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Sometimes it can’t be helped, if a love for hosting trivia is unmatched by a fear for speaking in public. You might not necessarily have Glossophobia (a serious fear of public speaking) but a more healthy case of common anxiety. Some people are natural
public speakers, and others aren’t. If you feel nervous, that is fine… you can easily learn to stop being nervous and become the best quiz master you can be.
Why Nervous Quiz Masters are a Bad Thing
Not to make y ou any more nervous than you may already be, but a nervous quiz master can ruin a quiz. A quiz master is responsible for being entertaining, and a nervous quiz master will have a hard time fulfilling this duty.
Instead, nervous quiz masters may tend to stutter or hesitate when speaking, and may even get distracted and forget a line or two. It is very important that you focus and remain calm, and in addition you should be the life of the party.
"A quiz master is responsible for being entertaining, and a nervous quiz master will have a hard time fulfilling this duty."
This kind of pressure may be what leads to a nervous quiz host to begin with, but it is also the most important reason why a trivia host needs to learn to stop being nervous and just relax.
How to Stop Being Nervous
To begin with, you should identify what is making you most anxious. To eliminate glossophobia as a threat, you have to determine the severity of your nervousness.
Would you be less nervous if you were speaking in front of 3 people, instead of 30? Or perhaps you are more overwhelmed by the pressure of the evening, and not so much the public speaking element.
Before you can stop being nervous, you need to fully recognize what is making you nervous—then try to understand why you might be feeling this way. This might be challenging, but it is possible to figure out the cause of an anxiety just by recognizing the source. When you do, it is very easy to develop a strategic plan to stop being nervous.
Here are some tricks to try that will help for different cases of anxiety. Please be creative as you read these suggestions because the only idea that will work is one that is customized to your own unique needs.
- When feeling nervous about speaking publically in front of a large audience, test yourself daily (for several weeks before the big event) by practicing public speaking. Ask friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, and anybody you can think of to participate in a night (or several) of “practice” trivia. Your guests will enjoy the games, and you will benefit from the practice.
- Practice in front of a mirror, or better yet: record yourself with a video camera. Watching yourself speak is the best way to see the flaws of a nervous quiz master, and learn how to stop being nervous.
- Arrive as early to the event as you possibly can, and mingle with guests for as long as possible before taking the stage. The more comfortable you feel with the faces in your audience, the less nervous a quiz master you will be.
The most important thing you can do to stop being a nervous quiz master is to:
Improve Self Confidence!
Improving self confidence is an art that takes a lot of hard work and practice. Begin each morning with a flattering comment to the mirror, and continue each day with positive thinking and warm smiles. You’ll find that a positive attitude will take you a long way.
The more good you see in others, the more good you will see in yourself; and that is the basis for improving self confidence.
For further reading and work around improving self confidence and self esteem; you may try these resources: A small quick fix by the use of small audio mental sessions - find them at hypnosis downloads; and I have found an absolute amazing programme named "Step up and speak ".
The resources mentioned above are commercial resources. I do get a small commission should you choose to invest in one, but I wouldn't recommend them, if I didn't think they were worth it.
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