Tag - presentation anxiety

Three key factors which reduce speaking stress

Studying 'stress hardiness' research is part of what I do to help clients become more resilient presenters; and there's been a lot of interesting work done in this area over the past nearly 40 years by two psychologists, Salvatore Maddi and Suzanne Kobasa. They've worked with 1000's of  Control, commitment and challenge - key factors which reduce speaking stress professionals and have found three critical factors in resilient people. Resilience shows up when people go through life stressors and come out the other side showing the ability to grow and thrive. (Whereas non-resilient people suffer physical and/or mental ill-health.)

These...

Helpful Self-Talk Language Shift For Nervous Speakers

Helpful Self-Talk Language Shift For Nervous Speakers

[Updated July 2020]. I often chat to clients about their self-talk around public speaking. Using helpful self-talk language before you present will make a difference to how confident and in control you feel. And research from 2015 is showing that, believe it or not, talking to yourself using your own name or the second or third person can help!  It can also work when you're reflecting on the event after it's happened. This seems to work because it puts some distance between you and the emotional, stressful experience you're going through. And when you...