5 ways to reduce stage fear

Speaking on stage in front of my teachers, classmates has always been my interest area. Any topic which involved coming in front and addressing/speaking in the class used to be my favorite, provided I did my homework :) but because I was an introvert child, I couldn't get much chance to showcase this skill of mine. 

As soon as I entered college, I decided to come out and let myself work on my area of interest and it was public speaking. Right from then my journey of being on stage began. I used to do anchoring, debates, extempore etc. and today I volunteer and give soft skill trainings to students. This journey of mine taught me how to be fearless on stage which I want to share with you all.

5 ways to reduce stage fear are as below:-

1. Be Prepared with the content - You should be well prepared with the content/subject you are presenting. This step will reduce 50% of your fear as you will be the master of the subject and no one can break you down. Your expertise on the subject will make you confident and stand high in front of all.

2. Rehearse - You should be well rehearsed before coming on the stage and the best way you can do that is by speaking in front of the mirror again and again. Make mistakes, note them and work on it in the next attempt. Doing this everyday till the D-day will keep on building confidence in you, make you near to perfect in your content and you know what mistakes can probably happen and how to rectify them.

3. No negative thoughts  -  Please stop doubting yourself. You are prepared and rehearsed and nothing can stop you. Only positive thoughts of your powerful content and applause should be coming to your mind. You are the best and no one else sitting in the audience knows anything about this content. This thought can be temporary as it will keep you away from negative thoughts.

4. Take pauses and breathe - You can take a pause for an inhale and exhale. This will lessen your fear and help you to gather yourself if you are trembling at any point of time while speaking. Infact you can exercise deep breathing before coming on stage. This helps a lot.

5. Choose your Spot - Once you are on the stage find out where you should be looking. Find a spot, one on the extreme right and one on the extreme left, where your audience is. And keep moving your head while looking at these points one after the other, obviously with pauses. Or you can also choose 2 people from the audience itself to focus yourself on. You should make this choice immediately once you are on the stage. This way you are not looking at everyone all the time and thus help you to remain calm and focused while speaking.

Try these steps and you will definitely see a change in yourself. You will be less fearful and more confident.

Thanks.
Shweta

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay