How to Overcome Stage Fright and Nail Your Next Presentation: Part Two

In this post, I shared 10 Tips to Overcome Stage Fright and Nail Your Next Presentation.

In today's post, which is part two of this series, I want to share a little-known principle that can make or break your presentation: Staying very hydrated.

But keep reading.

This is one that most don't think about, but it's one of the most important. And I'm not referring to having a glass of water at the lectern while you're speaking. I'm referring to getting your voice ready to speak.

Let's examine why this is so important.

Nervousness does some odd things to the body. Ever heard of "cotton mouth"? If you've ever done some public speaking, you know what I'm talking about. It's when your mouth suddenly dries out from nervousness. It's a very uncomfortable and distracting phenomenon.

All of a sudden, instead of thinking about the message you're trying to communicate, you're thinking about your dry mouth and how you wish you had some water. It takes you off message.

In that moment, you've lost confidence. And when you lose confidence, it's noticeable because you change your pace. You start licking your lips. You smack your tongue. You start swallowing in order to get more moisture in your system. The swallowing then forces you to take pauses where you didn't anticipate.

It's bad.

For those in America, let me give some examples you might remember.

Example #1: Senator Marco Rubio drinking water during his response to the State of the Union address in 2013.

You can see a short video clip below:

He was nervous. Sweaty. His mouth was dry. You can notice him licking his lips. So he reached for the water. Ideally, you never drink water during a presentation. There's just no way to do it well. Aim to never do it.

Example #2: President Trump drinking with two hands.

Ever wonder why he picked it up with two hands? I know. Because when you get nervous, your mouth gets dry. And when you get nervous your hands shake. He didn't want the world to see him picking up the bottle with trembling hands. It was actually a wise move on his part.

Ok, let's do one more example:

Example #3: Representative Joe Kennedy delivering his response to the State of the Union address.

You can see the full video here.

He was accused of drooling in the speech. He says it was too much Chapstick. I do think there's a case to be made for too much Chapstick, actually, as in the video you can see a broad shiny outline around his lips, most likely from Chapstick.

However, I can also tell he was nervous. And weird things happen in your mouth when you're nervous.

So how can you counteract all these things from happening?

1. You have at least one water bottle next to you while you're preparing to go up to speak.

Of course, this assumes you've been hydrating well all morning. But, now, as you're ready to go up, you're sipping that water. Every few minutes you take another few sips.

I will usually drink an 8-ounce water bottle in the minutes right before I speak. The goal is to make sure that your throat and mouth are very well hydrated. You're wanting to compensate for the natural reaction of some nervousness hitting your system and your mouth wanting to go dry.

The other extreme, though, is drinking so much water that when you get up, you're distracted by the sensation of now having to urinate. So don't over do it.

2. Keep a lozenge in your mouth before you speak.

I always do both of these things. I'm sipping on water and I have a lozenge in my mouth. The lozenge is keeping my throat moisturized in between the sips. When I just have a few minutes left before I speak, I go ahead and quickly eat the lozenge and take a final sip or two of water.

3. Prepare, prepare, prepare.

I know, I mentioned this point in part one, but it needs to be repeated. You counteract nervouness by being very well prepared. You've anticipated the questions. The presentation is inside of you waiting to be released. In that moment, you're like a racehorse ready to run. You know exactly where you're going in the presentation.

I believe that preparation is actually the biggest factor in overcoming stage fright.

As an aside, that's why muscle memory is such an important factor in military training. Soldiers are made to repeat the same maneuvers time and time again. Because when the moment for battle comes, you don't want a soldier that needs to remember how to effectively use his weapons.

It's the same way with public speaking. There are bright lights out there. It can be shocking when you first step up. But if you've prepared properly, you can let your preparation take over. You know where you're going and you can simply begin, confidently.

P.S. In the next installments in the series, I'll address what to do with your hands, the best place to stand on stage, how you should move, and, yes, the best place to put the battery pack for your wireless mic!

So what about you? What would you add to the list? Any questions or comments? Please add them below.

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[image by Marcos Luiz Photograph]