How to get over stage fright in public speaking

Stage fright is the rush of nerves you get before speaking in front of people. Your heart races, your mouth goes dry, your hands shake and part of you wants to be anywhere else. Almost everyone who speaks in public feels some of it, including people who do it for a living.

You can't switch stage fright off, but you can get over the worst of it. This guide covers what's happening in your body, how stage fright differs from a wider fear of public speaking, and the techniques that help most before and during a talk.

What is stage fright?

Stage fright is your body's alarm going off before a performance. Speaking to a group feels important and a little risky, so you get a dose of adrenaline. Your heart speeds up, your breathing gets shallow and your hands may shake. Some people feel sick or go blank.

It's the same response that sharpens you up whenever something matters, so there's nothing wrong with you for having it. Because it feels like danger, though, it pushes you to rush, hide behind your notes or get the whole thing over with.

Stage fright vs fear of public speaking

People often use the two to mean the same thing, and they overlap. Timing is a useful way to tell them apart.

Stage fright is the spike of nerves around the moment itself, from the wait to be called up to the end of your first minute. A fear of public speaking is wider. It's the dread that starts days or weeks before, the urge to turn down anything that involves speaking and the replaying of it afterwards.

Most people have a bit of both, and the same work helps with each. Rehearsal takes the edge off the moment, and every talk you get through makes the dread around the next one a little smaller.

If the fear is stopping you from doing things you need to do, or affecting your sleep or health, talk to your GP. There's good help available and you don't have to manage it alone.

How to get over stage fright when presenting

Rehearse out loud, standing up

Reading your notes in your head feels like practice, but it leaves out your voice, your body and the feeling of being watched, which are the parts that make you nervous. Say the talk out loud, on your feet, more than once. You'll find the sentences that trip you up and the sections that run long while there's still time to fix them. Our guide on how to practise a speech has a full routine.

Learn the opening best

Nerves are usually highest in the first minute. Know your first three sentences well enough that they come out even if your mind goes blank. Once you're past them, the rest tends to follow.

Record yourself once

Watching yourself back is uncomfortable, and it teaches you a lot in one go. You see what the audience sees, which is usually calmer than what you feel. You'll also spot habits like rushing or saying "um" that are easy to work on once you know about them. If fillers are your habit, see how to stop saying um.

Stage fright tips for the day itself

• Move before you speak. A walk, the stairs or shaking out your arms uses up some of the adrenaline.
• Breathe out for longer than you breathe in, a few times over. It calms your body down and nobody can tell you're doing it.
• Warm up your voice by humming or saying your opening quietly somewhere private. A tight voice is often the first sign of nerves.
• Get there early and check the room, the screen and the microphone, so there are fewer surprises.

Our guide to calming your nerves before a presentation covers the hour before in more detail.

Stage fright techniques once you're speaking

• Pause before your first word. Stand, look at someone and give it a beat. It feels long to you and normal to the room.
• Slow down on purpose. Nerves speed most people up, and your first sentence sets the pace for the rest. How to speak slower has drills for this.
• Talk to one person at a time. Pick a friendly face, finish a thought with them, then move on to someone else, so the room turns into a run of short conversations.
• If you lose your place, stop and look at your notes. A silence of a few seconds is ordinary to an audience. If you go blank, sum up what you've just said; it often brings the next point back.

Does stage fright ever go away?

For most people it gets smaller rather than disappearing. Each talk you get through tells your body it went fine, and the alarm is quieter the next time. Plenty of experienced speakers still feel a flutter before they start and take it as a sign they care.

You're aiming to know your material well enough that the nerves don't run the talk, whether it's a meeting, an interview or a best man speech.

The best place to start is your opening. Say it out loud today, record it once and watch it back. It will feel a little easier every time you do.