Are you scared of public speaking? You’re not alone, as many people feel the same. But as a woman, it’s even harder because you need to command attention, and anxiety is just the first hurdle.
Other issues you’ll have to deal with stem from gender stereotypes that make women seem less powerful than men, interruptions that make it easy for you to lose focus, and the fact that women are still underrepresented at the top levels of society.
If you want to learn to overcome these obstacles and conquer your fear, these seven tips will help you to make yourself heard, loud and clear.
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1. Focus on Your Breath
Paying particular attention to your breath will help you control your nerves. Deep breathing before and during your presentation will keep you calm while adding strength and power to your voice.
You can try the 4-7-8 rhythm, breathing in for four counts, holding for seven, and then breathing out for eight. Alternatively, there’s box breathing, in which you breathe in deeply, hold your breath, and breathe out for equal counts, and belly breathing, where you breathe deeply into your gut and exhale slowly.
By breathing calmly, you’ll keep your voice centered and prevent your pitch from rising. This will make you appear more confident and in control, and you’ll feel it, too.
2. Perfect the Beginning and End of Your Speech
The average attention span is about eight seconds, so you must grab your audience’s attention upfront and end on a high note. If you’re nervous, you won’t start off strong, and it will be harder to reel your audience in and keep them engaged.
To avoid this, it’s best to write your opening and closing statements in advance and practice them before your presentation. If possible, memorize them, too. Doing so is a positive way of reinforcing that you absolutely know what you’re going to say and can connect with your audience from the first word. If you do suffer from a little stage fright, it’s also easier to recover if what you’re saying is familiar to you.
3. Challenge Your Beliefs and Anxieties
You may fear public speaking because of a belief you hold. This could be that if you don’t do brilliantly, your audience will negatively judge you, and your career will end.
To conquer this fear, you need to acknowledge it and then challenge it.
One way to do this is to try a writing exercise: List your fears about public speaking and then write down the worst possible outcome for each. Then, evaluate the objective likelihood of these happening.
This approach will bring a level of rationality to your unfounded anxiety and minimize it. Plus, you have time to develop a backup plan if you figure out that any of your worst-case scenarios are likely.
4. Practice Properly
They say practice makes perfect for a reason! To help quell your anxiety, it’s good practice to simulate the experience of speaking publicly in your rehearsals. Don’t practice in your PJs just before bed or immediately after waking up. You should try to recreate the scene in which you’ll be speaking to make it feel as real as possible.
Think of your rehearsals as work and your presentation as play, and opt for a dress rehearsal every time. Try to practice under the same pressure you’ll be facing in front of your audience to prepare for the demands of the situation when it arises.
When you practice properly, you have a physiological response, and neurological changes occur. Rehearsal moves your ideas and words from the cerebral cortex, where higher-order conscious thought happens, to your cerebellum, which arranges the lightning-fast motor activation you need to perform a complex action like speaking to a group of people.
5. Avoid Overanalyzing
Scientific studies show that the less you monitor your own performance as it’s happening, the more likely you’ll get through your presentation error-free. Although it may sound counterintuitive, too much concentration can be a stumbling block.
Instead, get involved in what you’re doing and deliver your speech with passion and commitment. By focusing on connecting with your audience rather than perfecting every word, your authenticity and enthusiasm will leave a lasting impression, while overanalyzing can create unnecessary anxiety.
6. Visualize Your Success
If anxiety causes you to procrastinate, you may be prone to avoiding mentally preparing for your speech, leaving it until the last minute. If this sounds like you, stop! You need to ignore the temptation to do this and start getting ready for your public speaking engagement the moment it’s confirmed.
After writing and memorizing your opening and closing statements, work on visualizing the venue and the audience to build your confidence. This will help you become more comfortable and may curb your stage fright.
Visualizing positive outcomes and supportive reactions also can shift your focus from fear to success, helping you project confidence and command attention.
7. Talk From Experience
Telling personal stories based on facts is the best way to communicate with others. If you talk about your own experiences, you won’t have trouble remembering the story and can speak without fear of making mistakes.
Additionally, you should avoid using overly complicated language in your stories because this is one of the quickest ways to lose your audience.
Remember, you don’t need to depend on jargon to sound like you know what you’re talking about. Using easy-to-understand language will make you more relatable and may help your audience align with you more easily.
Know When to Get Help
If you work these steps but find that you still suffer from crippling anxiety, you should consider seeking professional help. Therapists, counselors, and communication coaches can help you to overcome your fear, teach you coping mechanisms, and help you master public speaking skills so you can command a room’s attention with complete confidence.
Whether any of these steps work for you or you decide to commit to therapy, with a little bit of help and some practice, you can overcome the fear of public speaking. Your voice deserves to be heard!
Carmen Docampo is a sparkly, whimsical wordsmith who spends her days stringing together sentences about business and marketing. When she’s not crafting prose, she’s probably trying on a new pair of earrings or daydreaming about her future travels.