What are some strategies to overcome nervousness when speaking in public?

Even for my signature talks, I never give the same speech twice because I adapt what I say to the room. Sometimes this involves learning general information about the audience, like what they do for work or study and their goals. Sometimes it means knowing and researching the exact people in the room too. You can do this by asking a meeting organizer more questions about the attendees, researching through an organization's website, or looking at LinkedIn profiles of attendees. The best way to build rapport with your audience is by using anecdotal examples they can relate to. This shift will make your talks more engaging and position you more strongly as a thought leader, even though you share the same baseline information.

I overcame intense presentation fear in high school and college by taking a public speaking class as well as hiring a coach. The only way I overcame the fear was from putting myself in the uncomfortable situation multiple times- in a safe space. Find those safe spaces to practice - and it will help to build your confidence.

Definitely want to highlight the significance of getting active and staying active! I came across a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that demonstrates just how powerful exercise is for mental well-being. While there's no one-size-fits-all approach to incorporating exercise as an anxiety-reducing strategy, something as simple as a 10-minute walk before you're up to talk can have a significant impact on your overall nerves.

Here are a few techniques that have helped me: 1) Get 15 minutes of "alone time" before taking the stage. 2) 5x5 Breathing Exercise - 5 seconds on intake and 5 seconds on exhale. It lowers your stress level considerably. 3) Finally, SMILE! It sounds cheesy (pun intended) but psychology research shows that your brain releases dopamine when your "smiling muscles" are activated. Trick your brain and win the stage. ????

Presenting and conversing are very different activities, the former sometimes rattles my nerves, while the latter puts me at ease. As a result, I’ll often invite audience members to participate even before the session starts, to get the dialogue rolling.

As somebody with super high social anxiety and a stage fright survivor, the one thing that has always helped me is adding in a little joke in the beginning. Sometimes, it's planned, sometimes I just share a joke on the fly, but either way, once I get that cheesy joke out into the open, the whole energy changes and becomes a bit more light hearted and less intimidating. If it's your first speaking gig, the best thing you can do is share that it's your first time, the audience will automatically root for you and it's just such a nice reminder that we're all just human!

The best thing to understand about Public Speaking is that more than likely you will be speaking to an audience who doesn’t know you personally or know anything about you. Who you are for those 30 minutes or two hours is their only impression of you. You can be Clark Kent, you can be Bruce Wayne or you can even be a better persona that those two combined…. And that person is Yourself. There’s no need to even worry about what are their personal opinions of you because again they don’t know you and you don’t know them, you are free to be as confident as you want to be make sure you put your best self forward