***Be Nervous in Public Speaking -- Just Don't Let Them 'Hear' You Sweat

By Nancy Daniels, The Official Guide to Public Speaking
The official guide to Public Speaking

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A big problem for many in public speaking is a voice that quivers due to nervousness. First of all, I would hope that you would be nervous in public speaking. I don’t care how many times you’ve given a presentation, whether it is your fifth time or your five hundredth. Nervousness is that wonderful rush of adrenaline that can give your delivery pizzazz. What you need to understand is that those nervous jitters are a blessing in disguise.

The difficulty with the voice that quivers it that it is a dead giveaway that you are dying a thousand deaths. And, it needn’t be. You can eliminate the quiver and take control of your nervousness by changing two habits.

1. Learn to breathe with the support of your diaphragm. Every mammal breathes in this manner and you did too at birth. During childhood development, however, the chances are good that you reverted to shallow or lazy breathing which is typical of 99% of the population. Breathing with support has some fantastic benefits which will affect your health most positively. What it will do for you in public speaking, however, is allow you to take control of your nervousness and actually put it to good use.

[Deep supported breathing eliminates the toxins in your blood that shallow or lazy breathing is unable to do. In fact, shallow breathing actually increases those toxins which increases your nervousness.]

2. Learn to power your voice by means of your chest cavity. Just as 99% of the population are not breathing with support, so too, that same 99% are not making use of the fantastic size of the chest cavity to produce voiced sound. Sadly, most people rely on their other 4 resonators to speak which includes the voice box, throat, mouth and nasal cavities. Once you add the chest as the primary sounding board, you will discover a richer, warmer, deeper, more mature sound. And, the quiver will be gone no matter how nervous you are.

If your pitch rises a mile or you find your voice trembling when you stand and address an audience, it will not change until you improve your voice placement. That is the only way to make it go away.

Take control of your nervousness and I guarantee that you will discover the wonderful benefits of that surge of adrenaline rushing through your body. You will be more focused and more alert which will make you feel confident when addressing an audience.