Tseen Keh wrote: What about stress? How to cope with it?
Stress usually seems to be a function of time and its at its highest when either a person is unprepared or without available time to complete a task. I would say there might have been a good amount of fear in your reaction which can be resolved with practise ie; facing your fears. Fearful reactions to the unknown are usually a good thing to an extent.
Stress is much harder to combat because it usually involves external demands which limit your capacity to control your time effectively. So prior planning, preperations, procedures and practise are good methods to combat stress when it develops.
Tseen Keh wrote: I had a simple situation today. Introduce yourself and your opinion on few things in front of the completely new classmates. I thought it will be something simple. But when I stood there my heart was beating so loud I could hear it, my palms were completely wet and I had this nervous smile-tic. Of course it didn't go as planned. I had some free time before the class so I tried meditating, but it didn't help.
See you've actually asked two questions, one how to combat public speaking nerves and two, how to combat nerves to unusual circumstances. To solve the first practise it will do, but to solve the second might be counterproductive because the increased heartbeat etc is your body getting ready to handle what ever is causing the anxiety to begin with.
Tseen Keh wrote: How to achieve serenity in moments like this?
I dont know about serenity, but perhaps tell yourself that you are the subject matter expert in the room and then instead of viewing the audience as judges, you view them as students. Pretend your the teacher while your up there, though be happy and remember your talking to their minds, not their faces or reactions. If you have to take a moment to sort yourself out then consider it a strategic pause to allow your message to sink into their minds rather then a fumbling moment. Obviously you might not be the subject matter expert but its just an avenue to approach public speaking from a position of confidence.
