I’ve trained people to do exactly this (public speaking) - for many years now. I’ve specialised in public speaking as part of my role before I retired. There are a few tricks that can help (perhaps obvious, so forgive me): 1) Practice - I know this is obvious, but not just on your own. Find colleagues willing to help (or family members) - and practice your speech with them providing critical feedback. The stakes are much less as it’s practice, but you will get some of that nervous feelings. You should get to the point where you know the words without looking at any script. But… for the very nervous speaker - you write down single prompt words for each “point” of each part of the speech (like the word “RESULTS” if you were speaking about results of a project for example) - these visual word prompts will help you if you get lost.

2) SLOW DOWN - nervous speakers want to rush through their speech to just get it over with - but this makes you breathless and the moment you are breathless your body will slip into fight, flight or freeze. Use pauses between your sentences - honestly, if it sounds too long of a pause it’s probably about right.

3) The science bit - Cortisol is your stress hormone, and as a nervous speaker it will be flooding through your system. There are scientifically proven methods to reduce cortisol in your system. a) sit in a “power pose” for 15 minutes before speaking. This is a pose where you are “exposed” in the biologically vulnerable areas - meaning open neck (head up a bit) - open chest (arms by your side not across your chest) - legs apart with your hands NOT in your lap. Then do something called box breathing - press your tongue to the floor of your mouth, breath in through your nose for 4, and out through your mouth for 6 and repeat. This activates certain nerve pathways that help reduce cortisol. If you want to read about this stuff - look up Professor Amy Cuddy and her Cortisol study.

4) Know what to do with your hands, eyes and feet. Feet first - plant them on the floor shoulder width apart pointing at your audience - your feet tell your brain where you want to go - most nervous speakers feet point at the door or away. Don’t kick your feet or swing your legs. Move deliberately - move and plant, move and plant. Next, hands - look up something called the power pose - Angela Merkel did this the best. Basically you bring your hands back to your centre line about 1 inch above and out from your belt. Use your hands to tell your story, but they will look more comfortable and feel more relaxed to you and this will take some nerves away. Next - eyes. If you are crippled by nerves and you know your audience members (at least one of them) - ask for help from one person you like. Ask them to sit in the middle, about half way back and then you can return your eyes to them (ask them to smile when you do) - if you feel overwhelmed - you present to just them - no one else. If you feel more relaxed, then cast your eyes just over the heads of the people at the back - the audience will feel like you are presenting to all of them.

These things work - I’ve trained literally hundreds of people, from junior staff to CEO’s. Everyone gets nervous - you should know that being nervous means that you care, and that’s awesome. You can help your primal brain feel more relaxed with these methods. Good luck!