Wouldn’t it feel good to be perfectly calm when presenting ideas in front of an audience? Being able to communicate ideas eloquently can take you far in life. No more stage fright!
Visualise your success
The fright is often caused by negative self-talk. Alter what you are telling yourself in your mind. Counter the negative internal monologue with positivity. Find a quiet place and create a mental image of your speech being a complete success. Imagine the audience applauding. Visualise how all your equipment is working properly and picture yourself sharing your ideas confidently.
Practise – but in the right way
Have you practised over and over again but it seems you are not improving? Well, it all depends on how you practise. You should always practise in such a way that your activity is a focused process which leads you towards a well-defined, specific goal. This is the advice of the addicted2success.com website.
Naive practice is merely repeating a particular task while expecting that we will get better at it. However, as regards public speaking, this is extremely ineffective. To become an effective public speaker, you need to train a whole range of skills. Purposeful practice helps you focus on one skill at a time. By doing this, you will have a much clearer idea of what is and what isn’t working.
Channel the energy stress gives you
We feel the same physiological changes when excited as when we are stressed. We can channel the energy from stress and stage fright so as to encourage ourselves prior to the speech. Positive affirmations such as "I am excited! I will shine" may to a certain extent help you to trick your own mind. Positive autosuggestions impact the way you feel, think and act.
So in your interior monologue, tell yourself you are excited and ready to go.
-jk-