Stage fright – reasons and remedies

Sweaty palms, pounding heart, facial nerve tics, butterflies in the stomach, shaking legs, dry throat…panic setting in. Well, what could cause such a physical reaction. Perhaps we come across such a feeling,  when we are confronted by a dacoit, hear of a terrorist attack in our neighbourhood, find ourselves surrounded by a hostile crowd, are watching a horror movie ……or maybe we are about to perform on a stage or before a camera. This common fear of public speaking/ performing is called ‘glossophobia ‘or ‘stage fright’. Stage fright can be defined as performance related anxiety. It is the fear that affects a person when about to face an audience. The mere anticipation of a performance on stage sends shivers down our spine. Quite often the fear of underperformance or the public reaction is at the root all the anxiety. We all have experienced this fear at some point of time in our lives.  Public speaking is one of the things most feared by many people worldwide. Stage fright may be observed in people of all experience and background, from beginners to professionals. You can take heart because you are in good company – many of the top performers in the world get stage fright!

Today public speaking skill is one of the most valued assets that an individual can possess. We all need some level of it to succeed in our respective professions. Whether it has to do with presenting information to our clients our colleagues or attending seminars, conferences or representing one’s organization/ institution in various forums, good public speaking skills help one in creating an instant impact on the target audience, thereby ensuring the effectual delivery of the message.

Stage fright is generally mistaken for the fear one faces on taking the stage. In reality, most of it occurs before one steps on-stage. Once you’re up there, it usually goes away. Before one is about to appear on stage, thoughts like ‘am I looking alright?’, ‘what if I forget my lines?” ‘what if I stammer on stage?” usually make us nervous. But often, once we are on stage these feelings go away and we are able to perform well. However, this does not always happen to all of us and there are many ways in which we can tackle stage fright.

Reasons for stage fright

1. Having a notion of poor self image
2. Thinking too much of perfectionism (in terms of, message, delivery of message and audience response)
3. Excessive self consciousness
4. Fear of embarrassment
5. Fear of people noticing that you are afraid (not as confident as you look)
6. Fear of ridicule
7. Improper breathing
8. Fear of forgetting  what you are going to say

 Ways to control stage fright

1. Prepare well – good preparation always helps in improving the presentation, the more one prepares, the less one perspires. Good preparation helps in settling the nerves.
2. Positive Paradigms – visualize the thing you want. See it, feel it and believe in it. Imagine you walking confidently to the lectern as the audience applauds. Imagine yourself speaking, your voice loud, clear and assured. When you visualize yourself as successful, you will be successful. The positive mental images help you prepare for the real thing and make you confident when you get on the real stage.
3. Put your speech in perspective – no matter how much important the event, it’s really not likely to be earth shattering. Don’t expect your speech to change history; your reputation will not be in jeopardy if you gave one bad speech. Keep the fears of underperformance at bay.
4. Think about the symptoms– anxiety symptoms (sweaty palms, dry throat, hands trembling, knees shaking) are internal. Play back/ remember one of your past speeches- you will see or observe, ‘oh I was so scared, but it didn’t show at all’. Most of the time your nervousness does not show at all. If you don’t say anything about it, nobody will notice. If you mention your nervousness or apologize for any problems you think you have with your speech, you’ll only be calling attention to it. Had you remained silent, your listeners may not have noticed at all. Try to be as composed as you can.
5. Focus on the audience -your nervousness stems from you being too I-centric: Will they like me? Will my speech bomb? Will they laugh at me? Will I forget my lines? Will they think I am good? Trying focusing on your audience instead.
6. Audiences are friendly – remove the fear of audiences. They are not there to criticize or ridicule us, but to cheer us. Why? Because they have been in the same situation themselves. They are happy to know that it is you and not them who are on the stage. They want you to succeed because failure is very uncomfortable for everybody.
7. Forget impressions– don’t try to make a great impression thinking that the focus is on yourself, and not on the message and the audience to whom it has to be conveyed, in actual focus is on message so don’t think about your gestures, words, mispronunciations, stumbles, think instead about the message.
8. Look for avid listeners – once you are up on stage to perform or speak try to pick out the most responsive listeners as soon as you can. They are the easiest to find because these are the ones that are listening attentively and alert. Their supportive non verbal communication can be an immense boost for you. Look at them frequently and speak as if you were talking to them.
9. Avoid Eye contact – in case, you are feeling too jittery, try not to make an eye contact with the audience. Instead focus your vision in between the eye level and the forehead of the people. Also avoid looking at the same set of people for too long, instead address the entire audience. This will help you gain confidence; eventually you will become more relaxed during the course of your presentation.
10. The trump card – remember you as the speaker hold the trump card because only you know what you intended to say, the audience does not, so if you leave out something or misstate a fact, don’t beat yourself over the head about that, never let the audience know that you are aware of it because they certainly aren’t.

Lastly, remember one thing, “we all have our fears, but it’s our ability to face the fear that determines our success.”

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