That feeling of anxiety as you wait for your name to be announced. You rehearse your speech over and over as you wait. Your heart is racing, your palms sweating, your stomach butterflies are going crazy, your mouth is dry, and you feel like you cannot catch your breath. Finally, they announce your name and you walk up to the stage, legs trembling and palms still sweaty.
If you are someone who gives speeches/presentations, you know this feeling of anxiety all too well. But do we have to go through this process every single time? The short answer is yes. Because your body is getting ready to engage in an activity that triggers the release of epinephrine or adrenaline. Adrenaline release is not negotiable, that will almost always happen. It is this spike of Adrenaline that causes all the symptoms of anxiety that we experience before the presentation.
Adrenaline is necessary to give a powerful and moving presentation. The problem is that the majority of us do not steer into it but instead, we steer away from it. Adrenaline release is the same whether we are scared or excited. The difference is your thought process. For example, think of a child who just received a phone call from their parent and after said phone call is having a release of adrenaline. He will experience the same symptoms, things like a racing heart, sweating, difficulty breathing, butterflies in the stomach, shakiness, tremors, etc. Whether this release of adrenaline is excitement or anxiety depends on the thoughts in the brain. Mom is on the way home and I misbehaved in school so I am in trouble or mom is on the way home and she has a gift for me. The child has the same reaction internally but the difference is the thought process. This process is the same in all humans. Adrenaline release is the same, the thoughts we think, dictate if the emotion is excitement or anxiety.
We can hack this feature of the nervous system by simply repeating to yourself positive thoughts about your speech/presentation. Take charge of the narrative in your head. Tell yourself that you are excited to give this presentation. The audience is not even ready to hear what you are about to say because they will get blown away. Use positive speech to hijack the adrenaline release. Now for this high jack to be effective, you have to be properly prepared for your presentation. If you are not prepared, it is difficult to lie to yourself about being excited. But if you have put some time and effort into your presentation and you know you are giving it your absolute best, then you genuinely will feel like the presentation is awesome and all you have to do is show everyone else.
Walking into the area/location for your presentation, you want to positively affirm to yourself that your presentation will be great. But in addition to this affirmation, you want to use some other tricks to decrease your anxiety while you wait to be called to present.
One of these tricks as discussed in our previous article is to use your inner voice. Use your internal voice to repeat what the person speaking before you is saying. Be fully engaged in their presentation because it will take your mind off your presentation. This approach is banking on the fact that you have prepared properly for your presentation and do not need to do any last-minute rehearsals. Again, be fully engaged in the presentation of the person or people speaking before you. Use your internal voice to repeat what they are saying and this will keep your thoughts and attention engaged instead of thinking about your upcoming presentation. Thinking about your presentation at this stage will only make you more nervous about the crowd, their response to you, if you will pronounce words well, or forget things, etc. Trust that you have prepared well; and if you have not, the 30 minutes or hour before you go up to speak will not make any difference in your presentation anyway so why waste the mental energy.
Additionally, while you listen to the speakers before you, intentionally slow down your breathing to engage your parasympathetic rest and digest system. Slow it down as long as possible. You can use the 7/11 breathing technique. Breathe in for 7 seconds and breathe out for 11 seconds. This breathing technique will slow down your heart which will in turn send a signal to the brain to essentially decrease the fight or flight response. Your racing heart, sweaty palms, butterflies in the stomach, dry mouth, etc. are all a result of adrenaline release. By decreasing your heart rate, you can decrease the internal effects of that adrenaline release.
Be intentional with implementing these tips and tricks. Monitor your progress after each time and tweak as needed. Be relentless about it and eventually, you will find that your anxiety before presentations will be better managed.