Article: You can combat a tendency to get nervous speaking in front of an audience by preparing thoroughly. Practice your presentation many times. Think about questions that your audience might ask and prepare some responses. Nervous speakers feel the need to speak as soon as they take the stage. If you take a deep breath and pause briefly, you will feel more control and present an attitude of strength. As you speak, look at individual audience members. Instead of scanning your gaze across the entire room, look at one person and present one thought. Then move to focus on someone else. This serves two purposes. It will help you slow your speech as you focus your attention on someone. It will also help you see your audience as individuals rather than a large collection. Even if you do not make contact with each person in the audience, the appearance helps personalize your presentation for everyone. Nervous speakers tend automatically to speak quickly. This can make you difficult to understand, which leads to a lack of focus by your audience, which then makes you feel more nervous. To break this cycle, you must consciously speak very slowly. If you believe you are speaking naturally, you are probably speaking too fast. When you feel that you are speaking... unusually... slowly..., then... you... are... probably... speaking... just... right. If you feel your nerves taking over, just pause and take a deep breath. This will help you regain composure and will slow your speech. In addition, the brief pause has a way of attracting attention. Any audience members who were drifting will be likely to refocus on your presentation. If your topic is at all controversial, you may notice audience members who frown at you, scowl, cross their arms or display other negative body language. Ignore them. Focus instead on those audience members who support you and your presentation. You may not change the attitudes of those negative members, but your presentation will be better.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Be prepared. Delay your start. Use eye contact. Speak - ve - ry - slow - ly. Use deep breaths to your advantage. Focus on the positive.