How to Practice Public Speaking So You Stop Freezing on Stage

Why do people freeze on stage? The short answer is biology. When your body senses danger, it prepares for survival. One possible reaction is fight. Another is flight. The third, often misunderstood, is freeze.

Freezing happens when the body believes it needs to stay perfectly alert, waiting for the predator to make the first move. In that state, you cannot afford to drift into thought. Memory access shuts down. Language becomes unavailable. Your attention is locked outward, scanning for threat.

This interpretation is obviously irrational. The audience is not dangerous. But your body does not care about rational explanations. To your nervous system, a hundred pairs of eyes can easily register as potential predators.

Why the Speaking Situation Triggers the Freeze Response

This biological reaction is amplified by something I have already discussed elsewhere on this blog: unfamiliarity. Public speaking combines several unfamiliar elements at once:

• an unfamiliar environment

• an unfamiliar task

• an unfamiliar audience

Even professional performers spend most of their lives not performing. The stage is not a natural place for humans. Speaking under focused attention is not a daily activity.

For most people, the situation is even stranger. You might know people in the audience, but you are not doing what you usually do with them. Your colleagues normally see you working, not standing alone under lights, speaking without interruption.

As I explain in other articles, unfamiliar situations are interpreted by the brain as potential danger. When that happens, freezing becomes a perfectly logical response.

Why Familiarity Is the Core of Preparation

When I talk about preparation in this blog, I repeatedly make a distinction between two phases:

• preparing the message

• preparing the messenger

I am talking now about the second phase.

If you spend all your preparation time crafting words or polishing slides, you may feel productive, but you are skipping the part that actually prevents freezing. You are not giving your body a chance to experience the speaking situation ahead of time. That is why I insist so strongly, here and elsewhere, that preparing the messenger is not optional.

The First and Most Important Familiarity Task: Rehearsal

In other articles on this blog, I say that if you do only one thing to prepare yourself as a messenger, it should be rehearsal. I stand by that completely. You need to get up and speak as if the talk were happening for real.

What that looks like depends on the context:

• presenting slides: Practice speaking while clicking through them

• pitching or selling: Practice telling the story, handling objections, and asking for the close

• giving a speech: Practice without notes, from beginning to end

You should never step on stage if this is only the first or second time your body is experiencing the act of delivering that talk. Even if no one is listening, repetition matters. Your body learns through exposure, not intention.

Adding Human Eyes to the Equation

Once you have rehearsed alone, you can increase familiarity further. Ask one or two friends or colleagues to listen to you.

This step is important for a reason I mention in other articles. During a real talk, your brain will start interpreting what the audience might be thinking. That inner commentary often triggers panic or freezing.

By rehearsing in front of real people, you encounter those thoughts in advance. When they appear on the actual day, they are no longer new. You recognize them and continue instead of locking up.

Getting Familiar With the Space and the Equipment

Another form of familiarity that I repeatedly recommend is environmental familiarity. If possible:

• rehearse in the actual room

• test the microphone and slides

• walk on the stage

If you cannot access the room in advance, reduce uncertainty in other ways. Look at photos. Contact the technical person. Understand the setup.

And on the day of the event, always arrive early. Walk the stage. Feel the lights. Check the equipment. Let your body register that nothing is wrong. This is not a luxury. It is part of preparation.

Why This Prevents Freezing

Every act of familiarity sends the same message to your nervous system: “This has happened before.”

As I explain throughout this blog, fear escalates when the body perceives novelty and lack of control. Familiarity reduces both. When the body stops perceiving threat, the freeze response fades, and cognitive capacity returns.

There are additional ways to build familiarity that I teach in my trainings, but they all rely on the same foundation. Familiarity is not comfort. Familiarity is safety. And safety is what allows you to speak. If you want to learn what I teach in my trainings, book a call with me.