When you get up to give a speech, what reaction do you hope to get from the audience? What will be your grade on your own inner report card? 

Have you ever split yourself in two while talking in front of the room? One half of your brain is busy thinking, "This is the information you came for. This is the message you want to hear. Listen up, because this is really interesting stuff and you'll gain terrific benefits from it," while the other half is playing saboteur going, "Uh-oh, did I leave anything out? Are they listening? They look bored. They're not paying attention. I feel faint. My mouth is dry. My hands are shaking. They think I'm making a fool of myself. Why did I think I could do this? I'm no good. I'm a failure! Aaarrrrghgghg!"

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You're an expert in your field who's been asked to join a panel on the latest techniques for achieving specific goals. You've done your research and chosen some of the most recent, cutting-edge practices that you use with your own clients. You've prepared carefully, your bullet points are all in a row, and you've even planned ahead for any objections to your conclusions. All systems are go. 

      You're the next to last speaker, so you're listening carefully to what the other panelists have to say. To your horror, one of the speakers ahead of you has chosen a similar point of view, even used some of the same examples, and said almost exactly what you were going to say! What are you going to do?

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When you hear a new speaker, someone you've never heard before, what is it about the way he presents that makes you feel he's someone you're going to like?  

       You respond immediately to what he has to say, you like the way he says it, and you settle in comfortably to absorb the gift he's giving you.

       But sometimes you don't feel that way.  Sometimes you can't concentrate on what's being said, your attention wanders, you squirm in your chair, look at your watch, and start thinking about what you'll have for lunch. What is it that turns you off? Are you just not in the mood to listen?  Or is there something the speaker is actually doing that makes it difficult or impossible for you to keep your attention focused on receiving his message?

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      When you're getting ready to give a speech, do you indulge in self-talk like, "Will I say it right? Will I forget something important? Will I make a mistake? Will they get bored and stop listening? Will they think I'm a terrible speaker?" Along with these questions come those irritating and hard to control pre-speech nerves: the butterflies in your stomach, nausea, the shivers and shakes, pounding heartbeats, can't catch your breath, feel a bit lightheaded, and trouble focusing on what you want to say. There are probably others unique to you that you're quite sure no one else experiences.

      The good news is you're not alone. Everyone, including me, experiences a bit of pre-speech anxiety. It's totally normal. It's also absolutely true for most people that pre-speech nerves usually go away once we're actually talking in front of the group. It's the anticipatory anxiety for days (and nights) ahead of time that gives us nightmares. 

      Here are some techniques to help you neutralize your extraordinary pre-speech anxiety.

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      You're in charge of a one-day Departmental Retreat coming up in just 10 days. It's a very big deal because it's the first one your company has ever held. Because you're the department manager, you have to give the opening Keynote Remarks to set the tone for the entire day. You don't have to speak for very long... less than 10 minutes will do it. You want your remarks to be light but serious, grab their attention, make the audience feel good about showing up, and assure them they're not wasting their time.                             

      The problem is you haven't a clue what to say or how to say it. What should you do?

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      With the experience that comes from doing a lot of public speaking, professional politicians, company leaders or those who regularly speak in public for any reason usually look extremely calm, cool and confident when facing the crowd in the room or on radio and TV. They may have butterflies careening back and forth inside, but we can't see them.

      What protects them from that debilitating fear that prevents others from even dreaming of facing the critical crowd?

      One of our biggest fears when we think about getting up to speak is that the audience, small or large, will be evaluating us and looking for ways to prove us wrong. We worry that they're seeking ways to verify we're incompetent, that we don't deserve to be standing in front of them. We fear that our opinions are worthless, they'll think we don't know what we're talking about. We tell ourselves we have a lot of nerve thinking we're someone to be admired or respected. In other words, we're just not good enough, smart enough or successful enough to expect to be taken seriously by anyone.

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