How to Completely Beat Stage Fright

Here are the steps most frequently recommended by psychologists and performance coaches for controlling that fear.

• As you wait to go onstage, remember that the worst will be behind you the moment you reach the podium. Stage fright is usually at its worst right before the performance.
• Focus on the goal of your talk (to inform, entertain, motivate, or persuade). Make achieving the goal more interesting to yourself than feeling the anxiety.
• Take plenty of deep breaths. You can literally make yourself sick with shallow, nervous breathing. Breathing deeply will help ease your physical symptoms and restore your poise.
• Envision your audience as a group of friendly people. In fact, they probably are pulling for you. Most audiences want to like the speaker just as much as the speaker wants to be liked.
• Keep in mind that you always appear more confident than you feel. Those butterflies in your stomach may feel real, but no one can see them!
• Ask your doctor about the medications known as beta blockers. They aren’t tranquilizers and don’t affect your alertness or alter your mental state, but they do block the adrenaline rush that leads to stage fright symptoms. Beta blockers are prescription drugs (and should never be taken by anyone with asthma), so talk with your doctor if nothing else has worked for you.