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In my workshops, I’ve discovered that people who get nervous about giving a speech, making a presentation, interviewing for a job, teaching a class, or standing up in front of a bunch of people at a Rotary club meeting—and this pretty much describes all of us—fall into general types categorized by when they start getting jittery.

Knowing the general type you fall into will help guide you in the direction of a solution and toward the best course of corrective action.

Read through each type to see which description you identify most strongly with. There may be more than one, because as you go on in life speaking publicly, when and why you become apprehensive may change as your experience level and expanded selfawareness increase. For example, some of my clients have told me that they used to be what I call Avoiders (people who suffer severe symptoms and are terrified at even the prospect of giving a presentation or speech because of a lack of experience and other reasons that require closer examination).

With that in mind, let’s find out what type you are. Remember: this is a tool for gaining greater clarity about yourself. There is no good or bad here. So, don’t judge yourself or engage in any selfrecrimination.

#1 The Avoider

When: at the mere suggestion of a public speaking situation Avoiders experience the highest degree of anxiety at the prospect of public speaking because they will move heaven and earth to stay out of the spotlight, no matter how this may damage them personally or professionally. Here’s an example: Ryan, a market analyst recently bumped up to a supervisory job in his department, came to one of my workshops for help overcoming his fear of public speaking—not because he wanted the help but because his manager insisted on it. As a supervisor, Ryan now had to give in-person reports to top management on a regular basis. Every time his manager asked for an advance look at Ryan’s presentation, Ryan replied with an evasive “I’m . . . still working on it.”

This is a classic description of the highest degree of nervousness symptomatic of the Avoider. Ryan was terrified of having to give a presentation or get up in front of people to speak. He admitted attempting to turn down his promotion, even though his analytical and managerial capabilities clearly warranted a step up the ladder, so that he could remain safely behind the scenes. He had adopted a no try/no fail attitude, and there was no way he was going to step out of that comfort What’s Your Nervousness Profile? 21 zone if he could conceivably avoid it. However, his boss had forced him into a situation where he finally had to address his fear, with me.

The degree of nervousness exhibited by Avoiders is the toughest to get at because it cuts so deep. Typically, their skill at public speaking is minimal, because they’ve spent their lives doing everything they can to stay away from situations where such skill is needed. Preparation for them is a nightmare because they don’t know how to prepare, and so they preoccupy themselves with other, often unimportant, details as a delaying tactic. In fact, it is not unusual for Avoiders to stay out of range of promotions, turn promotions down (as Ryan tried to do), or even quit their jobs to escape the possibility of being thrust into the limelight.

Avoiders also have a tough time responding to criticism. They tend to take it personally. In their eyes, to be assessed as having done a bad job at, say, making solid eye contact during their speech is to be considered a bad person. Conversely, they are extremely self-critical and tend to focus only on the potentially negative outcome of having to give a speech, make a sales pitch, or interview for a job rather than on the task before them. “I will look foolish. I will fail. I will be laughed at. I am not good at this. There is no way this is going to turn out well . . .” They heap criticism upon themselves. This catastrophic thinking becomes so pervasive that they develop a habit of giving up before they begin. People with this degree of nervousness are always inhibited at the idea of speaking formally to a group and sometimes even one on one. Because they spend so much time living with their fear and trying to cover it up, they have great difficulty opening up and being themselves in such situations. So, flat-out avoidance, regardless of jeopardy to career or job, becomes a lifelong coping mechanism that lasts until their boss says, as in Ryan’s case, or they themselves say, “Enough!”

#2 The Anticipator

When: from the moment the speaking event is scheduled Otherwise known as the “worrier,” the Anticipator takes the Boy Scout motto of Be Prepared to a whole new level. The Anticipator reminds me of the Felix Unger character played by Tony Randall in the TV version of The Odd Couple. Neat, fastidious, and hypochondriac, Felix worries about everything. One can’t imagine him ever relaxing, most certainly not in a situation where he may have to give a speech or presentation. At the conference hall where the speech or presentation is to be given he’d drive the technicians crazy with his obsessively acute attention to every minute detail, the way he does his roommate.

Proceed With Caution is another motto of Anticipators. Whether their skill level is high or low, they are consumed with every aspect of their upcoming speaking engagement, presentation, or interview; this extends right up to, during, and sometimes even after the event itself. They try to work out every conceivable wrinkle, an impossible task at best.

