How to Reduce Speaking Anxiety in a Presentation – Brenden Kumarasamy, MasterTalk

Hi, my name is Brenden Kumarasamy, the founder of Master Talk, a Youtube channel I started to help the world master the art of communication and public speaking. And today, I’m going to be talking about how to reduce your level of anxiety before going out there and presenting. Whether that’s presenting on a stage, giving a presentation, or speaking in front of a camera.

So here’s the main idea. The fear of communication will never leave. It’ll never go to zero. And trying to get that fear to zero is not the right approach. Even the best speakers in the world, including me, have some level of fear of communication, even if it’s small or big. The fear will always be there. The anxiety happens. But now the question is, how can we present regardless of the anxiety that we’re feeling?

How can we start delivering an impactful message even if we have some anxiety. That’s the real question and here’s the answer to that question. Let’s take a boxing match. On one side of the ring is the fear, the anxiety that comes with it. On the other side of the ring is your message.

Why are you delivering this message in the first place? Why is it important to you? And more importantly, for the audiences that you speak to? Now that is the real question. And when we think about both of those ideas, the message and the fear, the goal is not for the fear to disappear. The goal is to make sure that the message gets the knockout punch every single time.

So it’s not about eliminating the fear. It’s about making sure that the message is more important than the fear. Because if you’re fearful of communication but your message is more important than the fear, then your fear loses. Your message wins, and you can deliver something confident.

I’ll give you a great example today. A personal example. I started coaching CEOs of companies and vice presidents when I was 22. That’s also when I started my Youtube channel. So even if that sounds great, remember that in many cases, I had to coach individuals who were working longer in their companies than I’ve been alive.

So I naturally had a lot of imposter syndrome, nerves. Why should I make these Youtube videos? Why should I share this information with the world? Who am I to do this? I don’t have a PhD. I don’t have a Masters Degree in communication. But what allowed me to overcome the anxiety was to understand the problem.

I wasn’t making videos for the executive who could afford my services. I was making the videos for the 15 year old girl who couldn’t afford me. So now sitting there on that couch, I debated whether or not I should be making videos. Did I have anxiety? Absolutely!

But, I also knew that that 15 year old girl could only relate to me. There’s nobody else in their 20s making really good communication, tactical advice, and how to speak on Youtube. So it’s either I make the videos and help this girl out, and millions of girls like her in the world, or they don’t get any help at all. And when I was left with that choice, it didn’t matter how much anxiety I felt.

I was able to crush things the anxiety and figure out how to present the message regardless. And that’s the mindset approach I want all of you to start taking on. The fastest way to figure out how to alleviate your anxiety is to figure out why your message is important. And more importantly, who is that message important for?

And the more specific that you get about that person, who they are, what they dream about, what they care about, the closer you’ll be to eliminating your anxiety once and for all. Thanks so much everyone. Take care.