Job interviews, courses, lectures, class presentations, oral exams, conversations with strangers … There are many situations that cause us to trigger adrenaline and suffer so annoying situations such as blushing, sweating, cough, tremors, excessive gestures, stuttering etc … From our blog Health advise you on how to overcome fear of public speaking.

The vast majority have ever suffered stage fright, to a greater or lesser extent, throughout our life. However, today I want to give a few tips that I can be of great help in tackling sure those moments when we have to speak in public.

Tips to overcome fear of public speaking

Tips to overcome fear of public speaking we suggest are:

– Try before speech

Many people, especially the most extroverted, they think they can improvise in the middle of a speech or when they have to speak in public. While improvisation can help us at certain times, usually the result of not having rehearsed enough be awkward silences speech, stuttering and fluent dialogue anything.

Hence it is so important presage. And the key to testing is not memorize every word, because in this way can not skip the “dash” and before any doubt or question the teacher, the interviewer or audience, derail our thoughts.

When tested, it is helpful to do so raised, gesturing as if we were talking to a real audience. Practice pausing between each major part of his speech, allowing you to focus on the following, relax and take a breath. Try to be natural, talk like you always do, so there is a time to reach the equilibrium point where you are comfortable. The test is essential, therefore, to prepare when public speaking.

– Make involve the audience

Do not hesitate to ask your audience and introduce anecdotes, stories and even some funny situation. Thus, it will be much easier to capture public attention, resulting in a feeling of satisfaction by the speaker, to help you connect with them.

– Divide your speech in parts

It is shown that it is very difficult to maintain attention after the first 10 minutes. Hence it is very important to divide into parts of 10 minutes our exposure. To do this, we may also use visual elements such as video or slides, a demonstration of a product, tell a story or accept questions from the audience, among other resources.

This will make it much easier to keep the interest and attention. After all, everyone likes to be appreciated and we take into consideration, so that our self-esteem is strengthened. If we succeed, we note that we are “growing” on stage and we’re getting looser.

– Know your audience first

Try to win the audience with a conversational, accessible and sociable terms enabling gain their trust. It is therefore very important to know as much as possible before the hearing. Moreover, it will help first contacting some of these people, as that means getting “nodes of influence” which shall provide a “feedback” positive (knowing smiles, nod …) while we are talking about.

– Use body language during speech

Do not stay still in one spot, but stay away from the table, the projector or any other object, whenever possible. Try to approach your audience and you will feel more comfortable in that situation. Never hide your hands in your pockets or play with objects, let alone cross your arms. Leave your hands free to express your views in a natural and fluid way. You can also leave them at rest, especially when you do not know quite what to do with them.

Being natural, will connect more with the audience. The vulnerability is a sign of closeness of the speaker, embrace your fear and audience supports you, as reflected in you. Actually, they want you to leave great all you to succeed.

– Other important tips

Always try to speak slowly and clearly, while trying to maintain eye contact with your audience ever, it appears that is a conversation between several people. Last but not least, puts a smile on your face. There is nothing worse than seeing someone with a frown or a sad tone. It is not laughing like hyenas, but to convey joy and naturalness, and to do nothing better than to look our smile. We do see that we are happy to share our message we think is important to them and also to capture their interest.