It sounds so obvious but actually getting enough sleep is one of the best things you can do to reduce anxiety in general and performance anxiety / stage fright in particular.

Now, I understand that sometimes it isn’t easy -- but sometimes it is. I can’t count the times I’ve been at a seminar and needlessly going to bed too late and waking up slightly frazzled the next morning.

Looking after your physiology -- your physical self -- quite apart from being a good idea anyway, is one of the best things to do when you have to appear in public -- watch this video for more…

This is a critical lesson for anyone appearing in front of an audience.

What’s great about it is that the same technique that will really help your performance will also significantly impact any stage fright or performance anxiety you might have experienced.

It’s all about ‘filling the room’ -- making sure that when you speak you reach the whole room, not just the first couple of rows, no matter how big the room, no matter how good the sound system…

Watch now and learn how to go BIG!

In my work I’ve had the privilege of working with people from all over the work who have different fears and phobias, in particular people with a fear of public speaking and stage fright.

So we have a lot of experience of it and I think it is so important to have a tool kit of techniques to help you along the way and change the way you feel within a speaking scenario. Personally, I like the techniques that are a little bit out there. So to me the opposite of fear is fun.

So this video is important, watch and learn the techniques for controlling your emotions in relation to speaking. Rehearsing the words isn’t always the best way to prepare yourself for the best results when you speak -- because the ’state’ you are in as you speak will determine your outcome far more than whether or not you are word perfect…

The way you feel at any moment in time is dependent on two things: your focus (what are you thinking about) and physiology (what’s going on with your body). Today I want to give you a focus tip -- what to do with your mind to move your mind into a more empowering place. Questions are unbelievably powerful. Any good sales person knows that you ask lots of questions, because questions engage the mind.  But they are also great for engaging your own mind. 

The problem is that most of us ask really lousy questions when it comes to appearing in front of other people. Like “What happens if I screw up? What happens if they hate me?” And then we come up with answers like “Oh my God, I won’t get the promotion. They’ll demote me. They’ll fire me.” 

Well, then ask a better question: “What happens if I knock it out of the park?”  It’s just as relevant a question…

Imagine, that you are on stage speaking to an audience, and someone asks a question that you don’t know the answer to. Maybe this has happened to you before? What can you do? The situation can be terrifying for some people, especially when you don’t know how to deal with it. I have learnt a couple of techniques that work really well in this type of scenario. My favourite one to use is to use the audience, turn the question I don’t know the answer to into a question for the audience. If you watch the video you can see exactly how this is done. There is always the possibility that the audience doesn’t have the answer either. Then what do you do? Be honest with the audience…

One of the most powerful techniques for improving your experience of speaking on stage or speaking in public is to design what we call a success scenario. This is a technique that we use very powerfully with our clients and had great feedback on their personal results.

So what is a success scenario? Basically it is designing, in advance, the way your experience is going to be, exactly the way you want it to be.

Most people with a fear, especially with public speaking, imagine it going badly, the audience responding negatively, etc. Which is just made up anyway! It hasn’t actually happened yet. So if you’re going to imagine something happening, why not imagine something good? Better yet, it’s easy to do and it works. I have put heaps more detail in the video so watch now if you want to learn the power… of the success scenario.

Perfectionism is stupid! What do I mean? Well, its not that you shouldn’t strive to be the best public speaker that you can. What it means is that the emotional energy that goes into trying to make something absolutely perfect is counterproductive. The truth of the matter is, if you look at some of the greatest speakers out there, such as Barack Obama and Tony Robbins, they make mistakes! And they make them all the time. However, and this is most important, they don’t get hung up on it, they just wave it off, and move on. So how do you handle it? I’ve put some tips in the video.

Welcome to Confidently Speaking, the video blog where we are going to help you speak confidently. I think in this video blog we are going to be able to bring an unusual perspective to you. I have a wide range of experience talking to both large and small groups and my company CTRN, Change That’s Right Now, specialises in helping people overcome the most intense fears and phobias, with a special focus on stage fright and fear of public speaking. So by combining those two – the skill of public speaking with the skill of helping overcome fear – I think we will be coming up with some things you wont find in too many other place.

If you would like to hear more watch the video now!