A pair of wobbly legs, wildly beating heart, and palms sweating incessantly as if a river is gushing through you- if these words are what you can relate yourself with (or have ever related with), then fret not! This post is here for a reason!

In the below section of this article, I will tell you exactly how I battled with my stage fear.

I know that speaking in front of people with a hundred eyes constantly looking at you can be extremely intimidating. I’ve been there (like most of us) too.

I still remember that as a quiet kid who wasn’t social and barely went to school, it was hard for me to speak out. I used to shiver even when talking to my classmates let alone teachers. And, this went on for years until I decided that I needed to figure out a way to get over this fear.

And what propelled me to decide that was a dreadful day at school, I was asked to recite an extempore in front of the entire class as it was a part of an internal assignment. And, me being the first roll number on the list, was called out first to speak.

I won’t ever forget that day, I was so scared. I had never faced a bunch of people before who were pining to listen to me. My legs trembled, and my mouth stammered. I tried to speak more than my name and roll number but I couldn’t. The words that were supposed to shoot out of my mouth, seemed to have disappeared into thin air. My eyes glimmered with tiny drops of tears, and it was then my teacher burst out in anger saying, “Aditi, you don’t even attend classes. You only appear for tests and exams, and NOW THIS! Don’t even bother yourself to speak up! C’mon now, what are you waiting for? Go back to your seat!”

…And, as I was trotting back to my seat, feeling ashamed of myself, I knew I had to turn the table around. So, in that year’s summer holiday, I got myself enrolled in a personality development class taken by one of the friendliest men I have ever met, and soon I started enjoying the engaging sessions, and the class hours became my favorite temporary haven!

Weeks passed by, and I was happy that I was finally regaining my lost voice and started feeling better about myself! (I even won a few chocolate bars for excelling in public speaking exercises and sales mock calls. 😀 )

And…like that the three-month course came to an end. But the learning didn’t finish there, I, now had to test the waters to see whether what I had learned was worth it.

So, after the school reopened, I walked up to my class teacher one day and offered to volunteer for speaking in the school assembly. Unlike the previous encounters with her where she had outrightly rejected me saying that I was too soft-spoken to deliver a speech in the assembly, I don’t know what change of mind she had, but she happily obliged to take me in. And, I was on cloud nine!

On D-day!

I took a few deep breaths and glanced up at the sky–I was to deliver a speech in turn with my classmate. So, mustering all the courage, I got on the stage and spoke whatever I could remember.

….And, after I moved away from the mic, I could hear the crowd cheering and clapping their hands in unison. I must say, I was pleasantly shocked at myself that I didn’t stammer! Not even a single bit!

I stood up at the corner and waited for the assembly to end. It was then the head of our school came up to our group and said that the best part of the assembly was definitely my speech! And, onto the best part–the same class teacher who once was unsure of me, after hearing the compliment by the head of the institute, looked at me lovingly with a twinkle in her eyes! 

But, most importantly, I was content that I chose to rise above the fear and take that leap of faith. 

By the way, that was just a short summary of my little success story. (Lol…I have many failure stories too. HMU, if you wanna hear all of them over a cup of coffee)! 😉

SO, keeping the mindless blabbering aside, let’s quickly get to the tips and tricks I have listed down here just for you, as a token of love! 😉 

The Preparation Phase (Tips and Tricks)!

1. Stand in Front of a Mirror and Talk to Yourself Out Loud – Look at your eyes while speaking. Does it scare you to speak while making eye contact?

Knowing what triggers you and makes you uncomfortable is the first step toward addressing them. And, that being said, talking to yourself while standing in front of the mirror is one of the best tricks you can use to practice. And do not worry if the people in your house think you are going mad; I can assure you they won’t send you to a mental hospital (if my saying this helps). 😛

2. Focus on Intonation – Intonation refers to the rise and fall in the voice when people speak.

Once you get the hang of speaking, try to work on voice modulation and intonation. You wouldn’t like to hear someone speaking in a single tone, would you?

3. Practice Until You Hit The Nail on the Head – Practice, practice, practice. You can even make voice notes of your speech to see your progress.

During The Speech (Tips and Tricks)!

1. No Negative Thinking – This is the “most” important tip that you can get!

2. Stand Straight, Head Up – You want to show the world your newfound confidence, right!

3. Look at People’s Heads if Making Eye Contact Scares You – I agree, not everyone is comfortable making an eye contact, but you can try looking at people’s head! 😉

4. Dress Up Nice – Deep wash and iron your clothes. Make up your hair. Polish your shoes. Put efforts to look good to feel that surge of confidence.  

5. When Things Go Wrong – What if you forgot a sentence of the speech or missed a part? Well, the good thing is (surprise, surprise!) the audience doesn’t know about it. Carry on with your speech as if nothing happened.

6. Face People with a Warm Smile – A friendly smile goes a long way, my friend! 🙂

7. Breathe in Deeply – You don’t want to start yoga there, but taking in a few deep breaths will help you ground yourself.

8. Arrive Before Time – You do not want to unnecessarily stress yourself by arriving late at the decided location. So make sure that you arrive on time and kill it in your speech. 😉

9. Be More Engaging – Try to be more open to the audience. Find ways to converse with them so that they pay extra attention to what you have to say.

10. Pause – Imagine a person saying it all in one breath without taking a pause. Would you be drawn to listen to him? I guess not. Hence, it is important to take pauses between sentences that separate one from the other (beneficial for both, the orator as well as the audience! 😀 ).

11. You don’t always have to be serious! – Have some fun. Experiment with your content, add a few jokes to liven up the atmosphere. Five years down the line, you never know who might remember you as the guy or the girl who had cracked a joke on that weird looking green frog and still gets a little laugh when thinking about it.

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So, wrapping this post up, these were all the tips that proved to be very helpful for me in lessening the intensity of my public speaking fears by manifold. Though no “Ultimate Public Speaking Guide” in the Universe can vouch for erasing your fears completely, what it can do is to help you in tackling your problems better. 🙂

I really hope that these tips were at least of some use to you.

Feel free to reach out to me with YOUR STORY of conquering Stage Fear. Or, comment down below, if you have some more tips and tricks that you’d like me to add to the post so that it can help more and more people out there! 😉

Till then Stay Blessed!

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