Blushing is a big fear for public speakers, but it’s only distracting to the audience if it’s distracting to you. Ginger’s public speaking expert Sarah Lloyd-Hughes gives the low-down on how to cure blushing in public speaking:
Many nervous public speakers see blushing as the end of the world – like if we show that we’re hot, nervous, or excited in some way, that we’ll completely lose credibility with our audience. I’d like to show you how blushing is the same as any nervous reaction – and if we stop caring about it, it will stop causing us problems.
If you feel yourself blushing and then you get put off by it… if you feel self-conscious, if you decide “Gosh my audience must think I’m very unprofessional”; you are sending signals to your audience that you are indeed not that professional.
I know speakers who are complete pros who have a lot of experience, many hours in front of an audience, and they just happen to go bright pink when they’re speaking.
The number 1 cure of blushing in public speaking:
If the public speaker is not put off by their blushing, then neither are the audience.
Blushers, don’t stress about trying to cure blushing in public speaking – Accept it!
If you blush when public speaking and then you panic about it, you just might increase the amount of blushing. The way to cure blushing is to notice it and simply think “Okay. That’s just the way my face works. Blushing isn’t a big deal”. Chances are you’ll get less panicked, reduce your nerves, and your blushing might even subside as you bring your body back into a state of relaxation.
So don’t worry about blushing when you speak, don’t see it as the key thing that people will be noticing about you. Actually what they’re really interested in is what you have to say and what you have to give them as an audience member. Remember that you’re inside your body and you feel all of those weird nerves all of those weird things inside. But the audience sees you from the outside and more than anything they see the content and quality of your speaking and isn’t so much affected by the color of your face.
