It may surprise you to learn that being a little nervous before giving any type of speech, presentation or performance, can be a very good thing (assuming you don’t get into panic mode, which requires more serious assistance than can be provided in this blog post).
Being nervous means that you care about what you are about to share. It helps you to give it your best effort, and thus be more effective than you otherwise would be.
In addition, people in any audience are generally pretty intuitive about whether or not a speaker cares about his or her speech. If the speaker doesn’t care, why should anyone listening care?
If you truly want people to care about your message, then you had better care as well; and being a little nervous (even if it doesn’t show) is a sure signal to your audience that you do care.
Furthermore, if you think of being nervous as providing you with nervous energy, you can see how that will help you to be a more stimulating speaker.
Probably all of us have had the unfortunate experience of sitting and listening to some boring speaker drone on and on about something in a tedious and irksome monotone that leaches all possible interest out of the topic.
Your nervous energy can help you to bring vibrancy and resonance to everything you have to say. Your voice and your body language both give the clear signal that you are fully engaged in your message and that your message is both interesting and worthy of careful attention.
So the next time you are nervous about any type of presentation, take advantage of that nervous energy to make your presentation both absorbing and effective. Your audience will thank you.
And please! Don’t be nervous about sharing your thoughts about being nervous in the Comment section below.
