Many People suffer from Stage Fear, atleast initially when they are not accustomed to interacting with crowd in front of them. Students are seen to be prone to stage fear and if the fear is not removed, the child never dares to face a crowd ever in his/her life. There are simple techniques how to overcome the stage fear in you. Try it and I am sure you can overcome the fear factor.
Practice
Practice what you will be delivering, for only and only practice makes one perfect. Be well versed with the topics that you will be deliberating. Concentrate on the topics or words or phrases where you are not so comfortable, because, you are most likely to fumble there while presenting. Do mock rehearsals, if possible in front of your friends or at least in front of the mirror to correct your body language etc.
Deep Breathing
- The American Seminar Academy recommends tapping into your parasympathetic nervous system. This is the calming part of your psyche, in contrast to your sympathetic nervous system, which starts pumping out stress hormones when you panic. A few deep, even breaths should kick your parasympathetic nervous system into gear and calm you down again. The downside is that you'll have to stop speaking or performing for a few seconds to do it, and it may be noticeable to your audience.
Defocus
- Defocusing your eyes is another way to use your parasympathetic nervous system to get you past a stage fright attack. This may take some practice, however, because it involves using your peripheral vision. To get the hang of it, place your hands on either side of your face, near your eyes. Try to look at your hands as you practice your speech or other aspect of your performance. Avoid looking straight ahead. After awhile, you should be able to decentralize your vision without your hands to guide you. If you begin panicking on stage, mentally imagine that your hands are there and focus on them. The audience itself will go fuzzy and recede.
Eye Contact
- If the size of the crowd out there beyond the stage overwhelms you, you can also try the opposite from defocusing. Concentrate and narrow in on just one person and pretend that the others aren't there. If that person begins to appear uncomfortable with your concentration, move on to someone else.
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