Author: Firna Iranda
Nervousness is a feeling that is usually experienced by someone that occurs when the body responds to worries in the mind, stress, fear and others. Especially when you want to speak in public. There are many factors that make a person feel nervous when public speaking. For example, there are anxiety disorders that arise when seeing the audience, an uncomfortable room or stage condition, feelings of insecurity, fear of saying the wrong thing, and lack of preparation and understanding of the material to be delivered. In this case, it takes some way to overcome nervousness when public speaking.
The first way to overcome nervousness when public speaking is to be confident. Confidence is the most important thing in overcoming nervousness when it comes to public speaking. When you are going to speak in public, you have to be confident first. There are many ways to overcome nervousness when speaking in public. But the first thing you can do is be confident. With confidence you can also fight the shame, fear and insecurity that is in you.
The second way to overcome nervousness when public speaking is understanding and choosing the interesting material that you want to present. Before speaking in public, prepare the material that you have mastered and studied before. Besides that it is also important for you to choose material that is easily understood by the audience. Then present the material you want to talk about in public as attractive as possible in your own style and language. Material that is easy to understand and interesting can make the audience more enthusiastic in paying attention and listening to what you are going to say and talk about.
The third way to overcome nervousness when public speaking is to take a deep breath and make eye contact with the audience. When you experience nervousness and anxiety disorders, especially because you see the audience in front of you. The important thing you can do is take a deep breath and make eye contact with the audience. Take a deep breath then hold 5 to 7 seconds and exhale then you can make eye contact with all the audience. By doing this you can overcome nervousness and anxiety disorders when public speaking.
The final way to overcome nervousness when public speaking is to interact with the audience. You can interact with the audience when you feel nervous in public speaking. For example you can greet some audience members and ask them questions and others before starting public speaking. In this way, you can also minimize nervousness and awkwardness when dealing with your audience.
So, everyone must have experienced nervousness when speaking in public. This is a common feeling and condition that people often experience. Which can be caused by various factors such as stress, worry, fear and so on. Some of the ways above such as being confident, understanding and choosing the interesting material that you want to present, taking a deep breath and making eye contact with the audience and interacting with the audience are ways that you can do and apply to overcome nervousness when public speaking.
As a suggestion you can also overcome nervousness when public speaking by calming your mind before speaking in public. Besides that, try to think that you don’t have to be perfect like the expert speakers out there who are used to being on stage. That way you will be able to minimize your nervousness. After applying the steps above, I hope you don’t feel nervous when speaking in public.