@Morpheus I hear you and apologize for my participation in the digression of the discourse. You are correct that the original premise of the thread is a valuable one and I would prefer to see it revert back to constructive discussion.
This thread is about how to help the OP (and others with similar troubles) deal with a common problem. If it's not obvious how your post helps such people, you may find yourself on holiday from the forum. Differences of opinion are fine, forums thrive on them. But this site does not tolerate misinformation: if you want to say something about pharmaceuticals, you better be ready to produce a link to a reputable scientific paper that supports your point. Anecdotal evidence applies to the person or people the anecdote is about, and nobody else.
Do not, under any circumstances, follow the once-common advice to imagine your audience naked. This doesn't help at all.
Speaking of seeing your audience naked, I did read that it helps if you look for the friendliest face in the audience and focus on them if you’re at a point where you’re struggling. In an effort to help myself, I actually have been telling the class that I don’t normally present in front of people and I tell them the friendliest face things, I have then asked them to look around the room and identity the friendliest face. This has been a fun and amusing exercise. It has helped get the audience engaged and created a moment of amusement. In my last class, the minute I said to do it, the entire group immediately pointed at the same person who was highly entertained that he was identified as the friendliest face. I think this was another attempt/opportunity to be transparent and show that I wasn’t comfortable and the group responded in a positive way.
My go-to for this is l-theanine (400mg) and matcha (instead of coffee). The former acting as a concentrated form of the calmness you get from green tea.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24051231/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16930802/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31758301/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38758503/
@Morpheus I love that find the friendliest face to focus on. I will def use that in the future and give that advice to all of my nanny kids moving forward.
I picture the audience naked and then I have to inform them that my speech is entirely platonic. Some of them listen.
The old "picture your audience naked" trick. Could lead to unintended side effects...
@Morpheus - I feel your pain. My part-time gig is as s sports announcer. I've done, by my own count, over a thousand games. I've appeared live on national television, I've announced in full stadiums and arenas, and totally empty ones (the COVID year was interesting). I still get the jitters before every single game. Doesn't matter if there are 100 people there or 100,000. The nervous energy is good. I think your own explanations as to why you were able to overcome your nervousness were right on! Just like we talk about in the cuddle world, it's about connection. You connected with your material, and that became your focus, and eliminated your nerves. You pivoted to share your story with your audience, and in doing so, connected with them on a very personal level. How could you feel nervous after opening up like that and being accepted by that group? Bravo! It takes a lot to be vulnerable like that up in front of everyone - well done!