If at some point in life you get an opportunity to perform in public – grab it. Public speaking is a valuable and transferable skill which expands your professional limits, reframes your mind and provides powerful leadership experience. To make your way to the stage as smooth as possible, you can use the 5 tips I’ve listed below. It helped me perform at different business events and although some might sound obvious, I found it useful and thus worth mentioning.

TIP 1: HOW TO HANDLE THE NERVES?
Imagine, it’s your time to walk out on that stage, take a microphone and give a speech, but you feel overwhelmed: your body is overstressed, all muscles are tensed up, heartbeat is in your head and the words can hardly come out…
Does it sound familiar? 
If yes then I have good news for you: it’s perfectly normal to feel this way. It’s believed that the fear of public speaking is among the strongest fears you may ever deal with and in fact it is the number one reason why people refuse to come on stage or underperform if they do.
The first step in overcoming this fear is to recognise that it is absolutely normal to experience all these weird symptoms. It has nothing to do with your professionalism, intellect and especially courage; it is just a human nature.
Most of the times you are afraid of public judgement or even worse – public failure. And consequently you have questions popping up in your head: what if I forget my speech? What if I say something wrong? What if someone asks me something I don’t know? What if everyone can see that I am scared? The list can go on and on.
The “fear of stage” is not that complicated but it is structured with several layers. So, let’s break it down!

You and your mind 
Many fears only exist in our minds and we all know that. Often we overestimate the threats. That is why it’s important not to put too much of pressure on yourself in terms of your performance and its results. Ask yourself: what is the worst-case scenario? Does my life depend on it? Will I lose everything if I don’t do great? Picture yourself five years from now – how important will your performance be?
Now, before you reach out for a tomato to throw at me (or close this article) hear me out. Yes, I do suggest you implying “I don’t care how it all goes” attitude and depreciate the whole performance. Think about it: don’t you usually do better when you don’t care? On a date? At a business meeting? At an interview?
Definitely it should be healthy kind of “I don’t care”. “Responsible depreciation” of your performance makes you feel more relaxed because it eliminates unnecessary pressure.
Look, it’s just another step in your life – nothing extraordinary!

You and your body
Obviously, your mind and body are connected! To refresh your mind – focus on your body! Before it’s your turn to give a speech find some time and place to exercise: warm up your face, your voice and the rest of your body.
Spend several minutes making faces – it will remove facial tension. Cheeks, forehead, eyes, lips, tongue – google some exercises the actors use. Trust me, it will make a lot of difference. To warm up your voice you can use singers’ techniques – raise and lower your voice, change your timbre, etc. I personally prefer rapping to make sure I sound clear. Then goes the rest of your body. Dance, shake your hands and legs, sit down and stand up – whatever you want to do. It will remove the stress from your body and make your moves smoother while you are on stage.
The whole warm up should take around 10 minutes. Try not to do it too early or you will “freeze” again. 30 minutes or less before your speech is perfect. 
Right before you go to the microphone, focus on your breath. Deep and calm breathing will help you avoid feeling suffocated. 
Don’t underestimate the warm up. When you see a speaker with an awkward face, shaking or breaking voice, then you know it is the lack of warming up. 

You and the audience 
Be sure – in most cases you know more about your topic than the rest of the audience. It gives you an advantage and should make you feel confident. In other words, if you make any minor mistakes or forget some details – it will not be noticeable for the audience.
You may also worry about unfriendly or even aggressive listeners: tricky questions, attempts to kick you out of track. Mind the following: business audience mostly consists of intelligent and well-educated people, who came here with the purpose of receiving new knowledge. Mostly they react and ask their questions in a polite manner. It’s not an election debate where the opponent tries to punch you with a question. However, if you do come across a “weird guy in the room” remember to remain calm, polite and understanding – let him take his frustration out but don’t take it personally. More importantly, don’t be impulsive. In most of the cases you will see that the rest of the audience will ignore him.

You and other speakers
Being compared with other speakers is one of the common fears when you perform at business conferences. Main thing to remember here: business conference is not a competition! There are no judges and nobody will give you a score afterwards or put you in a rating list. Never look at other speakers as your rivals or a potential threat. In opposite, concentrate on yourself and when you have time try to pick interesting features other speakers use to build them in your future performances.

TIP 2: BE PREPARED
It goes without saying that you should prepare in advance. And rehearsal is a key part of preparation, because the more you practice – the better you get. TED speakers say they rehearse their speeches around 1000 times before finally going on stage and I’m sure it is their secret weapon.
Preparation looks like a learning process – you start with “basics” and then improve till “advance”. “Basic” means you know your speech and its structure; you know your audience; you have FAQ list (including potentially sharp questions) in hand.
When you are done with the “basics” you can work on the quality of your performance: the speed of your speech, volume of your voice, pauses and emphasis, your body language.
The best way to rehearse is to practice on camera: put it in your room and go ahead. Having a video footage of yourself provides you with a complete picture of your performance. That’s why it is much better than a voice recording only. Perform-watch-improve. Repeat. The more you do it, the more you grow your inner confidence. I’d say that 1 rehearsal equals to 1% of confidence. So you know what to do to feel 100% confident on stage ☺
Do remember the rule of a “day off” though. One day before your speech stop all your rehearsals. You have already done enough and now it’s time to have some rest. Otherwise you may experience overexcitement which leads to additional pressure on your nervous system.
Doing your homework try not to learn your speech by heart – leave some space for creativity and be natural. Don’t be afraid to lose your track especially when you have your power point presentation on a screen – it’s an excellent reminder.

