Mastering Stage Fright
Mastering Stage Fright
“There is nothing to fear but fear itself” – Winston Churchill
Everybody gets stage fright in one form or another. Even the most professional actors and politicians feel tense before they perform and the following few pages will help you reduce the amount of tension and use what’s left to your advantage.
Let us first consider why we get stage fright.
• We are all afraid of getting something wrong and making a fool of ourselves but this becomes far more acute when we are faced with the possibility of making a fool of ourselves in front of an audience.
• Being on show is for most of us outside our comfort zone and therefore frightening.
• For those of us who have presented and experienced severe stage fright, the fear is not just of the presentation but of the stage fright itself.
When you experience stage fright the adrenalin starts to pump round the body heightening your senses. You start to perspire more than normal, your breathing is short and shallow, your hands, knees and voice start to shake, your muscles freeze and you forget what you are about to say.
There are few of us that have not felt some or all of those symptoms and just talking about them runs a chill down my spine.
The problem is not just a matter of control. Stage fright in small doses is an extremely valuable human condition. The adrenalin surging around your body will sharpen your mind and greatly increase your ability to react quickly to unforeseen circumstances.
There are three stages to mastering stage fright:
Reducing the need to be frightened.
Controlling the symptoms.
Using the fear
Reducing the need to be frightened
The majority of your pre-presentation fear is based on making a mistake and therefore making a fool of yourself and you can reduce this fear by practising your presentation. This may sound obvious but practising your presentation is as important as ensuring that it is properly put together and the more you practise the less there is to fear.
We will be looking at practise in more details in the next section but in broad terms you should practise until you do not need to refer to your notes, and then take your notes to reduce the fear of forgetting what you have to say.
Now let us consider what else there is to be afraid of. Spend an hour or so going through your presentation and jotting down everything that could go wrong. Don’t consider what you would do at this stage, just complete the list.
The list may look like this:
- Forgotten my notes
- Car broke down
- Arrived late
- Slides were put in the projector in the wrong order
- Audience was told to arrive at a different time
- Dropped my notes as I stood up and confused the order
- My mouth went dry and I couldn’t speak
- Etc.
If you are taking this seriously there should be a page or so of possibilities. Now start at the beginning and write beside each potential disaster how you would handle the problem if you knew about it in advance.
- Forgotten my notes – make two copies and put one in the car now
- Car broke down – Check the car
- Arrived Late – Leave earlier
- Slides were put in the projector in the wrong order – number the slides and run through them after you arrive but before you present
- Audience was told to arrive at a different time – check the arrangements the day before
- Dropped my notes as I stood up and confused the order – make sure the notes have page numbers
- My mouth went dry and I couldn’t speak – ask the organiser to have water available near your speaking position.
If you approach this task seriously you will automatically reduce the fear that something will go wrong which represents more than half of any stage fright.
In addition you have started to complete your check list.
Controlling the Symptoms
Practising your presentation and having a solution at hand for any potential disaster will go a long way to reducing your stage fright, but what if your stage fright is based upon the fear of the fear
There are a few simple precautions that will reduce the symptoms considerably.
Before you present spend a few seconds doing physical exercises. This will prepare your body for action and reduce the risk of stiffening up. Don’t overdo it and leave yourself out of breath, as this will have the reverse effect.
Just before you stand up, take two really deep breaths. This will help you relax and encourage normal breathing while presenting.
When you stand up to present stop for a few seconds and look at each member of your audience. Your mind should now totally focus on them and their needs. If you can achieve this you will be thinking of them not yourself and your stage fright will vanish.
DON’T be tempted to reduce the nerves by having a couple of drinks before you go on. You may feel better, but you will not perform better and the alcohol will reduce your reaction time considerably.
Using the Fear
Stage fright is not a bad thing. Once you have reduced the need to be frightened and taken steps to control the symptoms, what you have left is pure emotion heightened by the adrenalin surging around your body. This helps you think quicker and will show itself in the way you present and the emotion you are able to convey.
Anxiety is an emotion and like any other emotion it is possible to transfer its strength to the next emotion you are feeling.
Have you ever watched a really frightening movie and then found yourself crying like a baby at the soppy bit at the end? You would not have felt anything at all at the end of the movie if your feelings had not been heightened by the fear you experienced earlier on.
Some people find that the love they feel for their partner is heightened after a raging argument has been resolved. (“The best part of an argument is making up afterwards”).
This ability to transfer the strength of emotions is very useful to presenters.
Before your presentation decide what emotion you wish to portray to your audience. This may be love for the service you would like them to buy, hate for the proposition you want them to vote against, or fear for a world without an ozone layer, etc. Whatever you are presenting there is always one emotion or other that you can tap into.
Just before you present you will feel that strong anxiety that we call stage fright. Before you stand up remind yourself why you feel so strongly about your subject. Feel that emotion that you generated earlier when you decided to speak on the subject.
The strength of your stage fright will transfer to the emotion you wish to portray.
Easy isn’t it!
Actually it is easy because it normally happens automatically. Humans can only experience one emotion at a time. If you think you are experiencing two, it will be one straight after another and the strength of one emotion will be supported by the strength of the other.
One other useful fact about emotion is that it can be highly infectious. Excellent presenters will often use the strength of their passion for the subject to be convincing. Audience members will feel moved, not by what is being said but by the emotion that the presenter is projecting.
Mastering Stage Fright - To learn more about this author, visit Richard Mulvey's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
Mastering Stage Fright
“There is nothing to fear but fear itself” – Winston Churchill
Everybody gets stage fright in one form or another. Even the most professional actors and politicians feel tense before they perform and the following few pages will help you reduce the amount of tension and use what’s left to your advantage.
