3 Reasons You’re Running Out of Breath When Presenting
Have you ever found yourself gasping for air mid-presentation and fighting to get the words out as you try to catch your breath?
You’re not the only one.
Breathlessness is one of the common struggles we observe amongst our trainees.
If you’re watching someone present and you see them struggling with shortness of breath, your first impression may be that they’re speaking too fast.
And while that’s true, there’s a more in-depth explanation for the reasons behind it.
But let’s say that the short answer is simply: anxiety.
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Stage fright (anxiety) manifests itself in different ways – one of them is breathlessness.
This article explains the possible causes of shortness of breath that accompanies public speaking, and how you can train yourself to overcome it.
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Reason #1 – Stage Anxiety
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Stage fright is a major issue for many people in business and can jeopardize confident communication.
You may see people in power immediately lose their composure once they’re in the spotlight with a microphone – all because of stage fright or anxiety.
According to?Eleni Kelakos, a public speaking coach, running out of breath while presenting is a definite sign of stage fright.
“Being assaulted by fear and?performance anxiety?is something that happens when we step into the spotlight and feel the pressure of those eyeballs on us.”?
For some people, even an online presentation on Zoom can be anxiety-inducing to that it leads to shortness of breath, even though they’re comfortably sitting in a chair.
What’s the technical explanation behind it?
When you're in the spotlight, your body often misinterprets the situation as a threat, triggering its fight-or-flight response.
This evolutionary mechanism increases your heart rate, speeds up your breathing (shallow breathing), and stiffens your muscles for expected action - all of which can leave you feeling breathless.
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Reason #2 – Speaking too fast
While for some people it’s out of nature to speak quickly, for many it stems out of anxiety – especially when it's connected with public speaking.
When you’re having stage anxiety, the fight or flight response subconsciously gets you wanting to rush out all the information you have - just to get this situation over and done with.
And so, you end up speaking too quickly in a way that leaves you panting and gasping for a breath of air in the middle of speaking.
Aside from taking your breath away, rushing your talk reduces your audience’s grasp onto what you’re saying.
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Reason #3: Skipping pauses
This is slightly related to reason #2.
When we’re nervous, a moment of silence feels longer than it actually is.
What the audience perceives as a split of a second of silence, can feel like a long awkward minute of pin drop silence that spikes your anxiety and consciousness.
Even on Zoom, as Kelakos describes it, it “removes the actual people from our presence — we don’t hear them breathing, we don’t get any feedback, and that can be off-putting”.
These moments get you overthinking of all the possible negative judgements that could be passing around in this silence – and so we feel the urge to keep speaking constantly, giving little room for this silence, in an attempt to drown these intimidating thoughts.
This results in speaking too quickly and without breaks - leaving almost no time enough to inhale.?
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How to overcome this?
There are 5 ways to train yourself towards a more balanced performance:
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1) Expose yourself
Stage anxiety is normal and is experienced even by keynote speakers.
But the key trick is to make it less intense by exposing yourself to it (exposure therapy).
Putting yourself in the situation of speaking in public will familiarize your mind and body to the experience, making it less triggering and have a calmer response to it with every time.
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2) Practice breathing differently
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The panic we feel manifests in short, shallow breaths concentrated in our upper chest.
Focus on shifting your breathing lower down into your abdomen. This can help regulate your heart rate and reduce tension.
How exactly?
By practicing diaphragmatic or abdominal breathing.
As the name suggests, the source of your breath and voice should come from your abdomen.
To know how it feels like, take both your hands, place one over your chest and the other over your stomach. And as you breathe through your nose, make sure the hand on your chest does not move, but only your abdomen does.
It will feel like your belly is expanding to take in more air.
And right before your presentation, follow the 4 x 4 x 4 rule:
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3) Practice pausing and speaking steady
A pause can, in fact, be very powerful and indicate confidence – and it helps you catch your breath!
Remember that the length of a pause can feel much longer to you than it actually is for your audience.
Here’s how and when you can use pauses:
Always make sure to begin your presentation slow and steady, as it helps set the rhythm of the rest of your presentation and makes it easy to smoothly incorporate pauses later on.
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4) Rehearse out loud
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Rehearsing out loud is perhaps the most underrated tool for preparing for presentations.
Many people practice silently, running it through in their head or stare at the slides while they’re at their desk.
Speaking is a physical act and has an effect on the body in ways that mental rehearsal can't replicate.
Getting a physical sense of the speech is important and can only be done by speaking out loud.
Whether your audience is three or three hundred, vocalizing your material helps you experience what they'll sound like to your audience.
We advise our students to rehearse their presentations at least 3 times before the actual delivery, and to record themselves and listen back.
This can help identify areas where you tend to rush or run out of breath.
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5) Shift your focus to your topic and the purpose of it
Keep in mind that you are the expert of your own material, and your audience is there to listen and learn from you. Therefore, focus on your message rather than yourself.
Re-frame the nervousness you're feeling as excitement, since both feel similar in their physical responses.
This subtle shift can help you channel that energy positively.
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Remember that mastering your breath is key to mastering your presentation.
And while running out of breath when presenting is a common challenge, it is one that can be overcome with practice and using the right techniques.
With time and persistence, you'll find yourself breathing easy and delivering powerful presentations that leave your audience breathless - in all the right ways!
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