Some tips for presenters to fight their fright before any presentation

One of the major concerns of any presenters in making presentations is stage fright. As Stephen E. Lucas states that, “Stage fright is anxiety over the prospect of giving a presentation in front of the audience”. Actually, most people tend to be anxious before doing something important in public. This is perfectly normal. Steve Mandel writes in the book Effective presentation skills: A practical guide to better speaking (2000, p. 7) that, “anxiety is a natural state that exists any time people are placed under stress. Giving a presentation will normally cause some stress”.

Normally, in terms of students, there are several reasons causing stage fright to students before giving a presentation. Students may fear of being stared at, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of the unknown or even lack of practice. From these reasons, it is understandable that most students experience tension when they have to speak to a group. Many students cannot overcome the stage fright while delivering a presentation. They cannot use both energy and composure to effectively convey their message. According to Steve Mandel, “many people become frightened at the idea of standing up before a group of to make a speech”. Many students says that they usually have symptoms such as a nervous stomach, sweating, tremors in the hands and legs, accelerated breathing, and/or increased heart rate before going to present in class.

Although presenters may not like the way they feel when they are nervous, stage fright can have an advantage. If presenters can turn the nervous energy caused by stage fright into speaking energy, they can make their presentation better. Presenters can force the nervousness to work for them rather than against them. As Stephen E. Lucas has the same idea, “Rather than trying to eliminate every trace of stage fright, presenters should aim at transforming it from a negative force into positive nervousness. It is still nervousness, but it feels different. Presenters are no longer victimized by it; instead, they are vitalized by it. They are in control of it”.

In order to deal with nervousness and turn it from a negative force into a positive one, presenters need to acquire speaking experience, have a careful preparation, think positively, focus on relaxing, know that most nervousness is not visible, not expect perfection, and use the power of visualization. Some students say that they can turn the nervous energy caused by stage fright into speaking energy and make the presentation better, they can make their nervousness work for them rather than against them. In order to deal with nervousness, students need to do their best to act cool and confident on the outside. It is reassuring to know that when presenters are experiencing stage fright they feel much worse than they look and often, the audience cannot tell just by looking at them that they are very nervous. Knowing this should make it easier for students to face their listeners with confidence. Confidence is mostly the well-known power of positive thinking. If the students think they can do it, they usually can. On the other hand, if they predict disaster and doom that is almost always what they will get.

The followings are some helpful tips so that students will be able to overcome their shyness, deal with nervousness, and gain their confidence: students should be prepared because preparation is the key to giving an effective presentation and controlling nervousness; only once students prepared carefully, they must be confident to stand in front of many people to present a particular topic. Students should be relaxed because relaxation can help anxiety, students can choose to take a deep breathe or smile at the audience and this increases their confidence. Students should be interactive because interactive exercises will help to create a positive dialogue with participants where they have opportunities to share their own knowledge.

Once students can deal with anxiety and overcome stage fright, they can communicate ideas with enthusiasm. In fact, dealing with nervousness is not the only reason to make students enthusiastic to present something; it is just the condition that makes students more comfortable when delivering a presentation.