It’s no secret that delivering a presentation can be a nerve-wracking experience. It could be for a very important client, or maybe your boss is in the audience, or maybe your last presentation didn’t go very well and you don’t want that to happen again. There are a number of ways to reduce public speaking anxiety, and one of the best of these public speaking tips is very simple: control your breathing.

Breathing is not something we think about. It happens unconsciously. However, if we make a conscious effort to breathe in the right way, there are a number of benefits: we are able to relax, get more oxygen to the brain and thus think more clearly, and have more support for the voice. If you ever watch a baby breathe, a baby’s stomach will expand and contract. In our most natural state, this is how we breathe – from the diaphragm. As we go through life and acquire more stress, we tend to breathe higher and higher. The higher we breathe, the less air we get. A great way to practice breathing from the diaphragm is to place your hand on your stomach, breathe out through the mouth to release all the air, then breathe in slowly through the nose for five seconds while feeling the stomach expand, and breathe out slowly through the mouth for five seconds and feel the stomach contract. The reason we breathe in through the nose in this exercise is that we get the deepest breath though the nose. If you practice this breathing exercise before delivering a presentation, it’s amazing how much more relaxed and centered you will feel when during the presentation. Not only does this reduce public speaking anxiety; it is also helpful in everyday life! Whenever I’m driving in heavy traffic and feel my stress level increasing, if I do this breathing exercise, it’s amazing how much more calm I feel.

People often say that they go blank during a presentation. They lose their train of thought and have no idea where they are. Taking a breath through the diaphragm is a very effective way to cope with this problem. You might be thinking – so do I take that five second breath in through the nose in front of an entire group of people? Certainly not. Even taking a quick breath with the mouth using the diaphragm will increase the flow of oxygen to the brain and allow you to think more clearly. To a presenter, taking this two-second pause may feel like an eternity, but it is actually a nice way for the audience to take in your information. Watch any effective politician, and this is something they will do regularly: pause to let their words resonate. It just takes courage to take that pause. When you take that pause and breathe from the diaphragm, you’ll feel a sense of calm and clarity.

Presenters often worry about having a shaky voice while presenting, which is not really a problem with the voice. It stems from shortness of breath. When we perform shallow breathing (also known as thoracic breathing, from the upper chest area) we have much less support for the voice, and consequently we may also have a lower volume. Two things must be done to stop this runaway train: First, pause and allow yourself to take a breath from the diaphragm, and secondly, start talking louder. Very few people who are speaking loudly have a voice that quivers. With the support of breathing from the diaphragm, our voices are amazingly clear and powerful.

Breathing from the diaphragm is one of many public speaking tips that is very simple and important to delivering effective presentations. By doing so, the body will feel much more relaxed, the brain will be able to think clearly, and we will have a strong, supported voice. It’s something you can practice all day, every day, and the benefits to the body are endless.