Giving a Presentation when Nervous
You have prepared your final outline, got your notes together and decided on the visual aids, and now you start thinking about delivering your presentation. Do you get butterflies in your stomach? Sweat a little? Mouth go dry? Are you beginning to panic a bit and it is not even the day of the presentation?
Up to this moment all your preparation has been on the message - what to say and how to say it. Now is the time to concentrate on the messenger, preparing yourself to deliver the message, to create the thoughts and feelings for optimum performance.
Preparing Yourself as well as your Speech
Many great performers in sports and the world of theatre don't perform well unless they experience some stress. Anxiety can give you an edge, make you more alert and give you an energy that makes your presentation sparkling and dynamic. However, you may prefer not to suffer from a dry mouth, sweaty palms, rapid heartbeat or a twitchy stomach.
Anxiety about Public Speaking
Anxiety is a software not a hardware problem. It is a question of updating the files we hold on ourselves, and overriding past negative programming with positive self-talk. This may not be as difficult as you think. The human mind can only handle one conscious thought at a time. As simple as it seems, one positive thought might do the trick!
You weren't born afraid of public speaking: it is something you have learnt and it is something you can unlearn. Like most fears it feeds on itself and grows and spreads like a cancer invading many parts of your life. Fear is essentially based on a fantasy, a myth; it is what you run in your head.
Negative programming
Your mind is like a computer. Programme it with negative messages (‘I can't do this', ‘I'm no good') and you will get these negative feelings. Like any computer it is obedient and has no other choices than what you programme it with.
Tips for overcoming Nerves when giving a Presentation
Being Prepared
Practise, practise and practise. Rehearse on your own, in front of a mirror, in front of friends. Get so familiar with your material your can deliver it without having to think too much about it. That's when you are likely to be at your best, when you are so familiar with your material that you can concentrate on the audience rather than on yourself or your material.
Start before you start
A professional speaker I know likes to arrive early to an event to socialise with his audience before presenting. He has a coffee, chit chats and generally enjoys their company. This enables him to get to know people and he doesn't feel he is going on cold. He senses he is talking to his friends. He relaxes into his presentation by seeking out these ‘friends' in the audience and imagines having a one-to-one conversation with them.
Visualising Success
Visualise success. See yourself with good posture and moving confidently as you look out at your audience. Hear yourself speak in a calm, authoritative way. Notice a responsive audience and feel the rapport between you. You feel confident, relaxed and in control. Hear the well deserved applause and people congratulating you on a first-class presentation. Feed yourself with negative pictures, self-doubts and assumptions of disaster and you will fail:
- Eliminate the negative voices.
- Recognise what you are good at.
- Expect to perform well.
- Know you can make a difference.
- Care about your audience.
Breathing Correctly
Breathe slowly and deeply to improve the flow of oxygen into the body and thus the flow of blood to the brain. This will relax you and help you to think more clearly. Taking more oxygen in also improves the flow of air to your vocal chords, allowing you to speak clearly, reducing nervousness and helping you to remain calm.
Sweating and a Dry Mouth
If you sweat, you may want to wear a lightweight outfit. If you suffer from a dry mouth, it may help gently to bite the tip of your tongue or imagine yourself sucking a freshly cut lemon.
Hiding the shakes
If your hands are inclined to shake, avoid holding notes. When you shake, so does everything you are holding. Find something to set your notes on. Grasp the lectern, table or anything to keep those hands steady.
Playing to your strengths
Concentrate on using your strengths. If you have a good clear voice use it to your advantage. If you have a talent for storytelling, use anecdote. If you can make people laugh, use humour.
Act
Some people are helped by imagining themselves as a famous actor playing the part of a successful, powerful speaker.
Some Things are Impossible
Just as it is impossible for the tennis ball to go over the end line if you hit it with good top spin two feet over the net, so you are likely to find it is impossible to be nervous if you are well prepared, breathing deeply, feeling centred and thinking positively.
