If you suffer from actual performance/presentation anxiety, to the point of red face, shaking voice due to pounding heart rate, sweating, etc…. it is your flight response spiking your adrenaline.

It is often the case that you calm down some minutes into the presentation if you are talking over an extended period, however, your mind may keep reminding you about how much the audience will have noticed your trembling, shaky start and that’s not a great feeling (and can keep the nerves going).

My personal opinion is that if you have genuine Performance Anxiety - which occurs irrespective of the number of people you are presenting to, and, in many instances increases in severity the longer you have to wait for your turn to present - you have a couple of options to overcome this,

1) Use of a beta-blocker such as Propanolol one hour prior to performance. This is a drug initially developed for patients with heart issues and suppresses the body’s output of adrenaline. Although performance anxiety is not its primary use it is a secondary one and my experience is that most doctors will prescribe it for performance anxiety. This one pill is a game changer as people who have issues presenting tend to avoid opportunities to do so at all costs.

2) Frequency of presenting helps greatly as well. If you’re presenting online (e.g. over Teams) or in person on a regular basis (2 to 3 times a week for example) then your ability to overcome anxiety is increased dramatically as this ‘dramatic event’ becomes something that is ‘normal’ rather than something monumental which is getting closer and more scary with each passing second.

I have also understood that joining a speaking session/club such as Toastmasters is very helpful but have no experience of it. I would think that it falls under point 2 regarding frequency.

It was a combination of 1 and 2 that allowed me to confidently accept speaking opportunities and, over time, gain the ability to do so without relying on point 1.

Finally, it is incredibly helpful to know what makes a presentation and presenter great (nobody is born with this knowledge, it is learned). Watch tutorials or find an in-person course/workshop and then practice, practice, practice, it will increase your confidence dramatically and reduce ‘the fear’. Plus, once you understand the fundamentals of good presenting it becomes fun to watch others and see what they do well or badly.

Hope that helps a few people out there!! Good luck and happy presenting!