How to calm your mind for public speaking (and focus on what truly matters)

“Will the tech work?”, “Can the audience hear me?”, “How do I build connection?”, “Is there parking at the venue?”, “What if I mess up?”, “I don’t know anything about this”, “What if I am asked a question I don’t know?”

There is so much to think about when you are delivering a presentation and calming your mind is not easy. In fact, you probably have several things racing through your mind both before and during your presentation. So how do you deal with that?

It is not just about the speaking, but also logistical things that somehow create more anxiety about public speaking. Consider this: are you thinking more about what you have to say, or whether there will be somewhere to get lunch? Often it is the non-speaking elements that create noise in your mind a derail your focus.

The thought of public speaking is worse than actually doing the speaking. Luckily there are ways you can calm your mind to deliver effectively every time.

Sort logistics before

Logistics are a distraction from actually speaking — how you are going to get there, how big the venue is, how many are in the audience, the tech set up. The great thing about these pieces are that you can get answers to most logistical questions ahead of time. This changes the unknown into knowns that you then don’t have to worry about.