“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” – Jerry Seinfeld

One of the assignments for my 6th grade English class was to give a monologue, in character, as Babe Ruth. It is no exaggeration to say that I greatly tarnished Babe Ruth’s great legacy that day. I remember standing with my legs crossed for the entirety of my speech-desperately fighting the large amount of water that I’d nervously drank beforehand. Shockingly, I didn’t get an “A”. To set the record straight (for any of you who happened to be in my 6th grade English class): Babe Ruth was not, in fact, a frantic tear/pee-battler who opened and closed every sentence with “so, ummmmm.”

Until the past 5 years or so, largely thanks to this experience, I’ve been terrified to speak in public. Terrified. I am proud to say that these days I regularly speak in public without wanting to curl up into the fetal position and die. Here are the things I’ve done that have helped me get over my fear. Perhaps they’ll help you as well. Caveat: this post is not about how to be a great speaker…I certainly don’t claim to be one. This is simply about conquering America’s arguably number 1 fear. I say “arguably”, because I’m betting the options of “death by wolverine” or “being unfriended on Facebook” were not included in their survey of worst fears.

Anyhow, here are my 7 tips for overcoming the fear of public speaking. I hope they’ll help you as they have me.

1. Walk around the audience and mingle before-hand. Get to know some of the audience members. I’m a lot more comfortable when I look out and see familiar faces in the audience (even if I’ve only met them a few minutes prior).

2. Practice. Practice. Practice. Find a group that won’t mind watching you fail a lot. Toastmasters is great for this. Also, clarity brings comfort. The clearer I am about what I’m going to say in a given speech, the more comfortable I am saying it. Rehearse. Rehearse. Rehearse.

3. Never preface your speech by saying “I’m really nervous.” or “I hate getting up in front of people.” or “I’m really bad at this.” Your audience will become noticeably nervous for you…which will, in turn, make you more nervous.

4. Never picture your audience naked. I tried this once. I completely forgot what I was talking about.

5. Bring a water bottle on stage with you; and, keep a kleenex in your pocket. Accessible water helps alleviate your fear of choking to death on stage. Kleenex helps alleviate your fear of having a horrified audience watch/judge you as you speak your monologue into a booger-laden microphone.

6. Plan to speak for a couple minutes less than asked. Let’s say that you are given 15 minutes to speak. Your audience will almost always prefer a bad speech done in 12 minutes rather than a fantastic speech done in 20. Everyone in your audience has a busy life. Everyone. Trying to cram 20 minutes worth of material into 15 minutes will stress you out…as well as your audience. Finish early. Take a few questions if you need to fill the time. Going over your allotted time is always stressful. 30 minutes into a 15 minute speech and all the people in the audience who initially loved you will begin  trying to kill you with their minds. Don’t let this happen.

7. Before you speak, step into a bathroom. Check your clothing for unintended attachments (I once gave a large proposal whilst sporting a Strawberry Shortcake sticker on the back of my pants). Check your teeth (salad teeth make people uncomfortable). Check your zipper.