietly creep out of the room and run away.

Of course I couldn’t do that. I decided I would have to get up there, try to pull myself together and just say something brief about it being April Fool’s Day, and what better day to hold a Humorous Speech Contest. Never mind the fact that the Area Governor had said I would be giving a speech. There was no turning back. I would have to get up there and say something.

My name was announced and the audience burst into applause. I tried to brush my feelings of dread aside as I walked to the speaking area, welcomed everyone to the contest, and… went into my speech.

To my enormous surprise, it all came back to me. Not quite all, in fact – I missed out a couple of hoaxes. But I remembered almost all of it. I was probably a bit trembly and hesitant at the start, but I soon got into my stride, and I could tell it was going well from the reaction of the audience. They roared with laughter. Some of them were almost hysterical.

In the end, it was the best speech I had ever done. Speaking around the topics in a conversational way seemed to enhance the speech, rather than trying to remember every single word in order. And the rest of the contest was a big success.

What saved me on that occasion was adrenaline. Adrenaline is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands, and it produces a “fight or flight” reaction. I was briefly tempted to take the “flight” option on that occasion, but instead chose to stay and “fight”, and my adrenal glands ensured that I was well prepared for the challenge.

Adrenaline is a hormone produced in the human body and secreted as a reaction to stress or exilharation. It increases the heart rate and the respiratory rate, allowing more oxygen into the lungs and increasing blood flow to the muscles, temporarily enhancing physical and mental performance.

It sharpened my mind, and when I thought I was walking up to the speaking area in a fug of blind panic, my brain cells were actually working overtime to ensure that I remembered almost all of my speech.

When the body receives a strong adrenaline reaction, especially in a situation where we are expected to be controlled in our behaviour, the results can be very scary. This is when we can feel overwhelmed with nerves. At times like these we should remember that these symptoms are actually helping us to achieve peak mental and physical performance.

The trick is to learn how to turn those nerves into positive enhancements to performance.