The biggest reason for stage fright is not what you think it is.
It’s not the size of the audience or the prestige of the event.
It’s not that you don’t have a commanding presence on stage.
It’s not that you’re not funny enough or can’t tell engaging stories.
It’s also not the complexity of the topic you are speaking on.
Nor that you haven’t practiced enough.
And it’s not that you haven’t attended enough public speaking workshops.
Although all of that can contribute.
But none of it is the root cause! The root cause is this:
You don’t believe in the words you use!
None of the usual advice will fix this. That’s why it can’t work. If you don’t believe in your words, any body language tip will have to work against your belief. It only adds to the stress.
But here’s the good news:
When you find words you truly believe in about the things you deeply care about, nothing else will matter!
Solve that problem, and you’ll solve the others, too.
PS: I wrote a little eBook on how to do that. It’s called: Speak Easy and it’s a short read with a pretty unusual take. If you haven’t done so already, download it here for free: https://michaelgerharz.com/speak-easy