Public speaking and nervousness go together as naturally as peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti and meatballs. Except that while these food combos are generally viewed positively, nerves and speaking are viewed negatively. They're the bane of every public speaker's existence, right? Who likes to be nervous onstage?
Well, actually, it's not that simple. Depending on how you look at it, nerves can play a constructive role.
This insight recently became clear to me as I began preparing to give a Trend Talk on the benefits of Type B management. (Trend Talks are essentially Accenture's creative scaled-down adaptation of TED Talks, in some respects modeled after them but delivered online to a client audience.) During the preparation I was given numerous helpful resources to read and watch. One of them was an exceptional article, How to Give a Killer Presentation, by Chris Anderson, the curator of TED. The article had been published in the June 2013 issue of Harvard Business Review.
In his role with the TED organization, Anderson has gained a vast amount of insight into the presentation process, and I'd recommend the article to anyone who ever has to give a speech or presentation (which is to say, pretty much everyone in business). But I was especially interested in what he had to say about nerves and nervousness.
"In general, people worry too much about nervousness," Anderson wrote. "Nerves are not a disaster. The audience expects you to be nervous. It’s a natural body response that can actually improve your performance: It gives you energy to perform and keeps your mind sharp. Just keep breathing, and you’ll be fine."
In five brief but wise sentences, Anderson had put public-speaking anxiety in its proper place: an entirely natural response that can even work to your advantage. Instead of bemoaning, "Why oh why do I get nervous before a presentation?"- just view it not as some strange affliction but as a completely expected part of the process. It reminded me of what a speech coach told me long ago, "Sure, everyone gets butterflies - the trick is to get them to fly in formation."
In the Harvard Business Review piece, Anderson noted how nerves can subtly help a speaker gain support. "Acknowledging nervousness can also create engagement," he wrote. "Showing your vulnerability, whether through nerves or tone of voice, is one of the most powerful ways to win over an audience, provided it is authentic. Susan Cain, who wrote a book about introverts and spoke at our 2012 conference, was terrified about giving her talk. You could feel her fragility onstage, and it created this dynamic where the audience was rooting for her—everybody wanted to hug her afterward. The fact that we knew she was fighting to keep herself up there made it beautiful, and it was the most popular talk that year."
A clear takeaway from Anderson's article is that many TED speakers, including some of the most accomplished individuals on the planet, have some degree of public speaking nervousness.
So what's my takeaway message to people beset with this near-universal anxiety?
Don't fight it, don't feel bad about it. Just acknowledge it, accept it, and use its considerable energy to work for you, not against you.
Relax, you're in good company.
Like basically with the rest of the world.
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Victor is author of The Type B Manager: Leading Successfully in a Type A World (Prentice Hall Press).
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