We have all felt social anxiety and nervousness in situations where we feel we might not have full control over. Most of us feel anxious when we need to address an audience. But we can overcome stage fright or performance anxiety in a number of ways. By thoroughly preparing ourselves before a performance or speech, by focusing on one person at a time in the audience, to breathing slowly and deeply, to living in the moment, and mentally preparing yourself before embarking on a public speech or performance. These tips and many more a listed below to help you do your best when in front of an audience.
Stage Fright is the anxiety and nervousness we feel when we are tasked to speak or perform to an audience. Symptoms range from sweaty palms, shallow breathing, rapid heartbeat, and nausea. Stage fright is basically the fight or flight mechanism in which we employ to keep ourselves safe.
Stage fright or performance anxiety is the fear of physical and or unrealized mental threats. We subconsciously believe that if we make mistakes while addressing a large crowd, the consequences could literally mean that there would be a threat to our physical body and we do anything to avoid it. But the reality is a lot different from what our fears suggest. In fact, our audiences are on our side and want us to do well.
Performance Anxiety Symptoms
A range of symptoms occurs in our physiology especially when we feel that we need to protect ourselves. We can get a flushed face, clammy hands, headaches, also adrenaline can rush throughout the body, which make us tremble and we can also stutter when we speak because we don’t have clarity of mind.
Sometimes the symptoms can last for days, weeks and months before the event. Anxiety can bring us sleepless nights, irritability and even depression and some cases.
These symptoms don’t have to be an invitale part of our experience, but we can work on these symptoms and make them so we can handle them better or eliminate them or completely eliminate and transform them.
Here are examples of symptoms of anxiousness and nervousness:
- People can get sweaty palms before, during, and after speeches.
- blush and or have flushed cheeks
- feel hot, especially around your face
- Have clammy hands
- feel lightheaded
- get headaches
- Hands tremble
- You stutter when you speak
- Your eyes can get blurry
- Your clarity of mind gets muddled
- You think people are going to laugh at you
- You feel that people will judge you for your faults
- You think people are going to find out that you aren’t what you’ve pretended to be.
How to Combat Stage Fright?
There are many ways and means to combat stage fright. But it’s better to try this out and find which methods work best for you.
Avoid Rehearsing a Speech in a Mirror or a Cell Phone
If we rehearse a speech in front of the mirror, we tend to notice our flaws rather than our strength while we’re speaking. This maybe have some merit or not, but it is difficult for ourselves to be genuinely objective about things we need to work on. However, for some people, they are able to ascertain what is working well and what they need to work on.
There is anecdotal evidence that recording ourselves on our cell phone may be counterproductive measures in seeing what is working and not working with our speeches. Again this can lead to ourselves judging the small things and what we’re doing, rather than seeing the whole picture, or the quality in which we’re delivering our content. However for some people, a video is also very revealing, in that mannerisms and body language may not be what the speaker wants, so in some cases that is something that they need to work on.
Believe in What you are Saying on Stage
The crux of the matter is that you need to fully believe in the material you are delivering, whether it’s the words that we are saying, or the dialogue in a play, or even a dance recital. Believe in the why we are doing it or find some reason to believe in why we are. From basic entertainment, to presentations to theater productions. When we are on stage, we need to fully invest in our ability to convey or do the job.
Rehearse your Speech, Performance or Dialogue Many Times Before the Event
To gain clarity and confidence in our performance, we need to rehearse or practice it over and over again until we know the performance or the content of the work through and through. Even if we use the words on a script or on a page during our speech at least we should know it off by heart. Practice makes perfect.
Try to Rehearse the speech or dialogue with or in the front of a tribe of our own. They could be our husband, wife, cousin, or even our children. They can give us much needed advice as to our body language and the effectiveness of our speech or performance. Try not to take it personally when they give you constructive feedback.
Author: I remember I asked my identical twin sister to view an audition for a Musical and give me feedback. While I had no idea what I was doing while I was singing, she noticed that I used my arms a lot in fact too much. She said it took away from the strength of what I gave if I instead just stood still and sang from the heart. I personally found this very good advice.
