Speaking Anxiety Is Very Common

Whether you call it stage fright or speaking anxiety, the apprehension you feel is one of the most common personal fears. Surveys consistently show that fear of speaking in front of a group is among people’s most intense fears—sometimes ranked higher than their fear of death!² In fact, 75 percent of the US population experiences some form of anxiety when faced with the prospect of making a presentation.³ Even experienced musicians, actors, and athletes can experience high levels of anxiety before performing in front of an audience. Elvis Presley, who performed in hundreds of concerts during his lifetime, admitted:⁴

I’ve never gotten over what they call stage fright. I go through it every show. . . . It’s a new crowd out there, it’s a new audience, and they haven’t seen us before. So it’s got to be like the first time we go on.

You may feel just as nervous when speaking to a group of three people as others are in front of an audience of thousands. Those anxious feelings are perfectly natural in either setting. You might feel especially tense or uneasy before and as you begin speaking. That’s normal too. In fact, thinking about what could go wrong can make you more nervous than actually delivering your presentation, and many speakers find that their anxiety subsides and their heart rate steadily declines less than a minute after they begin speaking.⁵

If you believe you’re the only person feeling apprehensive about speaking, you may wrongly blame your nervousness for a poor presentation (“I was nervous; therefore, my talk went badly”). But nervousness doesn’t predict whether a presentation succeeds or fails. Many nervous speakers deliver outstanding presentations. What matters is how you handle it. Successful speakers use their nervousness to make their presentations better.⁶ Ultimately, it’s not the anxiety that is important but how you choose to interpret it. Wouldn’t you rather think of making a presentation as an exhilarating experience rather than a terrifying ordeal?