I don’t know the psychology behind the stage-fear. So, I’m going to share how I felt it.
TL;DR: Stage-fear is a psychological illusion. Overcome it by going to the stage more and delivering sessions with confidence.
The Plot
I went on to a stage to speak on a prepared topic to deliver a session. It was in the biomedical instrumentation class of my third year of my bachelor’s degree. I opened the presentation on the computer connected to the smartboard. I was already nervous, and my blood pressure must be high if checked at the time. The session topic was contact lenses. We can pick any subject related to the medical industry. It always fascinated me how contact lenses work. So, I thought of reading about it and sharing it.
The Problem
I couldn’t say more than a few words on the presentation slides in the second slide. I want to say more, and it’s not coming out of my mouth. I was thinking about what to say in Tamil, my mother tongue, and what we use for verbal communication usually. Then I’m converting that to English in my mind to speak on the stage. The problem is I don’t know much English at the time. I can only read them and not think and speak. I stopped right there because I collected words and formulated a sentence to express. But, since I had already paused for a long, I felt embarrassed to continue. In this state, I was thinking of my audiences as validators. Like, if they think I’ve delivered a good session, I gave a good session. Validations are what I was expecting the wrong purpose from the crowd.
The Solution
I only spoke fragments of sentences and stopped afterward. So the lecturer in the class asked if I could continue in Tamil. We didn’t have students speaking any other language in our class. I felt a little relaxed because I had already prepared and was comfortable with the topic. I’m not confident because I have to give this session to the class for the first time in English. Now, one of the worries is gone; I felt a little confident. I continued the session. But, this time in Tamil, I was even able to deliver whatever I thought was not in the presentation.
Conclusion
That’s all I did to overcome the stage-fear for the first time. Yes, facing it is the way forward to overcome this psychological illusion. But one step at a time. You see, I haven’t solved all the problems at once. Delivering sessions in English is something I solved at my work four years later. I also have not completely overcome the fear. I try silencing it with more courage.