Q&A for How to Get the Confidence to Speak in Front of a Class

Tell yourself positive affirmations. Talk and make eye contact with yourself in the mirror. Say things like, "I believe in you," "I appreciate you," and "You've got this." Telling yourself positive affirmations while looking deeply into your eyes can change your body's reaction to anxiety.

Work on making strong eye contact. You need to be comfortable making eye contact with your audience and with your audience looking back at you. Try practicing maintaining eye contact with a friend. Stare into each other's eyes in silence for several minutes. Do this five or six times. Practice looking without scanning. Scanning the entire room can make you more anxious. Instead, practice focusing your eyes on one thing or person at a time. Talk to one person for a sentence, then move your eyes to a different person for the next sentence, and so on.

If you're giving a prepared speech, take some time to talk to a few folks in the audience at the beginning. For instance, you might ask a question at the beginning of your presentation to get the audience engaged. That social engagement will help you feel more settled and connected to the audience.

You might have stage fright, which basically means that you're scared you'll mess up and/or people with laugh at you. The best thing to do is take a few deep breaths and remind yourself that it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks. If you're giving a presentation and you have time beforehand, practice what you're going to say a few times, and, if possible, get a few friends or family members to watch you and pretend to be your classmates.

Fake it 'til you make it. The more you pretend to be confident, the more confident you will actually become.

Keep notes with you that outline your main points. Don't read off a script, but have an outline or note cards that can help you find your place again if you stumble or get lost.

Try taking a deep breath in between sentences. Then, take the time to enunciate each word in the sentence fully. If it feels too slow for you, it's probably just right for your audience.

If you are speaking in front of your class, don't panic! These are your classmates and could be potential friends, if they aren't already. Act as if you are speaking to your close friends. If you hear yourself getting nervous, take a deep breath and continue. Practicing will help a lot. Read aloud in front of your friends, family, and even by yourself.

Practice the night before, and make sure you articulate and pronounce everything clearly and correctly. If you need help pronouncing any words, ask an adult or look it up online. You might also want to do the presentation in front of a friend or family member and ask them for feedback.

Try to imagine they're not there, and instead you are presenting this to a parent or a friend. If that doesn't help, practice your presentation frequently in front of the mirror to get yourself used to talking.

Smile!

Smile, and just start again at the beginning of whatever sentence you remember. Don't forget to breathe.

Worrying you might not have everything memorized perfectly makes you nervous and makes you forget. Find a good friend, or a parent, who will be your audience until you can get through the whole thing. Once you truly know that you have it, when you get in front of the actual audience you'll just run right through it. Another way is once you think you have it memorized, write it down. Then check what you wrote.

Prtactice reading it out loud 3 or 4 times. Then get your parents to be your audience -- but concentrate on what you're reading, not on them. After you get through it a few times with them, you'll be confident you can do it in front of the class, and you will, in fact, do exactly that.

Don't worry about what people will think. If you keep worrying about their opinion, you'll never be able to use your full potential. Just be confident and say whatever you want. In case of anxiety, try deep breathing or saying positive self-affirmations.

It will be natural for your class to look at you while you give a presentation, as they may be interested. Just relax -- this is your presentation. Focus on the presentation and do your best.

Yes. Like any skill, the more you practice, the better you'll become at it, and the more confident you will be.

Make flashcards and study them the day of the presentation. You can also ask friends to help you memorize it.

Focus on the wall at the back of the room, and just sweep your gaze back and forth along that back wall now and then so it doesn't seem like you are staring at one spot.

You should try to stay calm before, during, and after you speak. Ask if you can speak in front of a podium, that way you can put your paper down and relax your hands. Constantly breathe while talking, and try to speak clearly. Practice in front of your family or friends. The more you speak, the better you will become at speaking publicly.

If you have readings or work that you are supposed to respond to, make sure you do those before your class. Be as prepared as possible going in. Beyond that, practice your speaking skills in everyday life. Work on pacing, breathing, and volume in your daily conversations.

Look for a friend or peer that speaks fluent English and ask them to read over your speech or response. Incorporate their feedback and practice your talking points over and over until you can recite them without having to look at notes.

Get familiar with what you are saying and recite it. This imprints it in your memory slowly and stops the hesitations if you know what you are going to say. Try being confident while speaking and that will help with hesitating during the presentation.

Make fun of yourself a little. If they do make fun of you, try to make a witty comeback.

Check out the wikiHow article Stop Your Voice from Shaking for some great tips on this.

You can shift your gaze between individuals or you can pick a point in the middle of the class and focus there.

Before giving your speech, calm down and know everything is going to be okay. Take a deep breath before speaking and, once you start speaking, simply focus on your speech and what you are saying, rather than what you believe people are going to think of you.

Remember that nobody in your class wants to see you fail. If everyone in your class has to get up and give a speech, then you are basically just one student out of 20+ students in your class that have to do the same thing. People go home and won't even remember how you did. That will be the last thing on their minds. You will always be your own biggest critic.

Stand in front of the mirror and talk, look carefully at yourself while you talk on any random topic. See how you feel about yourself, see if you would want to look at the person who you see talking in the mirror and not in your head. Once you realize you are doing a good job, your confidence should grow.

Try to give a quick break in between some of your sentences, just enough time for the people who are listening to take in what you are saying. And breathe.