Body Language Do’s and Don’ts to Help you with Public Speech Anxiety

If you are like most people, you probably feel a great deal of fear and anxiety at the thought of doing a public speaking performance. There are various reasons why people are afraid of public speeches, but the thing is that it is normal and that almost everyone is affected.

However, there is some good news. According to leading researchers and psychologists that address the issue, it is important to turn to your body language. With some very small changes to your body language, you can overcome some of the adverse effects of fear of public speaking:

• Balancing your weight — when a speaker is nervous, they assume a stance that they would normally assume when waiting in line for example. That is their weight balancing on the hip jutting out the side and their opposite leg standing at an angle. It is a stance that feels somewhat natural, but it does not speak confidence at all. It also does very little for making you feel confident too. Not to mention that you will be feeling tired in no time and want to shift your weight. All of that makes you look like you are unsettled, which is not something you should allow. Instead, you should balance your body weight on both of your feet, keeping their hips’ width apart. This will make you feel much more grounded and confident. Cultivating this sort of stance more regularly will enable you to get back to it when need be.
• Fiddling is not your friend — when you are nervous, you may not know what to do with your hands. Often you will find yourself playing around with a pen or a flicker for example. And while it may seem like a logical thing to do, to ease your nerves, it is quite telling others what you are feeling. It is also a guaranteed way to make yourself feel more nervous, as you associate the item with the feeling and re-introduce it to yourself. What you should be doing is using your hands in a way that highlights your most important points. When you don’t need to gesture, you should let your hands go by your sides. Letting go of fiddling may seem like a scary prospect at first, but it is the first thing you need to do, to adopt more confident gestures. It is a great way to internalise confidence.
• Making bigger gestures — when you are nervous, you will restrict your gestures. For example, you may move your hands, but at the same time keep your elbows to your waist. When you are more mindful about opening up your gestures and move your arms farther, you will immediately feel a surge of confidence. For this to happen, you need to do gestures that go above your waist and beyond the shoulders. At first, it may feel awkward doing them, but if you focus, you can manage. And the best part is that it will feel more natural the more experience you get.
• Look others in the eyes — as far as counterintuitive confidence advice goes, this one is probably one of the best ones. When you are nervous, it may seem like looking someone in the eye is the last thing you want to do. However, when you think about it, fear mostly has a hold on you when it is rather vague. When you don’t look at your audience, it may feel like it is terrifying, whereas, in reality, they are just eager to learn from you. And that is why it is important to keep your eyes on people in the audience, one person at a time. This makes you more trustworthy and also alleviates some of that anxiety.

Following all of these 4 tips is guaranteed to work well to ease your anxiety about public speaking.

© Presence Training