Overcoming public speaking anxiety is not an easy task. Your knees shake, your hands sweat, and your heart pumps even faster than you can count; but if you have the determination to succeed on stage, overcoming public speaking anxiety is a breeze.

There are a lot of reasons why your fear is triggered when you speak in public. These are some of the reasons why overcoming public speaking anxiety can be challenging at first:

? You feel that you may commit errors in grammar or provide invalid information along the way.

? You feel the people around you are judging you wrongly.

? You feel insecure about the topic of discussion.

? You feel the audience doesn’t like you as their speaker.

? You feel the audience doesn’t understand your point.

Treat your audience as a friend by giving them the benefit of the doubt about how they feel and think about you. Instead of feeling like they don’t like you, assume that they do and you’ve taken the important first step to overcoming public speaking anxiety.

Keep your audience awake by being provocative. Ask some questions and maintain eye contact for a couple of seconds to as many people as you can inside the room. Change your voice tone when there’s a need to emphasize things.

The center stage is not the most comfortable place in the world, and public speaking has been known to top the list of fears for most people. Your body reacts to the pressure you’re going through while in front of your audience.

Don’t worry because the feeling is absolutely normal. When all that adrenalin reacts to how you feel, overcoming public speaking anxiety can become easy. You may model other successful public speakers but remember to put your own unique style in your speech delivery.