Your lizard brain and stage fright

Your amygdala, that almond-sized tyrant in your brain, does serve some great functions, but it’s hell on keynote preparation!

To my knowledge no tiger has every charged the stage and eaten anyone giving a speech, but your amygdala acts like the tiger is in the front row, baring its teeth.

Your amygdala does NOT like new situations. Anything that is not a familiar pattern spells out certain danger to your vigilant amygdala. So there you are, up on a stage. Your amygdala keeps sending a message to your body “Different! Scary!” There are thousands of people in the audience. Your amygdala says “Threatening!” You’re not certain before you start speaking that you will perform perfectly. Your amygdala says “Certain Humiliation and Death!” This is not helpful. All of that adrenaline coursing through your body can be insanely hard to manage.

So, what do you do? The amygdala, as it turns out, likes patterns. It doesn’t like new things, but it’s perfectly happy with a comfortable routine. Your job is to make being on stage feel as routine to your body as you possibly can.

Before you go to the conference, practice at the office in an environment as close to onstage as you can get. If you are doing a really huge speech, dedicate a conference room to keynote prep – bring in a slide monitor and teleprompter the same size as the ones you’ll have at the keynote. Practice a bazillion times. Alone and in front of colleagues.  

Create a grounding exercise that you do before each rehearsal – planting your feet on the ground, feeling your skeleton, breathing, shaking out your arms, doing a few vocal exercises. When you do this consistently before each rehearsal you’re creating a soothing pattern for your amygdala.

When you get to your keynote venue, practice on stage as much as you possibly can. The more time you spend on that stage, walking around, looking out at the sea of seats, getting used to the lights, the more your amygdala can get comfortable. The technical rehearsal is a chance for your amygdala to take in the lights, the sounds, the feel of the stage. Use it.

Before you go on for the big show, go through your grounding exercise. Soothe your amygdala with that lovely new pattern. Then take that now familiar stage and rock it!

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