Overcoming Stage Fright

Joe Kowan's stage fright speech discusses how he was able to conquer his fear of the stage, his own way. Kowan describes what he experiences when he has stage fright -- his heart rate increases, his breathing gets faster, his hands shake, his vision blurs and his palms sweat.

The singer and songwriter tells the audience that he has been writing songs since he was 27, but was unfortunately unable to share his work with people because of his fear of facing a crowd. Eventually, Kowan found a way to overcome his fear of the stage by acknowledging it, by writing a song that strives on his nervousness. The result would be that the more nervous Kowan would be, the better the song would turn out.

Through acknowledging the problem, Kowan would write a song about having stage fright and the physical manifestations of that fright, which meant having a shaky voice and sweaty palms.

By embracing and exploiting his problem, Kowan has managed to turn his stage fright into something that was essential for his success in performing.