One
of the major concerns of any presenters in making presentations is stage
fright. As Stephen E. Lucas states that, “Stage
fright is anxiety over the prospect of giving a presentation in front of the
audience”. Actually, most people tend to be anxious before doing something
important in public. This is perfectly normal. Steve Mandel writes in the book Effective presentation skills: A practical
guide to better speaking (2000, p. 7) that, “anxiety is a natural state that exists any time people are placed under
stress. Giving a presentation will normally cause some stress”.
Normally,
in terms of students, there are several reasons causing stage fright to
students before giving a presentation. Students may fear of being stared at,
fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of the unknown or even lack of
practice. From these reasons, it is understandable that most students
experience tension when they have to speak to a group. Many
students cannot overcome the stage fright while delivering a presentation. They
cannot use both energy and composure to effectively convey their message. According
to Steve Mandel, “many people become
frightened at the idea of standing up before a group of to make a speech”.
Many students says that they usually have symptoms such as a nervous stomach,
sweating, tremors in the hands and legs, accelerated breathing, and/or
increased heart rate before going to present in class.
Although
presenters may not like the way they feel when they are nervous, stage fright
can have an advantage. If presenters can turn the nervous energy caused by
stage fright into speaking energy, they can make their presentation better.
Presenters can force the nervousness to work for them rather than against them.
As Stephen E. Lucas has the same idea, “Rather
than trying to eliminate every trace of stage fright, presenters should aim at
transforming it from a negative force into positive nervousness. It is still
nervousness, but it feels different. Presenters are no longer victimized by it;
instead, they are vitalized by it. They are in control of it”.
In
order to deal with nervousness and turn it from a negative force into a
positive one, presenters need to acquire speaking experience, have a careful
preparation, think positively, focus on relaxing, know that most nervousness is
not visible, not expect perfection, and use the power of visualization. Some students say that they can turn
the nervous energy caused by stage fright into speaking energy and make the
presentation better, they can make their nervousness work for them rather than
against them. In
order to deal with nervousness, students need to do their best to act cool and
confident on the outside. It is reassuring to know that when presenters are
experiencing stage fright they feel much worse than they look and often, the
audience cannot tell just by looking at them that they are very nervous.
Knowing this should make it easier for students to face their listeners with
confidence. Confidence is mostly the well-known power of positive thinking. If
the students think they can do it, they usually can. On the other hand, if they
predict disaster and doom that is almost always what they will get.
The
followings are some
helpful tips so that students will be able to
overcome their shyness, deal with nervousness, and gain their confidence:
students should be prepared because preparation is the key to giving an
effective presentation and controlling nervousness; only once students prepared
carefully, they must be confident to stand in front of many people to present a
particular topic. Students should be relaxed because relaxation can help
anxiety, students can choose to take a deep breathe or smile at the audience
and this increases their confidence. Students should be interactive because
interactive exercises will help to create a positive dialogue with participants
where they have opportunities to share their own knowledge.
Once
students can deal with anxiety and overcome stage fright, they can communicate
ideas with enthusiasm. In fact, dealing with nervousness is not the only reason
to make students enthusiastic to present something; it is just the condition
that makes students more comfortable when delivering a presentation.
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