How to Control Your Nerves

Hi, everyone. It's Jules from Consensus with another Brief Explainer podcast. Our Brief Explainers take an element of debating or speaking and explain it quickly and simply with tips and takeaways for you and your students. If you'd like something longer, try our brief explainer videos, which are about double the length and please feel free to email us if you'd like us to answer a debating or public speaking question.

Today's topic is how to control your nerves when speaking and James and I are both going to look at this because we think having our joint view would be fun for you. We're looking today at why we get nervous when we speak in public; the fact that audiences are really on our side when we speak; thinking about what we're speaking about and not ourselves; the importance of what we choose is our topic; and some practical tips to help not being nervous.

It's true that just about everyone gets nervous when speaking in public. There are many adults who live in fear of having to speak to an audience, and you kids are more flexible than the average adult. So now is the time to learn how to deal with nervousness when you speak. So what's this fear about? It's pretty simple, I think.

When we get up to speak to an audience, most of us are scared of making mistakes and of being judged harshly. In reality, though, no one in the audiences you're likely to speak to is waiting to throw rotten tomatoes at you. In fact, they're all waiting with interest to hear whatever it is you have to say.

They naturally put themselves in your place and don't want you to fail at all, because that would make them feel bad too. Just remembering that the audience is on your side can help you overcome any nerves you're feeling.

The next thing that can help is trying to focus on the ideas you want to share with the audience instead of worrying about yourself.

In this way, you can reduce fear and replace it with enthusiasm for sharing your thoughts. Some part of your nervousness is probably from being keyed up and excited about your chance to speak. So concentrating on the opportunity to do justice to the speech you prepared is not only what really matters, it takes the pressure off thinking about yourself.

What you choose to speak about can also really help deal with nervousness. Being truly interested in what you're talking about instead of choosing something that you don't really care about, just makes sense. Being truly engaged with your topic actually helps you be so involved in your speech that you forget your nerves. The more you're interested in what you're going to talk about, the keener you'll be to share it.

Sometimes we choose subjects that seem important, even though we don't really understand them. That's a pretty sure way to make ourselves feel nervous. Stretching yourself to learn new things is great, but it only really works if you can develop a natural connection with them.

Once you've done all the work researching and writing a speech, there are some simple, practical things you can do to help make your speaking go smoothly.

Number your cards so that if you drop them, you can reorder them easily. I've seen a primary school speaker, who had numbered cards, have them accidentally slip out of their hands, but then just picked them up, rearranged them and went on speaking without getting upset. That's pretty cool.

When we're nervous, we tend to speak more quickly. So when you get up to give you a speech, don't rush. Plant your legs comfortably so you're balanced. Take a deep breath before you start speaking. These simple techniques can help you take your time and be calm.

Here are some common mistakes made by speakers that don't really control nervousness.

Don't avoid the audience by staring at the back, staring at the back of the room. They’re only people, not weird aliens. Avoiding looking at the audience is in this way, really only makes them want to look around to see what's happening back there behind them. That's catching your attention. And a restless audience is likely to throw you off too.

Don't cram too much different information into your speech is likely to confuse the audience because they're not sure what's your focus and probably confuse your message to so.So you lose track of what you mean and become more uncomfortable speaking.

And most of all, remember to try to slow yourself down. Just as nerves make us rush. Consciously slowing can calm us down.

So to wrap things up, you've done all the work to make your speech, so let yourself enjoy sharing it. Remember that being a bit nervous is normal. It's much better than not caring about what you're doing. The more you practice and work on your speaking, the more you'll learn to manage your nerves.

Always remember your audience when you're writing your speech and delivering it. It's all about communicating with other people. Concentrating on your audience will help capture their interest and help you focus on your message, not on yourself.

That's all for today. Email us if you'd like a question answered. info@consensuseducation.org.au. Bye for now, everyone.

Hello, everybody, and welcome. It's James here from Consensus Education. Back again with another Brief Explainer podcast. These are the podcasts where we take a simple element of debating or public speaking and explain it to you with tips and takeaways for you and your students. They're about 5 minutes long, and if you'd like something longer, please feel free to check out our brief explainer videos, which are about double the length. As per usual, if you'd like us to cover a particular topic, please feel free to email us at info@consensuseducation.org.au.