Let us first consider why we get stage fright.
• We are all afraid of getting something wrong and making a fool of ourselves but this becomes far more acute when we are faced with the possibility of making a fool of ourselves in front of an audience.
• Being on show is for most of us outside our comfort zone and therefore frightening.
• For those of us who have presented and experienced severe stage fright, the fear is not just of the presentation but of the stage fright itself.
When you experience stage fright the adrenalin starts to pump round the body heightening your senses. You start to perspire more than normal, your breathing is short and shallow, your hands, knees and voice start to shake, your muscles freeze and you forget what you are about to say.
There are few of us that have not felt some or all of those symptoms and just talking about them runs a chill down my spine.
The problem is not just a matter of control. Stage fright in small doses is an extremely valuable human condition. The adrenalin surging around your body will sharpen your mind and greatly increase your ability to react quickly to unforeseen circumstances.
There are three stages to mastering stage fright:
Reducing the need to be frightened.
Controlling the symptoms.
Using the fear
Reducing the need to be frightened
The majority of your pre-presentation fear is based on making a mistake and therefore making a fool of yourself and you can reduce this fear by practising your presentation. This may sound obvious but practising your presentation is as important as ensuring that it is properly put together and the more you practise the less there is to fear.
We will be looking at practise in more details in the next section but in broad terms you should practise until you do not need to refer to your notes, and then take your notes to reduce the fear of forgetting what you have to say.
Now let us consider what else there is to be afraid of. Spend an hour or so going through your presentation and jotting down everything that could go wrong. Don’t consider what you would do at this stage, just complete the list.
The list may look like this:
- Forgotten my notes
- Car broke down
- Arrived late
- Slides were put in the projector in the wrong order
- Audience was told to arrive at a different time
- Dropped my notes as I stood up and confused the order
- My mouth went dry and I couldn’t speak
- Etc.
If you are taking this seriously there should be a page or so of possibilities. Now start at the beginning and write beside each potential disaster how you would handle the problem if you knew about it in advance.
- Forgotten my notes – make two copies and put one in the car now
- Car broke down – Check the car
- Arrived Late – Leave earlier
- Slides were put in the projector in the wrong order – number the slides and run through them after you arrive but before you present
- Audience was told to arrive at a different time – check the arrangements the day before
- Dropped my notes as I stood up and confused the order – make sure the notes have page numbers
- My mouth went dry and I couldn’t speak – ask the organiser to have water available near your speaking position.
If you approach this task seriously you will automatically reduce the fear that something will go wrong which represents more than half of any stage fright.
In addition you have started to complete your check list.
Controlling the Symptoms
Practising your presentation and having a solution at hand for any potential disaster will go a long way to reducing your stage fright, but what if your stage fright is based upon the fear of the fear
There are a few simple precautions that will reduce the symptoms considerably.
Before you present spend a few seconds doing physical exercises. This will prepare your body for action and reduce the risk of stiffening up. Don’t overdo it and leave yourself out of breath, as this will have the reverse effect.
Just before you stand up, take two really deep breaths. This will help you relax and encourage normal breathing while presenting.
When you stand up to present stop for a few seconds and look at each member of your audience. Your mind should now totally focus on them and their needs. If you can achieve this you will be thinking of them not yourself and your stage fright will vanish.
DON’T be tempted to reduce the nerves by having a couple of drinks before you go on. You may feel better, but you will not perform better and the alcohol will reduce your reaction time considerably.
Using the Fear
Stage fright is not a bad thing. Once you have reduced the need to be frightened and taken steps to control the symptoms, what you have left is pure emotion heightened by the adrenalin surging around your body. This helps you think quicker and will show itself in the way you present and the emotion you are able to convey.
Anxiety is an emotion and like any other emotion it is possible to transfer its strength to the next emotion you are feeling.
Have you ever watched a really frightening movie and then found yourself crying like a baby at the soppy bit at the end? You would not have felt anything at all at the end of the movie if your feelings had not been heightened by the fear you experienced earlier on.
Some people find that the love they feel for their partner is heightened after a raging argument has been resolved. (“The best part of an argument is making up afterwards”).
This ability to transfer the strength of emotions is very useful to presenters.
Before your presentation decide what emotion you wish to portray to your audience. This may be love for the service you would like them to buy, hate for the proposition you want them to vote against, or fear for a world without an ozone layer, etc. Whatever you are presenting there is always one emotion or other that you can tap into.
Just before you present you will feel that strong anxiety that we call stage fright. Before you stand up remind yourself why you feel so strongly about your subject. Feel that emotion that you generated earlier when you decided to speak on the subject.
The strength of your stage fright will transfer to the emotion you wish to portray.
Easy isn’t it!
Actually it is easy because it normally happens automatically. Humans can only experience one emotion at a time. If you think you are experiencing two, it will be one straight after another and the strength of one emotion will be supported by the strength of the other.
One other useful fact about emotion is that it can be highly infectious. Excellent presenters will often use the strength of their passion for the subject to be convincing. Audience members will feel moved, not by what is being said but by the emotion that the presenter is projecting.
Mastering Stage Fright - To learn more about this author, visit Richard Mulvey's Website.
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 Richard Mulvey (Visit Richard's Website) Richard Mulvey is South Africa's leading sales author with 12 published books to his name. In addition he speaks to a variety of international groups on a regular basis and over the last 10 years has challenged over 100,000 business people to think differently about sales. Richard is a dynamic speaker and his controversial opinion will fire your enthusiasm leaving you with a desire to hear more and eager to get out there and do it. To make contact with Richard or to find out about his training DVD’s Books and training courses or go to www.bus iness-skills.co.za.
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