How do you deal with the anxiety of public speaking/giving a presentation?

Answer 1

I have personally been a public speaking for over 20 years, and I still experience varying levels of anxiety, typically before a speech, rarely during a speech. With time and patience, I have learned to use the energy of anxiety to help motivate me to move forward. I realize this may sound counter intuitive, however when I face the anxiety and dare I say embrace it, it becomes okay that it is there, and it can be a strong energy, so I use it to propel me forward, rather than drag me down.

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Answer 2

The best advice I can give for reducing the anxiety you feel about public speaking comes out of the Eastern philosophical training of mindfulness. If you can train yourself to focus on the present moment, you can reduce anxiety. It is remembering past instances of embarrassment, or imagining future failure to live up to the expectations of an audience, of future imagined shame at not in some way being good enough to speak to the people in front of you, it is these thoughts that cause your anxiety. If you are fully present to THIS moment, as you prepare, as you approach the stage or lectern, as you stand looking at your audience, THIS moment, BEING PRESENT, totally present, the fear evaporates. Give yourself a month to practice mindfulness in everything you do. Not only will you reduce your fear of public speaking, you will also make other positive changes in your life. Being truly present, being consciously aware of your body, your beingness, in the present moment allows you to relate to other people in a different and non-egotistical way. When you do this, they suddenly feel non-threatening as an audience, and the occasion becomes for you what it should be: a gift of information from you to them. No fear, no anxiety!