Today's topic will be about how to control your nerves. This is a question that we get a lot. And so, Jules and I have both done separate podcasts with our favourite tips for this particular element of speaking.

Okay. I'm going to be covering why we get nervous when we speak. Going to talk to you about the reality of our nerves, and some of my favourite strategies, as well as just some of the common misconceptions that we have about how audience is actually respond to what we're doing on the stage.

All right. Let's have a look at this first one, which is a really simple thing about why we get nervous when we speak. The reality of nerves in any situation is that they’re a biological response to what's happening in your immediate surroundings. And basically that just means, based on the situation that you're in, you'll get more or less nerves happening as a physical response inside your body. Some people have less just on average. Some people are more highly strung and just have more anxious responses on average as well.

All of that is completely fine and none of that should really stop you in terms of speaking. But we do get nerves based on how our brain is thinking about our surroundings and how common the type of thing that we're doing is and what the perceived threats are that your brain is cooking up for you and saying this is a reason to be worried. So that means that the reality of nerves is that there are mental game, right? So it means that we need to, to some extent, realise that they're there and then use strategies to try and control them in order to get the best speech out possible. At least in this situation, that's what we should be thinking about with nerves.

So let's move on to my favorite strategy, and it's probably going to take up the meat of this podcast, which is called Reframing. Reframing is one of those techniques that I learned probably in my mid-twenties, and it has absolutely transformed my life. I'm not here to give you life advice, but I can say to you that reframing is just a really good strategy.

So what is it? Reframing basically takes any element of life and goes, All right. How am I feeling about it? And what's the actual reality in terms of what real things and real impacts are occurring that are outside of me that are making me feel a particular type of response? And is that response the one that is the only response or even is that response the more logical or more correct response?

Let's have a look at public speaking. Public speaking and nerves is basically completely fine because, you know, you're putting yourself in a position where you're on a podium, where you're open threat, where you could be heckled, you could be jeered at, you could be booed. You've put yourself both physically and emotionally at risk. So it makes sense that your body sends your response going, Whoa, this is a bit crazy. This is a bit full on.

Let's reframe that. Let's have a look at what the audience is actually thinking. The audience is thinking a few things at best. They're really thinking, Wow, I hope this person does a great job. I really like them. I respect what they're doing. At worst, they're not particularly tuned in and they weren't likely to care about what you were saying anyway. There is almost nobody in an audience that is thinking, I hope this person fails. And that's the biggest thing that you can take away from reframe in an actual kind of public speaking setting. And there's a couple of reasons why they don't want you to fail, but most of that is just to do with the fact that most people are pretty nice and the people that aren't particularly nice aren't likely to rock up to public speaking events anyway, right? So when it comes down to it, particularly if you're a student, you've really got nothing to be afraid of and you've got everything to be proud of.

And this moves me on to my last point that I'm going to talk about, which is what are you really here for? The reality is when you've been actually getting up and doing a speech, the reality is that you're there to put some kind of message or call to action or give some kind of information to your audience. And that's probably the best thing that you can think about. You're there for a purpose, and as long as you keep that purpose in your mind, then your nerves shouldn't really matter, as long as you achieve your goal.

Let's have a quick look at some of the common mistakes that people make when they look at nerves. The first one is this weird phrase that—I don't know where it came from—but essentially it's like, imagine the audience in their underwear. Like it's some kind of great leveller. The reality is the audience doesn't probably need to be imagined in their underwear. Neither do you have to stare at one particular person in order to make eye contact. Understand that public speaking is just a big conversation with a lot of people, and you'll do better than imagining them in some kind of ridiculous situation.

The final thing I'd say in terms of a takeaway here is to make sure that you know where you're going to finish. So it's simple when it comes down to a speech—make sure you've got a clear message and make sure you know where that message ends. And what you'll know is when your actual speaking performance is due to stop. And that will give you a real firm marker in your mind as to how long your nervous system should actually be responding to this particular situation for.

I hope some of this helps and I hope some of this makes your speaking performances better in the future. As always, if you'd like to ask us a question, flick us an email at info@consensuseducation.org.au.

Cheers.