Making a Presentation when you're 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.
Visualsing 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.
Getting Out of Yourself and Into Your Message
You are there to make a difference to your audience. They need to benefit from listening to you. Nerves are often the result of a strong focus on self: ' I will be boring', 'They won't like me '.
Focus on your audience and their needs rather than on yourself. Notice what they might gain and you may not notice your pain. After all, a dog in a hunt doesn't notice it has fleas. Focus on yourself and you will notice the problems. Ask yourself 'How can I make this interesting?' rather than 'Will I look fat wearing this?'
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.
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.
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.
