HOW TO DO AWAY STAGE FRIGHT IN EVERY AREA OF SPECIALIZATION

Stage fright being an impulse of tension, fears and body-inactiveness while on stage is a natural phenomenon and shouldn’t be seen as an offence when it occur to you or any other person.  Even professional speakers sometimes encounter stage fright before mounting the stage or immediately they get to the verge of the stage. So, don’t have it to be a constraint towards speaking in the public or addressing a group of people.  Just do the following and overcome it

Mop the audience, instead of looking right in their eyes:

The faces of audience is very scary when addressing them.  Because, everyone will have his eyes on you while you speak.  The eyes can make anyone fall to his feet on stage, this is the reason people don’t like going to the stage. They don’t know where and how to look at the audience.  But the way out is this; If you must look at them, you have to do what is called mopping, making up your face to their forehead instead of looking directly into their eyes.  As a beginner speaker, once you look into their eyes, you may get intimidated and tend to forget the next thing to say.  So, mopping is the way out of this

Note: Moping in this context doesn’t mean you should wear a scary face that is deficient of smiles and cheerful outlook.  While moping at their forehead, you smile when necessary.  Nobody will notice what you are doing.   

Don’t have the notion that you are addressing people bigger than you:

This is one of the reasons people fear the stage.  They have it in mind that there is a possibility that the audience is more experienced and bigger than they are. Therefore, they fear to go on stage.  No, that’s not it.  At the moment of being on stage, you are the MAN on stage and you have to erase every notion of having people who are greater present.  Just go on and say what you have in mind.  Don’t even worry if the President of the country happen to be there.  Ride on and blow the dust off your eyes.

Don’t be afraid of mistakes:

People never wanted to make mistakes.  But the truth is this, those who fear mistakes never made it.  Mistake is a part of learning and when it occur, it is a good tool for correcting it. When people learn by mistakes, they grow greater.  Also, no one is above the said mistake.  So, there is no need being afraid of it.  All you need do is, making a simple, yet quick correction of the mistake to tell the audience that you know what you are doing. Immediately it occur, you can say things like – Am sorry, I mean…. I beg your pardon, it should be…. Oh! Am meant to say…. Or even make a slight joke out of it.  But try to keep it very simple. Hence, mistake is normal and shouldn’t be taken to the extreme.

Practice, practice, practice:

Perfect practice makes one perfect they say, is true.  Every speaker before becoming a professional must have gone through practices on how to appear on stage. Start taking topics and speak on them in front of your friends, family and relatives.  Let them be your judge, to see how good you go.  Don’t be discouraged by any of their negative confessions.  Just ride on, and on.  Also get to answer and ask questions. And finally get to be acquainted to those who are already into it.  They will teach you better and also let you know all the tactics and skills of becoming a good stage user.