If Writing a Speech Make it Concise
If we’re writing a speech we need to write it as concisely as possible. This will help eliminate the fillers and get more credibility as we go through our speech. If we’re running through a speech, make sure to emphasize our speaking voice in the right parts of the speech. Particularly in the nouns and verbs. Try not to die at the end of the sentences which is a fault of many beginning actors and speechmakers today.
Tell Ourselves we Need to Experience Stage Fright
Sometimes the best way to overcome our fears of performing on stage is by doing it. By taking on the attitude that this experience will help us grow and succeed in a number of ways, can be very helpful. Even if we fluff up our speech or dialogue, firstly the audience may not even know we’ve done so and secondly it’s all a learning experience for the next time around. We get better and better as we go along.
In fact, the attitude we can take could be; ” Look at me now, notice that I’m here in front of you.” Don’t try to hide behind a lectern. Show all of ‘ourselves’ in front of an audience completely. Of course, if we are an actor, we will be required to follow stage directions from the director where this will naturally occur.
Take deep breaths before and during your performance.
If we are feeling anxious and nervous before we get on stage, take three very deep breaths in through our nose and slowly breathe out our mouth. This will slow down the lungs from filling in and out quickly. If we breathe quickly it increases our fight or flight responses, especially in a heightened situation as addressing a large audience.
Most of the time we are taking shallow breaths than what our bodies normally require. But we need a fair amount of oxygen for our bodies to be operating at its optimum. So if we deliberately breathe deeply before we go on stage, we are more likely to allow the body to relax and give a good performance.
Author: I myself have used mini breathing techniques before and during my performance on stage as an actress and singer. Sometimes I have had anxiety where I have wanted to throw up. Thank goodness I never did on stage that is. But breathing exercises do help somewhat to release tension.
Use Your Natural Body Language.
When making a speech on stage, there is scientific research that says those who use hand gestures more to convey their meaning, the better an audience understood and were engaged. The Science of People has quoted that those who tended to use their arms and hand gestures less during their speeches had fewer views on similar videos and speeches.
Using strong hand and arm gestures and body stances with our legs open convey confidence to the audience. It also conveys the same sentiment to our own physiology and brain with the same results. When we stand confidently we are more likely to feel confident. This has been scientifically studied where strong stances, help the speaker gain confidence.
Form a clear Performance Goal while you on Stage
We need to form a clear goal to help us hone in and clarify what it is we’re saying in our speeches and in our dialogue on stage. If we are an actor we should know our goals and intentions and motivations. If we are a speechmaker, we should understand a speech and the purpose completely and clearly. You could break up your speeches per paragraph and have a goal or overall point for it. Clarifying ourselves is very important for performance work.
Relax Your Muscles while you’re on Stage
Great rule of thumb is to make sure you are relaxed enough to speak and to use your body and a confident manner. Too often when we are anxious and nervous, our body clams up, muscles get tight, we mumble on stage, and we stumble over our words.
By practicing specific breathing techniques such as breathing slowly and deeply will help our bodies to relax. Deliberately isolate parts of our bodies such as our forehead, then scrunch it for five seconds and then relax. Then move on to our face, and then our neck right down to our toes we can tighten and then relax each part while lying down. This is a truly great way to relax.
Love Your Audience To Combat Stage Fright
Another Tip and trick is to say to ourselves over and over; “I love my audience’. When you state, ‘my’ you tend to take ownership of the word and the audience as a whole. When we state that we love our audience, we don’t see them as an adversary. Too many times when we are on stage, we see the audience as not someone who genuinely wants to hear what we have to say, but as hostile people, but in reality, they are wanting you to succeed.
If we set up in our own minds that they are our friends and are an ally rather than the enemy, we are more likely to have a successful performance. Remember the audience are there for us, so let’s be there for them.
Talk to One Person at a Time When Speaking
When we are performing or making a speech, rather than freeze up by thinking we have to combat the audience as a whole, take in the face of one of our audience members at a time. It can become a bit overwhelming when we are speaking to a sea of faces, but by using this technique it will make it easier for us to do and should increase our confidence as a whole.
