***Does Your Voice Shake in Public Speaking? 5 Steps to Stop the Quiver

You are standing in front of an audience. Your knees and hands are shaking; your heart is pounding in your ears and in your cheeks; sweat has formed on your brow; your lips are quivering. If all of that isn’t bad enough, when you open your mouth to speak, the voice that results is quivering or shaking as well.

If this has happened to you, rest assured that there is help. Below are 5 tips that can change you from looking and sound like a timid, nervous Nellie to one who sounds confident and in control.

1. Remember to breathe. The one thing many speakers never think to do is to breathe. Without air, there is no voice. Because you were probably taught in your early childhood education to wait until you came to the end of the sentence to take a breath, that old rule is still stuck in your mind. In truth, you can interrupt a sentence to take a breath pretty much anywhere you want. (You do it in normal conversation all the time and never think twice about it.)
2. Learn to breathe with the support of your diaphragm. Only when you breathe in this manner will you be able to take control of your nervousness and let it work for you. Shallow or lazy breathing, which is typical of the majority of the population, actually increases stress, which is what you don’t need in public speaking.
3. Talk to your audience by making eye contact with them just as if you were having a conversation with them. Speak with color, with life, and with emotion.
4. Know your material. Practice it out loud and record yourself, preferably by means of video, and then study the playback. A camcorder is one of your best tools for honing your presentation skills.
5. Discover your true voice. Powered by means of your chest cavity, your ‘real’ voice is deeper in pitch, warmer in quality, and resonant in sound. When you chest becomes your primary sounding board, the quiver will stop. Just like that. The quiver only occurs to those who rely on their voice box and throat to power voiced sound. Once your chest takes over, the shake or quiver will be gone because the pressure has been taken off your vocal folds (cords). It is truly an amazing process.

The shaking of your voice is a dead giveaway that you are nervous. It is uncomfortable for you and your audience as well. Stop the quiver and discover how much better you can sound.