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[bobbles]

Hello All,

I was recently appointed dean, and I have been struggling with nervousness when speaking publicly. I never have problems in the classroom, but before wider publics I often get the jitters, and it is audible in my voice. I'd love to hear any helpful advice for maintaining composure that you might have to offer.

Bobbles

[dellaroux]

Oxygen is an antidote to adrenalin poisoning.

Breathe deeply and often.

[zharkov]

You are suffering from:  High Anxiety.  Breathing right (as mentioned) and "over" preparing might help.  Some people swear by Vitamin X, Xanax.

[digger]

Coming from someone who is phobic about speaking publically & does it on a regular basis…  Telling a joke will allow you to laugh with the audience - and relax. If the voice quivers or nerves get the better of you - stop mid sentence - smile slightly while nodding your head & take a few deep breaths while keeping eye contact.  The audience will interpret it as a dramatic pause and wait a surprisingly long period of time waiting on your next words. On bad days, I have even pulled off my glasses and cleaned them to buy time to straighten out. Raising and lowering volume while changing up timing seems to help as well – with the bonus of coming off quite dramatically. Really, it could be that with the new position, you are taking things (and perhaps yourself) too seriously  and simply putting yourself under a lot of unneeded pressure.  It’s only a talk- as long as you are confidant your zipper is up while you are on stage – you should be able to keep everything in perspective. ;-)

[brixton]

I tell my students to practice before they give a presentation.  Same holds true for deans. Look for excuses to speak in public away from the school -- child's school (they'll hate youfor offering), presentations at clubs and boards, church/temple/mosque, all work, if you're of that ilk.  I did a lot of work for the AAUW, just to get used to talking in front of people. Teaching was good practice; and if you're not nervous there any more, you'll  get over it soon.  Just pretend your teaching a slightly older and more hostile class.

[williams_way]

While going for an interview, I asked for presentation advice to a cab driver, a long-time toastmasters club member. (A few tips for public speaking can be found at the organization website - www.toastmasters.org.) He said that I should always address the audience as a single person.

Since that time, whenever I need to give a presentation to a large audience (or 1000s of lilliputs), I view them as a "SINGLE WHOLE PERSON" (or GULLIVER). And then try to (mentally) grow to the same size for comfortably addressing them.

[barred_owl]

I really like digger's advice.  The thing is, your 'audience' doesn't really know what's going on in your head--they won't know if it's nerves or a tic or just extra drama when your voice quavers.  Take advantage of their not-knowing! 

I'll add that, after a while, as you adjust to your new role, your voice and public demeanor will smooth out quite a bit and your original question will be moot.  Here's hoping!

[infopri]

I really like digger's advice.  The thing is, your 'audience' doesn't really know what's going on in your head--they won't know if it's nerves or a tic or just extra drama when your voice quavers.  Take advantage of their not-knowing! 

This is so true.  I once had a meeting during a job interview where it was the entire search committee sitting around a conference table and firing questions at me (and they had me sitting at the head--or foot?--of the table).  Then one committee member asked a question I had no idea how to handle, and my brain completely froze.  I had absolutely no idea what to say.  In fact, I think I may have forgotten my own name.

The seconds ticked by.  I looked at the far wall, over their heads.  I stared at the table.  Weeks went by.  Finally, I countered the question with one of my own, stalling for more time.  The committee responded to my question and didn't come back to the question that flustered me for another several minutes.  By then, I had my answer ready.

I got the job, and about a year later, I was chatting with one of the search committee members, who by then had become a friend.  I confided in her and confessed that I'd frozen during the interview.  She swore that not one person on the committee had had any idea that I was in a panic.  They had all in fact admired how I had taken the time to consider the question and--get this!--how I'd had the wisdom (wisdom!!!) to collect more information before answering.

Sometimes you really can fool all of the people, at least some of the time.

[bobbles]

Thanks to all who have offered advice. I hope this really is a matter of getting better with practice. Certainly that has been my experience in the past. The reason I posted, though, is that my anxiety seems to have kicked up a notch over the past few weeks. The first six months on the job were fine, but a few weeks ago my composure cracked, and then it cracked again, and again (not epic fails, but audible nervousness in situations where I would rather project an image of calm competence). Now the fear of failure has lodged itself in my head. I feel like I need to reforge more positive neural pathways connected to public speaking experiences. I am hesitant to go the pharmacological route because of possible side effects/dependency, but I would be interested in hearing about the experiences any of you may have had with Xanax etc.

Bobbles

[barred_owl]

I'd be wary of Xanax.  Others may have had different experiences, but when my husband has taken it to calm his anxiety about traveling (or even going to the doctor), he gets pretty spacy.  He can still talk, but his speech seems slower and more rambling than usual.  He gets relaxed alright, but he's just not the same somehow.  I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but I can always tell when he's on Xanax.  Of course, everyone is different, so this might not be your experience.

[dellaroux]

If it's suddenly increasing without any clear prompts, you might want to do some focused counseling/meditation/performance practice with someone like a musical coach or other person with a sound professional background who has worked with others in public performance settings and see if there is anything more personal behind this.

You could have had family or school experiences in the past that are cropping up in your psyche--sometimes it waits until we're strong enough to deal with difficult past materials before letting them loose to be resolved, and sometimes that means that the "honeymoon" period suddenly ends with a thump! as your poor, beleagured psyche says something like, "There, s/he's finally at a point where we have a reason to deal with this, and s/he's strong enough to do the work on it. Whew! I'd been carrying that one around for awhile!"

Some music students are like this, do fine and suddenly feel like they're out on a branch and the next measure will saw themselves off of it....or out of the realm of what their family knows or understands, or beyond the level of expertise they were expected to go to, etc.

There are goofy people promising the moon, with whom you don't want to work, but there are also reliable, sane, trained individuals with whom it can be a joy to work, and under whose tutelage you can make real progress.

Bon chance.

[digger]

If its creeping up over time -- have you had your blood sugar level checked recently?


Just a thought, based on experience...