Open Up and Face the Crowd
Open Up and Face the Crowd
  • Jung Hye-yeon
  • 승인 2021.06.27 19:03
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Life is full of presentations. Some grow up to conduct presentations on a daily basis, others give lectures to students or their fellow workers occasionally. Those who are reading this article will also have had opportunities to give speeches to audiences either at school or at business conferences. As it seems, conveying one’s ideas to numerous people effectively is very important. However, despite the great number of presentations you may have given until now, we still fear how nervous we might  become before the next one. Your heart might beat so fast that it reaches your throat, your hands holding on to the microphone might tremble, soaked in sweat, and you might forget your lines, not being able to remember anything you had prepared for the stage.
I also have experiences of screwing up my presentations. One story dates back to the days when I was an elementary school student. It was the day of electing the student council, which I had been looking forward to for quite a while. Mumbling the lines I had prepared on the school bus, I believed everything would work out easily. However, when I arrived in class and the candidates started giving speeches about why they should represent the class, things started to slip off. I could hear my heart pounding as if it was trying to burst out of my chest. My hands, which were laying on the carpet I was sitting on, started to tremble. When my turn finally arrived, I could feel myself being nervous. But things got worse when I opened my mouth to start my speech. I could hear my voice becoming hoarse. Comforting myself with the thoughts that there will be another opportunity, I wondered what made me so nervous before the presentation. Since that time, I started working on how to control my emotions in front of a large crowd.
Many people have their own ways of controlling their emotions in certain circumstances. The one I practice every time before an important speech, presentation or interview is to stretch out my body. According to Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist known for her promotion in “power posing”, nonverbal expressions, particularly opening up your body, makes oneself feel powerful. Not only humans, but also chimpanzees and other primates stretch out their arms and make their body look big when they feel superior to others. For instance, imagine a marathon runner passing through the finish line in first place: they will stretch out both arms in a “v” form. Cuddy suggested that if emotions change our bodies, it will be possible to affect our emotions when we change our bodies in reverse.
The principle of this cause-and-effect relationship is based on hormone releases. There are two important hormones we need to focus on. The first is testosterone, which affects the feeling of dominance when it is released at a high level. The second is cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, which must be released at a low level when someone is in a comfortable situation. To sum up, we need to feel dominance in a stressful state to avoid being nervous. These hormonal releases are affected when one feels powerful. Therefore, if we open up our body to make ourselves believe that we are superior, eventually hormonal releases will follow, putting an individual in a high-power state. The last time I used this technique was one and a half year ago, when I was going through an interview to enter this school. I laid myself on the waiting room chair, doing my best to make myself feel relaxed. Also, I went to the restroom to open up my body for a short while. Of course, this technique may not be scientifically proven to be effective, but for me I believe there was a difference.
Now that practicing a presentation has become a common act and many students reading this article may have to make a speech in the near future, why not spare a couple of minutes to open up your body before an important presentation? Relax and relieve your tensions.

Jung Hye-yeon (Mueunjae 20)
Jung Hye-yeon (Mueunjae 20)