Also the audience member can’t help but feel special that we signalled them out.
Imagine Our Success On Stage
Imagery is a very powerful way of helping to create the circumstances of our success on stage. By visualizing ourselves speaking clearly, confidently, and seeing happy and engaged faces in front of us helps, to gain confidence in our abilities. To make sure this is an ongoing thing, visualize this many times a day for at least a week before the performance. The neurons in our brain will begin to make pathways, which increase confidence and skills.
Command the Space on Stage
Too often nervous and anxious people tend to ‘turtle’ themselves in everyday life and sometimes on stage. They make themselves ‘small’ by drooping their shoulders, taking small, tentative steps, keeping an inexpressive face, and covering their sexual area on stage.
Those of us who do suffer from nervousness and shyness, tend not to work a performance space properly. We need to rehearse using a space with confidence stances and walking. By using open arms body language, we will create a sense of openness and agreeability. An audience prefers to have access to a person, and they do that by assessing subconsciously the body language of the speaker. But if a speaker displays closed off body language such as arms folded or head down and eyes averted, the audience will pick this up and subconsciously close off from them.
When walking on stage, we should walk confidently and take wide steps. When standing, stand tall and strong. Keep our hands and legs apart and don’t pace on the stage too much. You will see some public speakers who pace the whole stage during their speech, which actually weakens their stance. They look out of sorts.
We should keep open gestures and use our natural facial expressions in a relaxed manner. This must be practiced and rehearsed, deliberately. When we work on our pacing, variation of pitch, the energy of our personality, this can only work in our favor. Even Adolf Hitler used to rehearse his speeches and body language before he took to the stage…as odd, bizarre as his expressions were.
Use The Voice Effectively
Many people don’t know what their recorded voices sound like and hate to listen to them or watch themselves on camera. But as an upcoming speaker, we truly need to know how our voice sounds and work on it so it sounds confident and free.
Most people when they begin their speech in front of a large audience begin by using their voice in a thinner tone and in a higher octave than what is usual. This is a voice which we use on the phone when we aren’t sure who is calling us. But as soon as we recognize the voice and we are very comfortable with them, we drop into our deeper more natural resonance. This is our true voice.
We use a higher and less resonate tone in this way because we aren’t relaxed and are nervous. Psychologically speaking, we use this voice to maintain a certain distance from the very people we are conveying information to. We are actually trying to keep ourselves safe from fully engaging with the audience because we fear rejection and pain.
Record your voice and deliberately speak with your natural, lower tone. This will give men and especially women who typically have higher and lighter sounding voices more credibility.
Shake Your Booty to Combat Stage Fright
Shake your booty, body, arms, legs and whole body. Go for a temporary run especially before you enter the stage floor. Get energy into your body, so you are energised to speak and convince people of your ability to inhabit your character or speech. Getting energy into your body is pivotal to helping you engage the audience with your enthusiasm. People love to mirror people who are the object of their attention, so get enthused.
Dress To Impress and Elicit Self Confidence
Make sure we dress well or more formally than we normally would. We might want to add as a splash of red, to feel energized or blue to make the audience feel we are solid and dependable. We are actually the idol that people are literally and figuratively looking up to, so if we know what looks good on ourselves then we need to wear it. Or have a family member give us honest feedback about an outfit we want to wear.
Enjoy the Stage Performance Process
Enjoy the lead up to the presentation, speech, or performance. Know that there is an end result where all people are looking for a win, win solution. An audience wants to see an end result; to love, feel, and experience. If we find moments to have fun, the audience will have fun right along with us. Be genuine in our responses and allow ourselves to share these emotions with the audience. Try not to shut down our emotions due to our own perceived fears.
There is a multitude of ways to help people develop self-assurance and confidence in our ability to make a speech and or perform on stage. From body language, voice technique to visualizations, and even dress sense. Choose the best points presented which best suit our development. With practice, we become better and more confident. Know our goals and objectives within which our work requires and enjoy the process as we go along. We will all be the winners.