The problem is, no matter how much they prepare, Anticipators will still worry that it’s not enough, that something somewhere they should have thought of but didn’t will go awry. Instead of feeling confident and relaxed in their preparation, which is one of the objectives of preparing, they tend to be uptight. And, even if they give a great speech to a thunderous ovation, or deliver a dynamic presentation, they derive no joy from it. They second-guess and Monday-night-quarterback what they could have done better. I’ve worked with actors like this whose preparation techniques are so thorough and airtight that they leave no room for the oxygen called spontaneity that audiences need every bit as much as they do. On the flip side, I’ve seen actors who, while having done their homework, come onstage confident in their preparation but also ready to go with the flow and take on whatever comes their way. A thrilling performance is often the result—maybe not perfect, perhaps, but thrilling nonetheless. Anticipators, like Avoiders, also have a tough time with criticism because they tend to take it personally. In large part, their obsessive focus on preparation—and the anxiety that comes with it—is to avert the possibility of negative feedback at all costs. As a result, they are toughest on themselves, spending undue amounts of time coming up with the perfect paper clip for their handouts or finding that one water glass in a thousand that is perfectly shaped to fit their hand so there’s no chance they’ll spill a drop on themselves or their speech and look “foolish.” Unlike Avoiders, Anticipators are inhibited to an extent. Their nerves tend to tingle the closer they get to the event itself, since their overriding concern is making a mistake. At the podium, onstage, or in the interview, they adopt a “safe” delivery style because the risk factor of being too demonstrative or too exciting is too great—or because they have a superstitious feeling that if they get too cute, it’ll backfire on them.

#3 The Adrenalizer

When: just before the event My husband, David, is a bass player. Back in the mid-’80s, he was playing a benefit to save Broadway theaters, which were then being demolished at an alarming rate. As he was waiting to go on and do a number with the cast of Dream Girls, a hit Broadway musical at the time, he caught an odd shape out of the corner of his eye. Looking closer, David saw that it was a man leaning over a stool and hyperventilating, as if he were either about to be sick or suffering a heart attack.

As David moved toward him, the man stood up and turned, and David recognized him. It was Jason Robards, the late actor who was well known for his performance in the Eugene O’Neill drama Long Day’s Journey into Night, a monologue from which he was scheduled to perform at the benefit. Having apparently regained his composure, Mr. Robards looked at my husband, and David instinctively knew not to ask him if he was all right. Later, David said, Mr. Robards went on to give a powerful and moving performance at the benefit as if nothing had happened.

What Jason Robards was experiencing that night was neither illness nor symptoms of a heart attack but something he was very used to and knew how to handle: an intense rush of on-deck nervous energy caused by last-minute jitters.

Sometimes referred to as the Fight-or-Flight Syndrome, this manifestation means not necessarily that something is wrong with you, although it sure might look and feel like it, but that adrenaline is seizing control of you. Once you understand what’s happening to you and learn how to manage this burst of nervous energy, you can turn it to your advantage by making it translate to a more forceful, compelling performance.

I once saw heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show. Rose asked Mr. Foreman if he ever got nervous before a fight. Suddenly, this big tough guy started to look a little wobbly as he responded, “Yeah. When I’m making my way from the locker room to the ring and I get to the stairs, my knees are shaking so much I just want to grab them!” These two examples describe the range of nervousness experienced by people whom I call Adrenalizers.

Generally, the skill level of Adrenalizers is very high. They know how to prepare consistently and build momentum toward the event, increasing their preparation as the event draws nearer. They understand that the surge of adrenaline that overtakes them when they’re on deck is the result of a buildup of tension from their days, weeks, or months of preparation and anticipation; they recognize and acknowledge that it comes with the territory and is a product of their excitement, rather than fear. Because Adrenalizers tend to have solid skills and technique and know how to prepare well, they generally have no fear of being criticized. In fact, they often welcome an objective viewpoint and solicit criticism, which they see as feedback that will enhance their overall performance. They also know how to take the criticism they receive. In other words, they are able to distinguish between criticism that is sound, accurate, and aimed at being helpful and criticism that is negative for its own sake.

Adrenalizers must manage their on-deck nervousness with techniques such as breathing exercises that become part of their process in controlling the outcome of their performance. How well they manage it affects how fluid, grounded, or centered they will feel and, therefore, come across to their audience. A totally uncontrolled release of on-deck nervous energy typically expresses itself in behavioral tics that distract an audience from getting the message, no matter how credible you seem. For example, I once saw an Adrenalizer who continually rocked back and forth on his feet during his forty-five-minute speech until all of us in the audience felt motion-sick.