TIP 3: FIND YOUR STYLE
Don’t try to copy someone else, feel comfortable to be yourself and use your style. You have a huge personality with your unique background and experiences. You have your own way to perform in public even if you are a beginner. Some will like your style, others might not and that’s okay. Remember that you are not a 100-dollar bill so everyone likes you!
I learnt this the hard way. One of my first public speeches was at a law conference. Most speakers had long presentations, did not interact with the audience and were practically reading their notes. This was definitely not my style but I decided to give my speech in a similar manner in order not to stand out. Guess what happened? Yup, I was very close to a complete failure ☺
Find your style! Will you make jokes? Will you be calm or unpredictable? Will you throw objects into the audience or ask someone to come on stage? Will you be funny, serious or maybe personal? Find your style, work on it, stick to it and improve.
Looking back at that law conference and my speech, I understand that if I followed my style, I would have felt a lot more confident and happier with myself. But hey! It was my experience, just another step in my life – nothing extraordinary!

TIP 4: INVOLVE THE AUDIENCE
You know a good public speaker when you see one. He can hold your attention, bring up different emotions, make you feel involved. Such speakers and their performances are the most successful because people remember them. It’s not an easy skill, but you can develop it by practicing.
In the beginning try to build in some interaction with people. The main goal is to break an invisible wall separating you and the audience and become a trusted speaker. The interaction can be direct and indirect.
Direct one refers to different questions you literally ask and expect some kind of a response. Such questions build a link between you and the audience and moreover can give you a piece of important information. Here are several types of questions you can try:

“Raise your hand” question
e.g.: Who uses credit cards in this room? Raise your hands!
Can be followed by: Ok, now how many of you use Mastercard?
You make people perform an action (raise a hand) which is good by default – you get their attention and you involve them. More importantly, you might be able to get valuable information from the response. It’s a good technique and can be used multiple times.

“Explain to me” question works best in a combination with the “Raise your hand” question.
E.g. “Who uses credit cards in this room? Raise your hands. Lady in a black suit, could you please explain to us how does it work?”
This technique allows you to switch the attention of the audience to someone else plus the audience and you get a client’s/user’s perspective, which is priceless.

“Association” question.
e.g.: What is the first thing that comes into your minds when you hear “credit card”?
You want to understand the emotions people have when they think about the topic you are about to discuss – it might be your product/idea/etc. Associations help you build closer relationships with the audience.

These questions can help you kick off your presentation with a dynamic opening, shake the stress away as it switches attention, start a dialog instead of a monologue and keep the audience tuned.
Additional effect can be achieved with indirect interaction. However, “indirect” means you do not expect any answers, but nevertheless you make the audience feel involved. It happens when you add a story in your speech.
Books on public speaking say that if you want the audience to be inspired you should proceed with a story, rather than a plain description. And it’s absolutely true. When you tell a story, people imagine it and get involved as if they were reading a book. It gives you a great advantage in terms of attention and depending on your story – loyalty of the audience.
When I perform, I try to tell at least one story which is somehow connected to my topic.

e.g.: [my topic is corporate pension plan]
You know guys, I like travelling a lot. Last month I was in Kamchatka trying to climb an active volcano. The way to the top was about 6 hours by foot while the weather conditions were constantly changing from cold wind and snow to bright sun. In a couple of hours I felt I needed a break and thankfully our guide said the halt was near. I saw a group of people moving twice as slow as us. When we passed them, I realized that all of them were 60-65 years old and even older. I started a quick chat and found out they were from Japan. They all looked fit and obviously enjoyed their walk. I was shocked. If you ask me, I can’t imagine a 60-years-old from our country (I am from Russia) doing the same climb. Why? Because our government doesn’t provide sufficient financial support to our seniors. More importantly, it’s not in our culture to think about the retirement and set pension plans in advance. But I think it’s time to make a change….

TIP 5: MIND THE TIMING
When you give a public speech keep in mind that the audience is giving you their time and, hopefully, attention which is very limited. Respect it and try not to waste it. Even if your topic is complicated – 20 minutes speech should be enough. This comes from the statement that 20 minutes is a maximum period of time when people can actually focus. If you exceed 20 minutes, you lose the attention. That’s why all TED speakers are limited to one third of an hour even if they talk about astrophysics or chemical experiments (I mean something really complicated ☺). If you have doubts then follow the rule – better shorter than longer. Don’t be afraid that you will still have some time left after your performance – you better have longer Q&A session.

BONUS TIP: SHARE SOMETHING NEW
When you perform, you have to make your input. Like my mom says when you read a book, you should get at least one good idea as a compensation for your time. The same is with a public speech – try to share something that the audience didn’t know before and they will be thankful for that!

Good luck to you and I’m sure you will be a great public speaker!