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How to get rid of Nerves during your Presentation

You are not alone!

It’s time to stand up in front of your clients, customers, business partners, project team or training delegates to convey everything you know to an audience. They will be hanging on your every word.

Maybe you are contemplating a job interview or have been persuaded to make a speech at a wedding reception to hundreds of guests.

So why are you shaking, scared, sweating, feeling ill, or even losing sleep?

Perhaps you fear making mistakes, forgetting what to say or losing your train of thought. Could it be the possibility of an aggressive audience ‘grilling’ you; ‘picking holes’ in your argument, not liking you, not laughing at your jokes or being unable to answer their probing questions?

Presentation skills training courses London

Don’t be afraid! It’s not just you.

Firstly, we all possess the fight or flight response which stems from the amygdala in our brain, detecting fear of things out of our control and our emotions, including anxiety.

Secondly, The Book of Lists reports the Top Ten Human Fears as:

  1. Speaking before a Group
  2. Heights
  3. Insects and bugs
  4. Financial problems
  5. Deep water
  6. Sickness
  7. Death
  8. Flying
  9. Loneliness
  10. Dogs

As Jay Leno quipped, “I guess we’d rather be in the casket than delivering the eulogy.”

Public speaking is also the number-one fear for Americans, with death at number five, and loneliness at seven, which could mean that most are less afraid of dying alone than making fools of themselves in front of others. Further facts and figures about public speaking show just how widespread this fear is.

So, what can you do about it?

In my experience as a seasoned trainer and teacher, the key to efficient, successful presenting is preparation. Unless I am fully knowledgeable about my topic, with associated notes and visuals and have made time to practise my delivery, I invariably suffer from nerves.

To improve your performance, prepare thoroughly;

  • Establish a clear purpose; what do you want your audience to Do, Decide or Know?
  • Research your topic; consolidate key facts and figures
  • Find out about your audience; their background, knowledge and experience
  • Anticipate 5-10 ‘killer’ questions that could arise; include responses in your presentation to reduce the prospect of being challenged by a hostile attendee.
  • Assemble notes and visuals
  • Give yourself time to set up in advance and check any technology on your stage
  • Consider techniques such as mindfulness and visualisation to relax and calm your nerves

Prevent nerves. STL London presentation training

Practise repeatedly

  • Rehearse your opening ‘Hook’ to capture attention from the outset and learn it off by heart. Rhetorical questions or shocking statements can make people sit up and take notice
  • Deliver with a strong voice, assertive tone and varied intonation; don’t forget to breathe
  • Display confident body language, posture and appropriate gestures
  • Share eye contact with the whole audience; smile occasionally
  • Finish strongly with a Clear, Relevant & Memorable message for the audience to take away.

Finally, remember that you are ‘on stage’ on merit and, for the duration of this presentation, you are the boss!

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A New Dimension for Problem Solving

Why is it down to managers to solve problems?

After all staff are taken on to do specific jobs within their remit, which might include coming up with new ideas. The manager is the one who finds solutions and implements them. It is defined within the performance criteria of their role. The need is to find solutions. If traditional methods have not worked, what can you do next?

Problem solving is an important skill
Finding solutions to problems

Do all problems have a solution?

Many leading psychologists maintain that if a problem exists, there must be a solution. It’s the natural way of the Universe. Edison said, “I have not failed 700 times. I’ve succeeded in proving 700 ways how not to build a light-bulb.”

However, using an advanced visualisation technique called Quantum Jumping (QJ) one could access the information for the solution more efficiently. QJ supposes that everything exists at once, in multiple dimensions therefore the solution must exist somewhere in one of a thousand different dimensions or “Universes”.

Who came up with that crazy idea?

Mystics throughout history have informed us that time does not exist and that everything happens at once. If this is true, we must be resident in, and have access to, any number of realities where we are in different existences at the same time. There must be one dimension where the relevant answer is already present.

Taking this perspective, Burt Goldman, and elderly gentleman well-practised in hypno-therapeutic techniques, uses powerful visualisation to help quicken the outcome of any dream or desire by finding the solution in another dimension or realm.

Imagine that  you wanted to be a concert pianist, you could access the dimension where that part of you exists. You could “download” the steps that the other ‘you’ took to achieve the status of concert pianist and integrate them into this life.

Have you noticed that when you tell the mind you are ready for something, the avenue opens up to you.

How does this work in day to day work situations?  

The business world demands that we are productive, efficient and performance-orientated. QJ means slowing our thoughts, meditating and mindfulness, expecting to be led to what we are seeking. Research at Harvard University proved that mindfulness can change brain activity and documented reductions in stress and increased productivity.

Learning the various techniques of QJ you can ‘jump’ to a ‘doppelganger’ of yourself who applies the answers to the problems you’re trying to solve. The key is trusting yourself to find the answers.

Can I learn this stuff?

The ideal solution for a problem is a new perspective! There are links on YouTube to QJ which will enable you to practise the techniques and see how they can suit you. Visual personalities will find it easier.  Who knows which one of ‘you’ has just the answer you’ve been looking for?