4 Effective Tips to Overcome Stammering In Public Speaking

At Pep Talk India, one of the most common enquiries we receive from our students is regarding stuttering or stammering while speaking on the stage or during a presentation. There are many people in this world who are well-versed with most aspects of the English language, but when it comes to giving a public speech, they fumble, hesitate, and repeat stuff to the point that it breaks their confidence. Being unable to express yourself is an incredibly frustrating experience and finding yourself tongue-tied during a crucial presentation that could significantly impact your career can push down your morale for the future. After taking into account the experiences of hundreds of students, and actively training them to overcome their fears and hesitation during public speaking, the Pep Talk India team has come up with some extremely effective tips that will help you overcome your stuttering:

1. Practice Deep Breathing

One of the main reasons why your words come out like a garbled mess while on the stage is because of inconsistent breathing. If your breathing is not controlled and focused, your heart starts racing and you start stammering. It is strongly recommended that you practice deep breathing techniques to reduce anxiety levels, lower your blood pressure and boost blood-oxygen concentration. If you haven’t had any breathing exercise for a long time, then you can take inhale and exhale long, deep breaths that will calm down your heart rate and make you more relaxed before you speak anything.

2. Rehearse a LOT, Familiarize With The Venue

If you are preparing for the grand stage, then be it a dance, a musical performance, or a speech, it is quite obvious that rehearsal is a must. Rehearsing makes you familiar with the content, the way you present it, and helps you gauge the possible reactions from the audience. If you can rehearse at the venue you are supposed to speak, then that’s the best option. Alternatively, you can rope in your friends and family, get yourself video recorded, and see what all mistakes you have been making. Honest feedback and critique will help you improvise your speech and avoid stammering on the D-day. 

3. Get sufficient sleep

More often than not, we become restless before a grand event and are unable to catch up on any sleep. Over-preparation or staying up all night only exacerbates the tension, makes you feel tired and your speech all slurry and stuttered. You won’t be able to focus and make a mess of your presentation. Thus, getting sufficient sleep is a must.

4. Slow down

When on the stage, you are usually numb and conscious of a hundred eyes staring at you. You don’t remember any tip or trick and just want to get done with your speech as quickly as possible. In such cases, there would be such a rush of words from your mouth that you inevitably start stammering out of nervousness. An easy way to deal with this is to speak slowly. You can over-articulate and exaggerate your word pronunciation to the audience, which you can imagine as a bunch of old granduncles who are hard of hearing. The fact that your audience cannot talk back to you should instil more confidence inside you, as no one can specifically point out any flaws, giving you total power over your speech.