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Mid-Presentation Stage Fright: How to calm your nerves in the middle of a presentation
You’re standing at the front of the room, facing a new audience.
The presentation has been going surprisingly well.
You hit your opening cleanly, your slides are flowing, and people are nodding along.Then, out of nowhere, it hits you.
You feel yourself sweating.
Your heart starts racing.
And, you forget what you were going to say next.It’s that familiar wave of nerves, “stage fright,” showing up right in the middle of your presentation.
If this sounds like you, you’re not alone. Mid-presentation nerves are often triggered by a fleeting fearful thought, a frown in the audience, or a passing worry about being judged. Even professional speakers experience mid-presentation anxiety. The difference is that skilled presenters know the tools to recover quickly. And, there are LOTS of recovery tricks. Here are a few easy ways to get back on track:
1. Use a Reset Exhale
Mid-presentation stage fright sometimes causes us to breath-in or hold our breath. This can make the stage-fright response even stronger. Reverse this by simply breathing-out. A long slow exhale signals your nervous system to calm down. While we can’t slowdown our heart rate, slowing our breathing will slows our heart. It can be helpful to create the habit of exhaling at the end of long sentences, between slides, or adding a “(BREATH)” comment to your speech notes.
2. Water Can Calm Mid-Presentation Stage Fright
Take a drink when you need a reset. Studies show that different parts of the brain are used when we think versus when we feel. So, feel the cold water as it goes down your throat. The cool water also helps your flushed body to cool down.
You don’t need to call an intermission to take a drink. Bring a bottle of water with you. (Bottles are better than glasses as they don’t spill when you knock them over.) Simply take a swig in between slides. It will look and feel natural and get you back on track quickly.
Steve Jobs always had a bottle of water on stage them him.
3. Redirect Your Attention Outward
Anxiety gets stronger when you think about yourself:
- Do I look nervous?
- Can everyone tell I’m losing my place?
Instead, redirect attention outward. Focus on helping your audience understand your message. Look at one face at a time, pretending you are having a conversation with that particular individual, as if it’s just the two of you in the room. Then, change to another friendly face, choosing individuals in each sector of the room.
By focusing outward on an individual, you will become less self-conscientious. And, when self-awareness decreases, confidence increases.
4. Look Confident, Feel Confident
When we feel nervous, we have the tendency to raise our shoulders and bring our arms forward to cover and protect our chest. This closed body position raises our cortisol and lowers our testosterone to make us feel more stressed. By dropping our shoulders and opening our chest and arms, our cortisol drops and our testosterone increases. In other words, when you stand strong, you look strong. And, your body starts to feel stronger. It’s a powerful psychological trick backed by science.
5. Customize your Mid-Presentation Stage Fright Routine!
Everyone is different. When our amygdala senses danger, a personalized cocktail of hormones causes our unique stage fright reaction. So, our tools to manage that reaction should vary too.
Great speakers aren’t perfect. They just recover smoothly because they have developed a routine to manage their stage fright during a presentation. And, they practice their recovery while they are practicing their presentation.
Final Thoughts
Feeling nervous during a presentation doesn’t mean you’re a bad speaker. It’s a human experience and not a personal failing. The audience won’t judge the slip, they’ll notice the professionalism with which you continue.
What really matters is your ability to steady yourself, re-focus, and keep going. With a few simple techniques and a bit of practice, you can recover gracefully too and continue presenting with confidence, clarity, and charisma. 🙂
Kimberly VanLandingham is the CEO of European Market Link Sàrl and owner of Presentation Training Switzerland.com. She has 12 years of training experience and 20 years of experience with DuPont, including as a product spokesperson on TV and radio and as a business leader. She specialises in public speaking and media training for those in international business, B2B sales, and technical/scientific fields. She has a Masters in communication and a BS in engineering.
Photo by Miguel Henriques on Upsplash.
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