Mastering Public Speaking: Techniques to Stop Being Shaky and Panicky Before and During Music Performances

The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public, as the great George Jessel once said. However, we can CURE this common issue with PREPARATION PREPARATION, AND PREPARATION.

Key Elements for a Successful Performance

Researchers have identified some common elements that are scientifically proven to increase the likelihood that your pitch or presentation will be successful, whether you’re pitching to one person or speaking to thousands. Here are some strategies to help you overcome pre-performance anxiety and deliver a captivating performance:

Unleash the Master Within

Passion leads to mastery, and mastery forms the foundation of an extraordinary presentation. You cannot inspire others unless you are inspired yourself. You stand a much greater chance of persuading and inspiring your listeners if you express an enthusiastic, passionate, and meaningful connection to your topic.

Tell Three Stories

Tell stories to reach people’s hearts and minds. Brain scans reveal that stories stimulate and engage the human brain, helping the speaker connect with the audience and making it much more likely that the audience will agree with the speaker’s point of view.

Practice Relentlessly

The greats like Steve Jobs or any person we look up to will practice a presentation 100 times before they deliver it! Practice relentlessly and internalize your content so that you can deliver the presentation as comfortably as having a conversation with a close friend. Your goal is to give an organic speech from the heart.

Teach Your Audience Something New

The human brain loves novelty. An unfamiliar, unusual, or unexpected element in a presentation jolts the audience out of their preconceived notions and quickly gives them a new way of looking at the world. For instance, Robert Ballard is an explorer who discovered the Titanic in 1985. He said, “Your mission in any presentation is to inform, educate, and inspire. You can only inspire when you give people a new way of looking at the world in which they live.”

Deliver Jaw-Dropping Moments

The jaw-dropping moment—scientists call it an ‘emotionally competent stimulus’—is anything in a presentation that elicits a strong emotional response such as joy, fear, shock, or surprise. It grabs the listener’s attention and is remembered long after the presentation is over.

Use Humor Without Telling a Joke

Humor lowers defenses, making your audience more receptive to your message. It also makes you seem more likable, and people are more willing to do business with or support someone they like. Humor doesn’t need to be a joke to be effective. Educator Sir Ken Robinson, in his most popular talk titled How Schools Kill Creativity, educated and amused his audience effectively:

Robinson makes humorous, often self-deprecating observations about his chosen field, education. “If you’re at a dinner party and you say you work in education—actually you’re not often at dinner parties, frankly if you work in education…”

He makes very strong, provocative observations about nurturing creativity in children and packages the material around humorous anecdotes and asides, endearing him to the audience.

Favor Pictures Over Text

PowerPoint is not the enemy. The enemy is bullet points. Use pictures, animations, and limited amounts of text—but no slides cluttered with line after line of bullet points. This technique is called 'picture superiority.' It means we are much more likely to recall an idea when a picture complements it.

Stay in Your Lane

The most inspiring speakers are open, authentic, and at times, vulnerable. If you can talk on the topic of vulnerability and how your research led to your personal journey of self-discovery, opening up pays off in a big way.

The Path to Succession

Follow these rules, and you’ll astonish, electrify, and inspire your audiences. As Tony Robbins says, “If you can’t, then you must, and if you must, then you can.” With continued practice and using your toolbox, you will articulate a narrative and deliver a message that will ‘WOW’ your audience.

Photo by Gary Meulmans from Unsplash