Do you find yourself getting slammed with jittery nervousness right before you get up to give a talk? Many people get a rush of public speaking jitters when they get up in front of their audience, even if they don’t feel nervous when preparing the presentation. And while that nervousness might go away a minute or two into the talk, you want to feel calm, centered, and in control when you actually get up to speak.
Ravi described his experience of this beautifully in a question he sent my way:
Dear Lauren – I’m not normally an anxious person, but something weird happens RIGHT BEFORE I speak. I don’t feel nervous at all when I’m building my presentation, and I actually really enjoy myself once I’m a few minutes into my talk. But I am a mess in the 20 or so minutes leading up to my talk. I’m sweaty, I feel shaky, my heart is racing, my brain goes blank, the whole deal. I think I’d really love speaking if I could just get over this. What can I do to center myself and calm down right before I give my talk?
Thanks,
Ravi
In this episode of Communication Q&A, I’ll lead you through a couple of quick techniques for calming and dispersing that jittery, nervous energy and centering your might right before you give your talk.
Watch below, read the transcript, or click here to view it directly on YouTube.
Now it’s over to you! I love a good pump-up routine, and I’d like to hear your’s: what do you do to get yourself pumped up OR centered before giving a talk? Do you groove out to a mental soundtrack like I do? Do you go for a walk, do a yoga pose or two, review your speaking notes, or high-five a trusted co-worker? Head over here and share your pre-talk ritual in the YouTube Comments! And while you are at it, be sure to subscribe to the channel, hit the notification bell, and share this video with someone who might need it.
Thanks for joining me today – now go rock that presentation!
TRANSCRIPT
Hello, friends in speaking – it’s time for communication Q&A , where I dig into your thorny speaking and communication questions. This question is from Ravi, and is one that I suspect more than a few of you will relate to:
Dear Lauren – I’m not normally an anxious person, but something weird happens RIGHT BEFORE I speak. I don’t feel nervous at all when I’m building my presentation, and I actually really enjoy myself once I’m a few minutes into my talk. But I am a mess in the 20 or so minutes leading up to my talk. I’m sweaty, I feel shaky, my heart is racing, my brain goes blank, the whole deal. I think I’d really love speaking if I could just get over this. What can I do to center myself and calm down right before I give my talk?
Thanks,
Ravi
Ravi, you are experiencing the delights of pre-talk adrenaline spikes! So, so, SO many people get this, even very experienced speakers who love being up on stage. These pre-performance jitters can crop up at any point during the speaking process and are related to our body’s natural flight-or-fight response – I’ve linked to a video on that in the description down below and right up here in the corner.
You said that the only time you experience jitters is right before you speak – that it doesn’t cause any problems during your presentation development phase, which is great because anxiety during this stage usually leads to avoidance and procrastination. AND you said that once you get going you relax and enjoy presenting.
Because of this, I think that a couple simple strategies will help you focus and find your footing.
First, I want you to start re-framing how you perceive your pre-talk jitters. When you feel the shakiness or pounding heart coming on, I want you to think of something really positive and exciting that also gives you that physical feeling – maybe something like watching an exciting action movie or an activity that gets your heart pounding like downhill skiing or quadding (I once had a client who said that her heart-pounding moments were when she found rare semi-precious beads at bead shows). When you go to speak, remind yourself of your super exciting thing and focus on the fact that the feeling you get when you watch that chase scene or go down that slope or find that bead is the EXACT SAME PHYSICAL FEELING you have right now. This will train your brain to tie the sweaty, shaky, heart-pounding nervousness to a positive, enjoyable experience. Do this over and over, and you’ll start to interpret the physical symptoms of jitters when you talk as being a sign that you’re about to do something you really enjoy.
The second thing I want you to do is give that jittery energy somewhere to go. When you get worked up like that, there’s a lot of energy and adrenaline running through your veins, and it needs an outlet.
You know those “pump up” routines that many performers or athletes do? Well, they’re harnessing their nervous energy and are giving it direction – putting reins on it so they can use it to improve their performance. Now I know you asked for help calming down, but embracing the energy while giving it direction and learning to control it will help you perform even better than trying to mellow out to a zen-like state.
You want to find something physical you can do in those minutes before your talk that will direct and harness that energy so that you become more centered and focused. This could be taking a quick walk around the block, climbing up and down a few flights of stairs, or maybe grooving out to your own theme song (Psst: Mine is Inner Ninja by Classified). I’ll often do a combination of push-ups and shadow boxing. This physical activity gets the physical energy out and helps my brain get focused and more clear right before I take the stage.
Ravi, you already know that you like speaking, so start perceiving the jitters as a sign of positive excitement and embrace the surge of energy, giving it direction and an outlet instead of trying to fight it or squish it down. Give this a try, and in no time you’ll start noticing that all that energy has turned from negative nervousness to positive excitement.
Now I always love a good pump-up routine, so – what’s your’s? Do you play a mental soundtrack to get yourself excited? Do you go for a brisk walk, high-five people, dance around? Share what you do to get yourself pumped up in the comments below.
Did you find this video helpful? If so, please like the video, share it around, and subscribe to my channel (remember to ring that notification bell while your at it!) And for more great speaking and communication resources, head to my website at laurensergy.com and sign up for other tips and resources that I only send to my subscribers.
Thanks for stopping by today – I’ll see you again soon!