How to Deal with Speech Anxiety
Speech anxiety is not just a fear for most people, it is an actual phobia. The sweaty palms and itchy skin is just the beginning. Each person experiences this type of anxiety regularly however, not everyone knows how to best get it under control. Here are the top 20 tips that I could provide to help you cope with your speech anxiety as well as controlling it. Lets take a look.
1. Remember that during a wedding you already know the audience and the few that you dont know, you will only have to see that one time. Why be afraid.
2. Get to know your audience beforehand. The more you know about your audience, the more confidence you have that your speech will be successful. just mingle with those that you dont know before you give your speech. Get to know them on a personal level.
3. Select the right topic for your speech. The more comfortable you are speaking about a topic and the better you know it, the less anxiety your speech will actually cause you. Choose an aspect of the couple that you know something about to reduce anxiety. Just remember that others will be listening too, so it may be good to have a few copies on hand so that you are not repeating someone elses speech.
4. If you have successfully given the speech when you practiced it, try to deliver it the same way.
5. Make sure that your notes etc. are organized properly. Having them be in the wrong order is going to make it much harder if you should forget something.
6. You must again, try to imagine yourself giving the speech, and it being wildly successful. It really does renew your confidence when you need it.
7. Be prepared for possible problems and make contingency plans. Before speaking, you have to think about what might go wrong and plan what youll do if it does. That way, youre not surprised by anything that might happen. This is especially important if you are using mechanical devices (e.g., laptop and projector for PowerPoint) Having contingency plans means that youll feel good about your preparation no matter what happens, and if that problem occurs, it wont bother you anyway.
8. Use deep breathing techniques. Learning some relaxation breathing techniques can help you calm your nerves before you stand up to speak.
9. Make sure that you look your best. If you dont feel like you look well physically, you will not perform as well mentally. You should also make sure that you go to bed at a reasonable hour the night before you speak, and avoid alcohol that evening since drinking too much can also interfere with good sleep. Eating a healthy breakfast or lunch before you go to the wedding will also help your body function at its best when you have to speak.
11. Act calm, even if you dont feel calm because you will then perceive success which will allow your behavior to follow suit. Basically in acting calm you may soon help you feel calm.
12. Focus on the message, not your speech anxiety -- Speech anxiety is perhaps the only problem in life that will always go away if you can ignore it well enough.
13. Try to see your physical arousal as anticipation rather than anxiety. We often experience the same physical symptoms of arousal (heart rate increase, adrenaline, butterflies etc.) whether youre excited about something positive that is about to happen or something negative. When your are feeling these types of symptoms, they often assume that must mean theyre scared and fool themselves into making it worse. What you need to do is learn to interpret the arousal you feel as excitement about the great speech youre about to give.
14. Whenever you can try to use message-related bodily motion to help you to dissipate energy. Its hard to stand still when you are physically aroused. Using some message-related motions, such as moving around the room or talking with your hand expressions can help release some of that tension. Just try not to be too animated or you will look odd. Wedding speeches is a time when animation actually helps increase the festive mood.
15. Realize that a few errors will not hurt the speech as long as you continue without getting hung up on them an occasional stumble has no impact on the quality of the speech. So, rather than worrying that there might be a small problem at some point, focus your attention on more important matters.
16. Focus on what you do right. Even if you do make a few mistakes, you will also do a lot right so you need to think about them. Dwelling on the mistakes will give you a negative attitude that causes more mistakes and greater anxiety. Think about what went well.
17. Remember that when you re in a relaxed environment like a wedding, the listeners dont notice as much as you think. Speakers know what they intended to do, and are very much aware of symptoms of anxiety. Audiences can rarely tell if a speaker made a mistake and are much less sensitive to anxiety cues than the speakers. Knowing that you are the only person who knows if you made a mistake should help to ease some of the anxiety.
18. If you do a good job on the introduction or if the first 30-60 seconds of the speech go well, the success will relax you. So, focus on doing your intro really well.
19. Look at friendly faces in the crowd. Look at your friends and family members or the bride and groom who are likely to be enjoying your presentation. Glance their way sometimes when you need a little positive reinforcement while you are talking. Just dont stare at those people all the time, because that will make them uncomfortable and makes the rest of the audience feel left out.
20. If you want, you can use presentational aids to help you draw attention away from yourself. Just make sure that you dont draw too much attention to the aids instead of your speech.
21. It is also a good idea to try out a public speaking class which is a great start to learning to speak comfortably in front of an audience. A large reason for speech anxiety is the strangeness of the situation, and this is the best way to reduce that problem.
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