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How To Calm Yourself Before A Spoken Word Performance

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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. Some people–no matter how often they perform in front of an audience–still get nervous or still get stage fright. Here are some helpful tips that I learned about public speaking to help you fight nerves and stay calm:

  • Do some exercise before the 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 your story in a mirror in the craziest way possible. I admit – this is my own tip but I found that vocalists are also advised to perform in front of a mirror. This technique works wonders at curing self consciousness. I used to have this serious problem with memorizing my poetry. This can be very unnerving I agree, but it is also very powerful to look yourself in the mirror and perform 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 (sometimes worry that I will cry during an emotional performance) and to accept them so that you can give a great performance.
  • Avoid caffeine and sugar. Caffeine and sugar make you hyper, increase your blood pressure and heart rate, all of which just adds to your nerves. Substitute your coffee with water or caffeine-free tea.
  • Eat bananas. My 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 performance.
  • Visualize yourself performance. A lot of our fears are 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 performing.
  • Scream your work at the top of your lungs. Really! 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.

Article written by Vangile Makwakwa