We all have at some point of our lives, had some form of public speaking. It may not have been in front of a stadium of people, but it could be presenting in a classroom or to colleagues in a conference room. Public speaking isn’t quantified by the amount of people in the room. It might be a few people and it might appear just as horrible as if there were 200 people.
My entire life, I envied people that could naturally be the center of attention, smile and captivate the attention of an audience. It’s not a quality that I have. I’ve been many leadership positions and lacked pretty much every confident quality optics-wise, even though I’m very confident and competent in my position. I’ve always had a “behind-the-scenes” role opposed to a client facing role.
But every now and then, I’m asked to present or speak in front of an audience and when I am, it’s almost as if I have an out of body experience leading up to it. I don’t sleep, I play out scenarios in my head that could happen, and I obsess over small details that don’t help the situation or objective of giving a successful presentation. For those who have a similar level of anxiety, it requires a lot of work to train yourself to think differently. It takes practice and patience.
Here are some tips and resources that helped me:
Meditation. I didn’t have much faith in meditation but came across a plug for a meditation app called Ten 10% Happier from journalist, Dan Harris. Dan Harris was on the news and experience a panic attack on live TV and his experience was quite similar to every time I had to give a presentation. There are many plugs I could give to the therapists and coaches on this app, since it’s helped me tremendously. It’s not a cure, but it helps rope in the crazy thoughts I have leading up to a presentation. There are also a lot more medications for other purposes such as sleep, focus, anxiety, anger and more.
Diet
Stay away from caffeine. I know you’re tired and it helps you focus, but it also increases your anxiety. Save it until after your presentation. In fact, if you’re able to cut caffeine out of your diet, you’ll slowly be less anxious in your daily life. I (personally) avoid multivitamins days of presentations. Dietitians may argue against this, but certain vitamins like B-complexes make my face flush red. I want to avoid anything that will indirectly cause a panic attack. Having a red or flush face won’t help, so I do not take vitamins only on days I am expected to present.
Exercise
Cardio does wonders for me. In the past, I’d take pre-workout, which has caffeine and train with weights. I’d sweat a fraction that I would doing cardio. Besides, the goal is to not have any caffeine.
Practice. Rinse. Repeat.
Know and rehearse your lines. Pretend you’re going on a movie audition and always have a backup plan. It’s not healthy having a mindset that things could fail, but in my experience, anxiety happens when you least expect. If you need to write down a script, then write it down. Sometimes your brain spins out of control and a simple reminder to go to script will save you the embarrassment of not crossing the finish line. It’s less embarrassing looking at notes than hyperventilating trying to gather your thoughts. I’ve spent hours rehearsing and going through slides and ended up in scenarios where I’ve had to start with the script because the anxiety was too high to start. When I could feel it dissipating, I could then have the confidence to improvise.
Be the first one there.
New environments can cause your anxiety levels to spike. In fact, anything unexpected could trigger it. A person who originally wasn’t part of the meeting. A manager or boss. A VP. The CEO. I had a team of 40 show up one time and pack into the room. I almost died and thank my lucky stars for prepping a script.
Ask questions or invite others to the conversation.
Sometimes pulling teammates into the conversation takes the emphasis off of you. It can be a saving grace if you’re anxiety is high. It gives you a few moments to center yourself before you continue on.
These are things that worked well for me. They didn’t cure my anticipatory anxiety or fears, but they made life a little easier. Please know that you’re not alone and there are plenty of people in prominent positions that struggle with this. One of my favorite TV shows to watch is Silicon Valley, because I can relate to the tech industry and the personalities involved. Not having a natural born skill to public speak does not make you less smarter or less valuable, but in a corporate setting, it can optically come off as weak. Some roles are expected to have these skills, but I think corporate America needs to recognize staff that do not have this ability as we’re not all wired the same way. I’ll save this for another post, but it’s important for you to recognize your worth and knowing that many people of all positions suffer with anxiety and fears of public speaking.
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