“It’s not giving the speech that terrifies me,” a colleague recently said. “It’s all that pre-anxiety… those moments, days or weeks before, when I’m planning and preparing… that makes me sick to my stomach!”

He is not the first or only speaker to suffer from nerves before giving a speech. Pre-speech anxiety comes in many forms: procrastination, insomnia, forgetfulness, irritability, nausea…there are many more symptoms. They can be due to other causes, but they are well known to many speakers, from beginners to seasoned professionals. Why is getting up in front of a group of strangers so scary? And what can we do to prevent it?

All speakers feel nervous before they start speaking, for their own personal reasons. Yours are different from mine and from others. They have to do with our confidence (or lack thereof) in our own abilities, or our feelings of self-esteem and acceptance in the world. Do we feel competent and capable? Prepared and well informed? Will we be heard and taken seriously, will we feel appreciated and admired, etc.? You can create your own additions to this list. But it’s important to remember that, whether this is your first speech or your 50th, all speakers experience similar feelings to some degree every time they speak. The difference is how they have learned to handle them.

To overcome pre-performance anxiety and feel much more comfortable giving your next speech, try these techniques:

1) Know your stuff. When you are absolutely sure of your topic, you will feel much less anxious about presenting it to your audience. Plan ahead. Visualize any questions you may be asked and prepare answers for them. Believe strongly in the value of your topic. What you have to say is important. matter! Your goal is to communicate this value enthusiastically. If you believe that what you say is worth listening to, your audience will too. You will be so busy expressing your passionate belief that you will never think about being nervous.

two) Focus on getting your message across. If you focus on yourself…how you feel, how you look, if you will stutter, stumble or forget what to say…of course you will be nervous! Who wouldn’t be? It’s not your job to focus on all your shortcomings! Your job is to give the audience a gift, the gift of your knowledge. In other words, Your job is to focus on your audience, not yourself! It’s not about you. It’s about them! Keep that top of mind when you’re planning, preparing, rehearsing, and delivering your speech. It’s about giving them your gift! When you focus on them, you won’t have time to think about yourself and you won’t be nervous.

3) Use trust-building techniques. It is normal to have nervousness before the speech. They are a sign that your adrenaline is flowing, you are alert, you are functioning very well and all your instincts are ready. However, sometimes all that adrenaline rush feels a bit overwhelming. Many speakers use their favorite techniques to feel calm, collected, and competent. One technique is take a few deep breaths just before speaking and tell yourself your favorite mantra to give yourself confidence.

Mine is: “Okay! Allow yourself to be charming! Let’s do it!” It makes me smile and feel good about myself. A couple of others are: “I’m unique! What I have to say is important!” However, “I have a special gift to give this audience! No one can say it like me!” Create your own mantra, one that makes you feel powerful and ready to give your gift.

Use these techniques (and others, just ask me!) to help you get rid of those pre-speech jitters. You will be surprised how safe you will feel!