"It's not giving the speech that terrifies me," I heard a colleague say. "It's all that anxiety beforehand. Those moments, days or weeks before, when I'm planning and preparing make me feel sick to my stomach!"

They’re called knock-out nerves, the pre-speech anxiety that comes in many forms: procrastination, sleeplessness, forgetfulness, irritability, queasiness, etc. They might be due to other causes, but they're common to many speakers, from the tentative beginner to the seasoned pro. Why does having to speak in front of a bunch of strangers, whether in person or on Zoom, make us feel so scared? And what can we do to prevent it?

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