At some point, if you are serious about being a spoken word poet or storyteller, you are going to find yourself in front of an audience performing poetry. Some people-no matter how often they perform poetry in front of an audience-still get nervous or still get stage fright. Here are some helpful public speaking tips to help you overcome your public speaking fear and become a legendary spoken word artist:
- Do some exercise before your spoken word performance
Any type of exercise – walking, jumping, running etc-can get you to relax and help you calm down. Jogging is my method of relaxation exercise before a slam poetry contest or a business presentation.
- Perform poetry or stories in a mirror in the craziest way possibleI admit – this is from my own vault of public speaking tips but I found that vocalists are also advised to perform in front of a mirror. This technique works wonders at curing self consciousness and public speaking fear. I used to have this serious problem with memorizing my poetry for a spoken word performance. This can be very unnerving I agree, but it is also very powerful to look at yourself in the mirror, perform poetry and see yourself as you imagine the audience sees you when you are on stage. How do you stand? What gestures do you make to distract yourself? How do you use your hands? All these things are important and it is important to acknowledge all your little worries (I sometimes worry that I will cry during an emotional performance) and to accept them so that you can give a great spoken word performance.
- Avoid caffeine and sugarCaffeine and sugar make you hyper and increase your blood pressure and heart rate, all of which just add to your nerves and public speaking fear. Substitute your coffee with water or caffeine-free tea. Even Tim Ferris says he avoids caffeine any time he has to do a speech.
- Eat bananasMy public speaking teacher, Dale Deletis, always told us to eat bananas before a show. Bananas have potassium, which relaxes the muscles. It also slows down your heart rate, helping to keep you calm enough to deliver an excellent spoken word performance.
- Visualize yourself performing poetry or performing your storyA lot of our public speaking fear is subconscious and almost impossible for the conscious mind to fight using will power alone. The great news is you can trick your subconscious into believing something has already happened when it has not. You can do this through visualization because the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality and imagination. Make the visualization as real as possible and see yourself giving a stellar spoken word performance.
- Scream your work at the top of your lungsReally! Just go outside where no one can hear you and just say all those words out loud. This can also help you get rid of any self consciousness you have because it’s just so out of character.
Do you have any other techniques or public speaking tips that you use before a spoken word performance? We invite you to share your public speaking fear and experiences as well as your own tips for performing poetry live!
