There is no better way to get noticed in business than to get out and do the public speaking rounds.

But what if you are too afraid too and the sheer thought of getting up in front of a crowd sends you running for the bathroom or the nearest bottle shop?

If you are looking to make a fantastic impression by public speaking and being drunk or in the bathroom isn't an option, give this NLP technique a go.

NLP, otherwise known as Neuro Linguistic Programming, works with the mind and preparing it for tasks at hand that may sometimes feel uncomfortable or a stretch. It can work with everything from a fear of heights, goal setting, to public speaking and a fear of getting up in front of a crowd.

As you are preparing for your first public speaking gig and you feel the anxiety set in, take a good 10 minutes in the lead up to the event to go through this exercise.

Step 1:

Find yourself a comfortable place and relax.

Step 2:

Shut your eyes and start to imagine yourself getting dressed for the event in question, see yourself going through the entire process, putting on your clothes, driving to the venue, going over your notes, welcoming the guests, being introduced, giving your speech, being thanked, saying goodbye, relaxing at home feeling good about how it all went and then either getting on with your day or going to sleep.

Visualise this entire process within a space of 10 seconds. Imagine you are fast forwarding a DVD or a CD.

Step 3:

Once you have gone through it forwards, you are now going to reverse it incredibly fast backwards whilst going through the entire process as above again.

Step 4:

Continue to fast forward and rewind the event approximately 10 times. This can take some mental energy to really focus on the task at hand.

What you are literally doing is tricking the mind into thinking that you have already done the speaking gig, hence when you go to do it, there is no longer a fear of the unknown because you have already been there and done it before.

You will literally find that when you are conducting your presentation, the information will be flowing in through you instead of you forcing yourself to remember what you are going to say.

I do this exercise on a monthly basis to ensure I stay on track, in focus and confident. At times I find I almost have an out of body experience. I get home after the event and wonder where I have been for the last few hours because the information flowed through me naturally.

Give it a go, I guarantee you that when you've done it correctly it will work an absolute treat for you when getting over your fear of public speaking.

If all else fails, at least catch a cab to the bottle shop!