By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you be more confident in your public speaking. Reading time: 3:26

Nervous about delivering your next speech? Here are 7 ideas you can use to combat your fear of public speaking. Use these 7 tactics to fortify your voice, energize your body and corral your nerves—all 45 miles of them — rumbling, quaking and quivering throughout your body.

COOKIES & HOT WATER

Eat two cookies and sip some hot water just before you take command of the podium. Think of it as your game day meal – fuel for your body to gear up for a strong performance. The cookies are for energy and the hot water is to soothe your vocal cords. That’s what the Greater Communicator did.

As a former actor, President Ronald Reagan knew the importance of coating your vocal cords with hot water and eating cookies to enhance the vitality and energy in his voice. Reagan said he got those speaking tips on the care and feeding of the voice from two celebrities who built their fame on their voices, Frank Sinatra and Reverend Billy Graham.

BITE YOUR TONGUE

Sometimes no matter how much water you drink, you still end up with cotton mouth. Your mouth is so dry you feel like it is filled with cotton balls. It even has a medical term (xerostomia). Now what do you do? Bite your tongue. Try it now. Pull the tip of your tongue to the back of your mouth and bite down hard. You will generate enough saliva to combat cotton mouth. Continue reading →