Hi all-
Well, let me just say I have plenty of fears, but as an actor, public speaking ain't one of them. Fear of NOT public speaking is more like it!
So, here's something that may or may not be helpful. Zukin's note about connecting to the audience with love is excellent. And in addition to that, you might try some of these things an actor uses on stage.
Try giving yourself an objective. Say, for example, your objective is to make the audience feel loved. Ask yourself ahead of time, how will I know if it's working? What are some cues I might see out there? Maybe I'd see people start to smile, or relax their bodies, or even cry. Break your objective down. I want to see that guy smile. Or I want to see that person uncross their arms.
Think about tactics to support your objective. How do you make your loved ones feel love? You can't, perhaps, reach out and touch your audience physically, the way you do with your beloveds. But you can speak to them with tenderness in your voice. You can make eye contact with them and hold it as much as you're willing.
Make substitutions. Imagine that the audience is someone you're really comfortable and happy speaking to, only there's X amount of them and they're disguised in other bodies and faces. Talk to that person underneath the physicalities of the audience members.
Also, on a day you're going to do public speaking, do 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise within a few hours of the event. This siphons off some of the nerves. And then, within an hour or two of the event, do a little vocal and physical warmup. Stretch your body, wake it up. Shake it around. Open your mouth wide, do tongue twisters, go through your speech enunciating the living daylights out of it. Then you're less likely to be plagued with stiffness, and your body will carry the nice feeling of having prepared, too.
Right before you're going to go on, bring yourself right into the moment and into your body. Take a couple of minutes not to think, but to feel. Feel the air. Note the temperature. Touch something cool. Touch something warm. Feel your feet in your shoes. Go up to a wall and look at the patterns on it as closely as you can. Get micro-micro into the physical moment. It helps bring you here and now, and out of your head full of fears.
This may or may not be helpful for you, but there you go anyway. I wish everyone well with conquering this fear!
And Erin, you can give me a little of your courage with connecting to your clair-abilities! That's where I tap into my chicken within.
Sending you all good wishes,
Tina
the gallivanting monkey