Do you get nervous before a presentation? If so, the following 3 strategies will be of interest to you because they will help you to calm your nerves before your next presentation.
1. Get to know your audience
Most people find it easier to start a conversation with friends than with strangers. Similarly, presenting in front of people that you know is also easier than presenting in front of complete strangers. Therefore, one way for you to calm your nerves before a presentation is to create a sense of familiarity with your audience. You can do this by introducing yourself and engaging in small talk with your audience members before it is your turn to speak. After you befriend your audience, you will find that presenting to them becomes easier.
2. Focus on your audience
The physiological traits of nervousness and excitement are the same, but the comfort level of the two is very different! One reason for this is that when you are nervous, you tend to focus on yourself. As a result, you ask yourself, "what if I mess up?', 'what if I forget what to say?", "what if I..." On the other hand, when you are excited, you tend to focus on what you are about to do. Hence, instead of speculating on what might happen, you would say to yourself, "I can't wait to share my speech with them", "I can't wait to entertain my audience, "I can't wait..." Therefore, if you want to calm your nerves, you can turn your nervousness into excitement by focusing on your audience and all the benefits that they will gain from your presentation.
3. Adequately practice and prepare
A major source of nervousness before a presentation is self-knowledge that you have not adequately practiced and you are not prepared for it! If you are not ready for the presentation, then you should not risk your reputation by 'winging it'. When you 'wing it', the audience can tell because the disorganisation will be obvious. As a result, you will damage your reputation as a speaker and dent your credibility in the subject area. Don't risk it! Adequately prepare for your presentation and practice it. After every practice, your presentation gets better.
In summary...
If you take the time to befriend your audience, if you shift your focus away from yourself and onto your audience, and if you adequately practice and prepare for your presentations, you will find yourself with a sense of peace and serenity before it is your turn to speak.
By Jim Chuang
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