The majority of us, including those at the top, experience public speaking anxiety. Thus, when they stand to speak, almost all of them avoid making eye contact with audience members at first. The issue is that, despite appearing to be a good way to deal with speaking anxiety, avoiding direct eye contact just serves to increase your anxiety. Fortunately, human giving offers a remedy. Turning our attention away from ourselves, from worrying about whether we'll botch up or whether the audience will like us, and toward assisting them is the key to calming the amygdala and disabling our natural panic button.
We all make the error of beginning with the topic when preparing for a presentation. This quickly draws us into the specifics and makes it more difficult to break down the barrier separating us from other people. Start with the audience instead. Ask yourself: Who will be in the room before you start reading the information? They're there, but why? What are they lacking? Give detailed responses. Create a message that responds directly to the needs of the audience, both those that are expressed and those that are not.
Just before you talk, you have the most anxiety. Your brain is telling you, "Everyone is judging me," at this precise time. What if I mess up? You can actually redirect your mind at this precise time. Remind yourself that your audience needs your support. With your brain, be firm. "Brain, this presentation is not about me," tell yourself. The goal is to benefit my audience. Your brain will eventually catch on (often after four to six presentations), and you'll start to feel less anxious.
Actually, everyone in the room is paying attention to you individually. Therefore, talking to each person in your audience individually is the greatest approach to engage them. How? by keeping a steady gaze on one individual per thought. (Each thought concerns a complete phrase.) You can give each person in the room the impression that you are speaking only to them by concentrating on one person at a time.It's difficult. We're used to looking around the space. Direct eye contact can first seem unsettling. However, when you use it more, you'll find that you feel less anxious. A succession of one-on-one interactions are far simpler (and more efficient) than speaking to everyone at once.We are aware of the ability of giving to bring happiness, meaning, and purpose into our lives. Generosity has the same impact when spoken. It transforms a frightening and sometimes painful experience into one that involves giving and supporting others. A generous speaker may better connect with their audience and have the intended effect because they are calmer, more at ease, and — most importantly — more generous.If you want to have a full training courses on this topic, you can check our Public Speaking training courses