How to: get over your fear of giving presentations
There are many techniques and tips to try and calm your nerves before giving a presentation. However, there are also things that you can do to help on a long term basis to help you get over your fear of giving presentations. Practice and Routine.
01. Know Your Material
Practice, over-prepare and know your material inside out. Before you get up there, make sure you have prepared. Ideally, if you have a fear of public speaking you want to aim for feeling overprepared. So until you get more comfortable, go above and beyond what’s required and consider every and any angle. You will feel more comfortable if you don’t end up covering everything you prepared rather than for you to get asked to cover something you have not prepared for. Overpreparation can be a great confidence booster until you get used to public speaking.
02. Step out of your comfort zone and engage in presentations on a regular basis
If you are not a confident speaker it is likely that you avoid getting on stage or giving presentations. This also means that you probably don’t volunteer for public speaking opportunities or other projects that would require you using your presentation skills or getting up in front of a crowd.
However, if you truly want to get over your fear you have simply got to get going and give presentations on a repeat basis until you get more comfortable with it. Start small. This can be presenting at a team or office meeting, or leading a meeting or call. You might also want to sign up to an organisation that helps you practice your public speaking like Toastmasters or a presentation cub, where you have a formal space to practice that’s low pressure.
03. Practice
Practice makes perfect. Practice giving your presentations. Practice on video, in front of a mirror, in from of a friend or trusted colleague. When practising make a note of any feedback and get feedback from others and then adjust what you are doing and keep practising until you have mastered it.
04. Create a Routine
Having a routine is important. A routine that includes a destressing ritual is an important way to prepare yourself. For example, before you get on stage (or walk into the conference room), find a way to slow yourself down and mentally prepared. That might be some breathing exercises, taking a walk around the block or using a mantra.
05. Consider the Worst Case Scenario
People give presentations all the time and survive. The chances are, it is not going to be that bad. To help you get over your fear of public speaking and give presentations, it can be helpful to think about what specific things are giving you anxiety. Once you have identified this, you should then close your eyes and imagine the worst-case scenario.
The worst-case scenario is often nothing like the reality and your will be surprised by how exaggerated your thoughts have probably become which should hopefully make you more realistic about the presentation (and when the worst case scenario does not happen, more confident about giving presentations.
06. Find a Friendly Face in the Crowd
When giving a presentation (in real life) it can be helpful to find a friendly face in the crowd as this will help you connect and engage with at least one person in your audience which will help you feel more confident. You can then engage one-on-one with that person, other speakers, the host, and anyone raising questions. Beyond that, try not to engage with everyone as this may leave you feeling overwhelmed and undo any good feelings that come from engagement with your audience.
07. Slow Down
Finally, if you are nervous you are probably going to want to talk fast to get through the presentation and off the stage and out of the spotlight as soon as possible. Speeding up will make you appear and feel more nervous and also make you more likely to make a mistake. So slow down.
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