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Help for speech anxiety

rascal14

rascal14

Well-known member
So I tend to get very nervous and anxious the night before a speech and cant sleep, panic attacks basically. I had one on Friday that was very laid back and most people didn't do too well on theirs so it gave me more confidence. But I still got freaked out the night before. I am already taking KSM-66.

I took some Atenolol that night and before the test to help keep my heart rate in check and prevent me further freaking out because of that.. I think it helped some.

Phenibut does nothing for me and Aniracetam didn't seem to help.. Kratom doesn't help me when I'm going to have a panic attack. It just helps me relax and get rid of general anxiety.

I can get some Xanax, I think maybe 1mg XR then night before should keep me from freaking out and help me sleep, and should technically continue into the next day during the speech because of the half life. I don't want to rely on that though because I've never taken more than that and don't want to experiment and end up being high during the speech. Lol

I will have my next speech after thanksgiving break and it will be a bit more professional than the last so it will be more nerve racking.



Also, I will be having a 12 hour drive in a couple months. Anything to help keep me up for that besides caffeine?
 
Rest/nap immediately before the drive. Then caffeine.

What are your speeches for?
 
Make them laugh right away. Alleviates any self imposed pressure.

Facilitate and don't just talk at them.

I know you didn't ask for speaking advice but by doing just these two things I have confidence for each time.

If an audience of peers (the worst) pinch your thumb or hold a paper clip.

You shouldn't need anything to relax prior to speaking. Think of it as breath control for lifting. If you focus and control breathing you will maximize effort.

You are an expert on the material. Hope this helps.
 
RegisterJr said:
Rest/nap immediately before the drive. Then caffeine.

What are your speeches for?
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Yeah I'll be waking up then immediately driving so that's covered.. caffeine doesn't do much for me these days haha

This next upcoming speech is on the lack of communicating proper nutrition to students in college.

My future speeches will likely be over work and what I've learned over internships, presenting to my superiors.
 
justhere4comm said:
Make them laugh right away. Alleviates any self imposed pressure.

Facilitate and don't just talk at them.

I know you didn't ask for speaking advice but by doing just these two things I have confidence for each time.

If an audience of peers (the worst) pinch your thumb or hold a paper clip.

You shouldn't need anything to relax prior to speaking. Think of it as breath control for lifting. If you focus and control breathing you will maximize effort.

You are an expert on the material. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Yes one thing that will really help me is knowing the material.. I can talk all day about things I know and care about.
 
rascal14 said:
Yes one thing that will really help me is knowing the material.. I can talk all day about things I know and care about.
Click to expand...

Confidence in the material goes a long way. So the Atenolol isn't enough? Xanax might work, but can also impede your thinking.
 
Aleksandar37 said:
Confidence in the material goes a long way. So the Atenolol isn't enough? Xanax might work, but can also impede your thinking.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know if I can be confident in the material and be interested it I will blow the speech away.. But, these topics just aren't doing it for me in interest. I have the knowledge, but I know it will either bore the audience or go ever their heads.. Even the most basic concepts.

The Atenolol did help some. It stopped the rapid heartbeat from making me freak out even more.

That's what I'm worried about Xanax for 1mg XR gave me great sleep and anxiety reduction on Tren when I was having 24/7 panic attacks and feeling psychotic. But, I tried to chew 2mg XR and drink at the same time just to get ****ed up and it didn't do anything more than the 1mg did.
 
rascal14 said:
Yes, I know if I can be confident in the material and be interested it I will blow the speech away.. But, these topics just aren't doing it for me in interest. I have the knowledge, but I know it will either bore the audience or go ever their heads.. Even the most basic concepts.

The Atenolol did help some. It stopped the rapid heartbeat from making me freak out even more.

That's what I'm worried about Xanax for 1mg XR gave me great sleep and anxiety reduction on Tren when I was having 24/7 panic attacks and feeling psychotic. But, I tried to chew 2mg XR and drink at the same time just to get ****ed up and it didn't do anything more than the 1mg did.
Click to expand...

yeah, so I highly recommend not trying to drink anymore with the xanax...
 
rascal14 said:
Lol I haven't. When I say drink it was like 3 beers, not like that is okay still, but I know Xanax isn't anything light.
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Didn't mean to get all preachy. I've just personally seen my fair share of bad endings with that. Beta-blockers helped me out quite a bit in grad school when I had to give talks all the time.
 
This is where natural works to your advantage. No stims or blockers. Use the nervous energy to your advantage.

If you know the material then you know where to insert a joke that can enhance the comprehension and break the ice.

Give your audience candy or treats if you can.

Is this PowerPoint? If you use too many slides with too much information they will fall asleep. 10-12 slides per hour of talking.