#4 The Improviser

When: during the actual event When I ask Improvisers how they like to prepare for an interview, give a speech, or make a presentation, the common refrain is, “Oh, I don’t prepare. I like to wing it. I like to come across as spontaneous.” They mistake the kind of preparation that allows you to be spontaneous with a free-flowing stream of consciousness that screams at your audience: “I’m a disorganized mess!” An architect I worked with on improving his presentation skills is a good example. Befitting his profession, he’s a visually oriented person. Recognized and well respected throughout the industry for his creativity, he was made president of a growing architectural firm. His process of pitching ideas in the past had always been to let his drawings speak for themselves. He believed this same process was, or should be, sufficient for gaining commitments from clients even now as president. Because of this, he felt any form of structuring his presentations to those clients would interfere with his creative flow, making him feel and sound stilted. However, he did express one of his concerns with me. He wanted to know why he would occasionally find himself uncharacteristically jittery during an actual presentation.

In a demo presentation he gave me, I witnessed the behavior firsthand. He proceeded to get more and more nervous as he went on. He fumbled with his papers and came across as not knowing where he was in the presentation or what should come next. Because he was improvising totally, thereby having no structure to build on, he seemed less spontaneous than confused, unsure of himself, and lacking credibility—as if he were making the whole thing up as he went along.

Improvisers tend to think, “Hey, Robin Williams just gets up and does it; so can I!” Well, Robin Williams doesn’t just “get up and do it.” As most professional comedians do, he tries out all of his material, including many of his so-called ad-libs, in a variety of venues prior to trotting it out publicly. This provides him a framework within which he gives himself room to move around and improvise safely, which he does brilliantly.

Improvising, or winging it, on the spot foments an anxiety that keeps building the more you improvise until, in some cases, an underlying insecurity develops that is so strong your nervousness type shifts from the Improviser column to the Avoider column. Because Improvisers spend more time on the concept than the content of their communication, they mostly succeed in trying their audience’s patience, even if now and again they do get lucky and succeed in putting one of their ideas across.

As far as being open to criticism is concerned, when Improvisers atypically do succeed in having their ideas understood and well received by an audience, they tend to fly high. Met with disapproval, however, they feel misunderstood or hurt, and may shut down their openness to any suggestions for improvement entirely. Improvisers generally have a very positive outlook as to how their speech or interview will turn out. They are typically bereft of any anticipatory or on-deck anxiety, which is precisely how they can be so last-minute. They feel they have great ideas (which they may) and just want to share them. The problem is that their lack of preparation sets them up for rejection because they will most likely be sharing their ideas prematurely. They need to shift the focus of that positive attitude more to organizing and presenting their ideas (even if developing a structural process strikes them as tedious work) in order to ensure a successful outcome. Striking the right balance between no structure and a suffocating one is, for Improvisers, the key.

Knowing your nervousness profile gives you an indication of whether the solution to your problem might be a relatively easy fix—as is often the case with Improvisers and Adrenalizers—or a more complex one because it is rooted in an emotional issue that must be exposed and resolved, as is often the case with Anticipators and, especially, Avoiders.

Most of the time, I find that to different degrees, all four types may require both kinds of fixes. Even an Improviser, part of whose difficulty is probably lack of knowing how to prepare properly, may also have a deeper, more emotional component, however small, working against him or her. My extensive experience working with hundreds of people has taught me never to assume that simply acquiring or refining a particular skill will mean that all is immediately and always well. Using what you’ve learned about yourself so far as a guide to determining your nervousness profile, let’s now examine the kinds of obstacles that contribute to or cause the anxiety holding you back, so that you can point yourself toward a solution.

Who You Are at a Glance

Avoiders—have so much anxiety associated with speaking or communicating in any formal setting that they will go to almost any length to avoid being put in a situation that demands it. May even give up promotions or pass up job opportunities to avoid the spotlight. Anticipators—start getting nervous as soon as they hear a speech, presentation, or a job interview is scheduled. The event could be three weeks or three months away, it doesn’t matter. They will spend all of their waking time until then worrying about what can, may, or will occur. Adrenalizers—become nervous just before the event and are suddenly hit with a surge of energy that must be dealt with, like a track star gearing up for a race who controls the surge of excess energy with focusing techniques as a way of getting ready to meet the challenge ahead. Improvisers—get nervous during the event because they are the last-minute type who either put off preparing or spend no time preparing, then typically run into all kinds of trouble that might easily have been avoided with even just a little preparation.