If someone asked me to list five of the most important things an individual can do to manage their public-speaking anxiety, what would they be? Here are five that quickly come to mind:

1. Explode the myth that everyone is watching and evaluating you.
There’s something about the human mind that causes us to think that everyone is just as interested in what we say, what we do, and what we think as we are. Wrong, wrong, wrong! What is true is that everyone else is so concerned about what they think other people are thinking about them that they have little time to analyze and critique you.

Look within yourself. When you listen to public speakers do you analyze their every move? Do you really care if they appear a bit nervous or if they have to look at their notes from time to time?

In reality, public speakers have to go out of their way get the attention of an audience by using techniques like “grabbers” and statements of “what’s in it for you.” If they don’t, most of the audience will hear very little of what a speaker is saying as they close out the world and begin rehearsing their own personal problems in their minds.

The principle is... if you think others are always watching and analyzing you they’re not. No one is putting you under a magnifying glass because they too obsessed with putting themselves under a magnifying glass!

The specific is...enjoy the freedom and the space that actually exists to act independently and to be yourself.

2. Decide to simply have a conversation with the audience.
After studying a number of outstanding professional speakers it finally dawned on me—all they are doing is simply having a conversation with the audience. They are relaxed, they’re telling stories, they’re interacting with the audience… all of the things each of us do when we have a conversation with a friend over coffee. This was a real breakthrough concept for me. I didn’t have to be an orator. I didn’t have to be someone I wasn’t. All I had to do was have a conversation with the audience by using the communication skills I already possess.

If there is one thing that professional speakers have learned—and something we may have to learn—is how to transport the conversational skills we already possess from the coffee table to the lectern. Somewhere in these professional speakers’ lives decisions were made to make their messages top priority. They also decided that they were going to be 100% themselves by allowing their energy, emotions, and personalities to show….just like over coffee.

The principle is... professional speakers simply have a conversation with the audience. These are skills that you already possess and skills that can be refined with public-speaking experience.

The specific is... use your conversational skills as you prepare and present a speech. Concentrate on your message and scrap any feelings that you need to be anyone other than yourself when before a group.

3. Stop thinking that public speaking is performing.
When most people visualize themselves on a stage with 40 or 50 pairs of eyes pointed their way they begin to think and feel the word performance. “There I am,” they think, “all alone, in full view of everyone, and they are all waiting for me to perform. I don’t like performing and I don’t want to be a performer!”

As a person with considerable speaking experience I share that exact emotion. I don’t like to be a performer. It makes me nervous and I seldom enjoy it. However, once I realized that most of my public-speaking was informing and not performing, much of my anxiety disappeared and I began to enjoy speaking to inform!

A great percentage of work-related presentations are simply presentations that “inform.” There are speeches that inspire and speeches that entertain. Each of these involves more of the performance art, but speeches that inform focus primarily on providing information and not showcasing the speaker.

When we are “informing” the audience has not come to see us or to critique us or to compare us—they are there to get our information. Since we are not performing we do not have to be perfect. If, for example, we don’t know an answer to a question we can get the answer later or poll the audience; or, if we forget what we want to say we can look at our notes.

The principal is... most work-related public-speaking requirements require us to inform and not perform.

The specific is...quit worrying about how you think you might appear to others and put all of your attention on the process of crafting a concise, understandable message. Do a good job of this and you will “look” outstanding to others!

4. Prepare.
Experts agree that up to 70% of your public-speaking anxiety can be controlled through good preparation. If you know what you are going to say and how you are going to say it most of your work is done. All that is left is to (1) tell them what you’re going to tell them, (2) tell them, and (3) tell them what you told them.

This is good advice, HOWEVER, there is much magic in how you prepare. It’s not enough to say, “Prepare and you will reduce your anxiety.” It’s more correct to say, “Prepare properly and you will significantly reduce your anxiety.”

Proper preparation involves a number of techniques that require a little study. Take time to read what experts have to say about how to craft a presentation that is not only powerful but also easy to present. Learn how to rehearse, use stories, design visuals, discover roadblocks, build verbal bridges, and all the other things that professional speakers use to manage their anxieties.

The principle is...proper preparation can dramatically reduce feelings of public-speaking anxiety.

The specific is...take the time to discover the secrets professionals use to prepare speeches that are not only powerful but easy to give.

5. Begin a program of graduated risk.
Learning to manage public-speaking anxiety requires mastery of two domains: our mind and our body. The mind needs to look upon public speaking in a realistic way. This involves an open and logical consideration of why we feel anxious and a willingness to reconsider some of the beliefs that form the core of our anxieties. One of the most important concepts that can help us change our beliefs is to look upon public-speaking anxiety as a skill that we have developed somewhere in our life experience. In other words, we have learned to be anxious. The exciting thing about this perspective is that if we have learned how to be anxious then we can learn how not to be anxious!

Once our mind is willing to change, many will find that their public-speaking anxiety has suddenly become more manageable! However, for many of us the mind has to convince the body that it can stand in front of an audience and survive. Unfortunately, this does require some courage and the usual feelings of discomfort that show up when we decide to move outside our comfort zone.

The secret is to take small, supervised steps as we move outside our comfort zone. For those who experience a lot of public-speaking anxiety this is best done in a seminar with an experienced facilitator. However, many individuals can start their “desensitization” or graduated-risk programs by joining public-speaking organizations like Toastmasters International®, International Training in Communication™, or other commercial seminars.

The principle is...both mind and body must become involved in the process of learning how to manage public-speaking anxiety. Teaching the body requires a program of graduated risk that proceeds in small steps with large amounts of positive feedback.

The specific is...decide to move outside your comfort zone and to take immediate action to learn how to manage your public-speaking anxiety.

(Dr. Wood’s ebooklets entitled “99 Ways to Manage Your Public Speaking Anxiety” and “130 Secrets of the Master Public Speaker” are both available at www.teachpublicspeaking.com .

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