I was fortunate as I often followed the Microsoft dude. Easy pickings on the ice breakers.. :D

Good luck.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
 
I've always found that tryptophan helps knock me out when I want to get to sleep, but I'm not sure how it'd do if panic/anxiety is what's keeping you up. Perhaps some theanine could help a little as well.

As for driving, you could always go with Modafinil/Armodafinil if you have access to them.

As for taking/speeches, it can help to practice in front of people, that way you're more prepared for "the real deal."
 
What works for me is getting a lift in before my speech. I feel most confident in the gym and the natural high from an intense workout continues through the speech.
Also I avoid all stims before my speech.
Basically my entire masters program were speeches. And I hate public speaking. Tried everything including chugging a beer right before haha.
 
allbrawn said:
What works for me is getting a lift in before my speech. I feel most confident in the gym and the natural high from an intense workout continues through the speech.
Also I avoid all stims before my speech.
Basically my entire masters program were speeches. And I hate public speaking. Tried everything including chugging a beer right before haha.
Click to expand...

I thought about a couple drinks before it, but I have a 9:30am class right before and so it wouldn't really work out lol
 
I have to speak to C-level people and rooms of people anywhere from 10-200 people every week and my tips are:

-Rest. Being tired and groggy is the worst thing possible.
-Absolutely no drinking the day/night before.
-Know your material because inevitably you will have to stray off for Q+A or unplanned reasons. You need to be comfortable with your message so you can come back to it or allow yourself to free flow a bit.
-Get in speaking situations more often. Practice helps your cadence, inflections, and overall comfort.

For supplements, Aniracetam and choline are the kings in this area. Aniracetam was basically made for social interaction and speaking. Also consider
-hawthorne
-lithium
-l-theanine
-pregnenolone
 
kisaj said:
I have to speak to C-level people and rooms of people anywhere from 10-200 people every week and my tips are:

-Rest. Being tired and groggy is the worst thing possible.
-Absolutely no drinking the day/night before.
-Know your material because inevitably you will have to stray off for Q+A or unplanned reasons. You need to be comfortable with your message so you can come back to it or allow yourself to free flow a bit.
-Get in speaking situations more often. Practice helps your cadence, inflections, and overall comfort.

For supplements, Aniracetam and choline are the kings in this area. Aniracetam was basically made for social interaction and speaking. Also consider
-hawthorne
-lithium
-l-theanine
-pregnenolone
Click to expand...

Really great advice. I had no idea how much public speaking I would have to do in grad school. It was scary as hell at first, but after you get up there and do it, you become comfortable. I went and asked some of the professors who I thought were really excellent and calm speakers what their secret was and almost all of them admitted to still getting a little nervous, but they were confident in the material and that is what the audience sees.
 
Aleksandar37 said:
Really great advice. I had no idea how much public speaking I would have to do in grad school. It was scary as hell at first, but after you get up there and do it, you become comfortable. I went and asked some of the professors who I thought were really excellent and calm speakers what their secret was and almost all of them admitted to still getting a little nervous, but they were confident in the material and that is what the audience sees.
Click to expand...

Exactly. When I started moving into this part of my career where I knew I was going to have to be in uncomfortable speaking engagements on the regular, I sought advice from some of the people that always impressed me and they all admitted that they were never 100% comfortable. That alone made me feel more comfortable. You just need to be prepared and realize that almost never is there a situation where the audience is seeing what you may be feeling inside.

And I can't stress this enough. Get into uncomfortable situations where the spot light is on you more often. Make a toast at a dinner, say something at a wedding, hold an in person meeting instead of Webex, etc.. You'll find that you can start using your own words more instead of prepared ones and that comes across much more natural and comfortable to the audience. It also trains you to regroup quickly when you stray off or forget a point.

Case in point- I was in a meeting with the CIO, CTO, CFO, and director level people from one of the largest phone companies in America and presenting a root cause explanation for a large outage that took place. In the middle of it, I completely lost my train of thought. Now, that normally could have been a disaster, but when you have the experience, you naturally can calm your mind quickly and pull it back together. That happens with preparation and doing it over and over.
 
I never tried it myself, but have heard good things about Toastmasters. It's a great, encouraging environment to get public speaking experience and positive feedback.
 
Thanks guys, the speech didn't go too bad. It was a bit quicker from talking fast and I ironically couldn't come up with the phrase for "being able to recall information" **** me, right? Lol

But, I took Atenolol to keep my heart rate down to prevent that from freaking me out, and I actually didn't even prepare for the speech really. I went over my key points and new what they meant and had several ways of explaining them.

I figured if I had a planned set of words then it'd be easier for me to forget and get flustered.
 
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