Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, comes 13/100 of the most common phobias. (For anyone interested, arachnophobia, fear of spiders, is #1).
As with anything, the fear of public speaking spectrum ranges from ‘I don’t particularly like it, but I’ve got to do it’ right through to ‘I simply cannot do this’. These fears can often result in lost opportunities personally or professionally, failed job promotions resulting in career limitations, or feeling socially uncomfortable in large groups.
Presenting, mainly to large audiences, is one of my passions. Don’t get me wrong; I still get that rush of adrenaline as I prepare to go on stage, regardless of whether I’m talking to thousands or a handful of people. Here are my seven tips to help you become more confident and comfortable in public speaking.
Presentation Tip #1
Never underestimate your planning and preparation
You’ve probably heard of the 6P’s…Proper Planning Prevents Particularly Poor Performance. (Check out Failing to Plan is like Planning to Fail blog for more on planning!)
Now, this is the politically correct version of this quote! You can no doubt guess what word could replace ‘Particularly’.
However, the point is well made. The success of your presentation will be directly proportional to the quality of your planning and preparation, and that includes knowing your audience.
Who will be your audience?
Who is going to be in the room? What are their drivers and motivations for being there? What do they want to get from your presentation? How do you want them to feel, think, and act during your presentation? What do you want them to do at the end or after your session?
Drilling into the details and knowing your audience will allow you to design a presentation that will deliver the desired outcome while keeping your audience engaged.
Practice your presentation.
And I don’t just mean once or twice. Practice it in front of the mirror and with family and friends. Ask a colleague to film you on their smartphone or tablet. Watch it back and critique your performance. If you’ve ever watched a TED talk, the presenters will have delivered and practised their presentations hundreds of times before filming.
Remember, amateurs practice until they get it right; professionals practise until they can’t get it wrong!
Presentation Tip#2
Become a great storyteller
A great presentation is a great story.
Every story has a start, middle, and end.
It flows naturally and seamlessly from one part to the next. Slot the pieces together for the audience so they can focus on the powerful messages and story you are delivering. In your opening (Intro), tell them what you will be talking about. In your middle, talk about what you want to talk about. Then, in your Outro, summarise what you’ve talked about, the key messages, actions, and next steps.
Your role as the presenter is to be a great storyteller and to deliver it with conviction, power, and authority. Create intrigue. Engage the audience and ignite their desire and motivation to listen—not just logically but emotionally.
To connect people with your story is your highest calling as a great presenter.
Presentation Tip
#3 Script your Power Intro
Most people focus their time and effort on writing the main body of the presentation and don’t put enough thought and effort into their opening, yet this is one of the critical parts.
Why? Because, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression.
Your opening is your first impression.
Make it count. If you come out of the blocks well, momentum builds. You build instant rapport with your audience, make them feel at ease, and set the tone, theme, and pace for the remainder of your presentation.
If you start badly, it is tough to get back on track. Any initial butterflies or nerves suddenly gain traction, and before you know it, you can be in a downward spiral with no ability to recover from the situation.
Script it, memorise it, and practice it until you are unconsciously competent in delivering it and can pull it from your memory at a moment’s notice.
Presentation Tip #4
Own the stage
As the presenter, you are the leader and should assume this role for the duration of your presentation.
Set the agenda at the start for what you’re going to discuss. Psychologically, this opens the pathway in the minds of the audience, which you can then lead them down as you transition into the main body of your presentation.
If you’ve not done it before you start your presentation, confirm early on your understanding of how much time you have for the session. Nothing is worse than getting partway through or to what you think is the halfway mark for one of the audience to tell you you only have 5 minutes left. Far better to know this at the start, and then you can think on your feet about how you adjust your presentation to fit the time allocation.
Decide how to deal with questions.
Do you want people to save them until the end, or do you want to deal with them in the moment?
If I was delivering a presentation to pitch for a new piece of business, my preference is always to deal with questions as I go along. I would say something like this;
“Questions. I prefer to deal with them at any point as we go through. I know we only have 45 minutes, and I will ensure we finish on time. Does that work for you?”
99.9% of the time, you will get a yes. There will be times when questions are most suitable at the end or times when there is no opportunity for questions—the key is knowing how and when to deal with them.
Do not overrun.
Finishing too early makes you look like you didn’t plan correctly or have enough valuable content to discuss. Finishing late is a definite no, as it looks unprofessional and disrespectful of others’ time. If you practice, you will work your presentation into the available time.
Presentation Tip #5
Write your power Outro
Your power Outro is equally important as your power Intro.
The number of times I have seen presenters who deliver a great presentation – let me correct that – a great intro and main body, and then it falls flat at the end with their Outro. This never needs to happen, and the simple way to overcome it is to put as much attention and time into creating your power outro as I have suggested in tip #3.
A picture says a thousand words.
One of the most powerful ways to end is with a quote or compelling image which sums up your entire presentation and will stay with your audience long after they leave the room.
As a great presenter, you never decelerate; you must always accelerate over the line with an influential outro that brings your entire presentation to a smooth conclusion.
Presentation Tip #6
Control your nerves
When you are tense or nervous, you enter a particular state and pattern of body use. This state is often referred to as ‘the ‘flight or fight stage.’ I’m getting my body ready to fight; I’m getting my body prepared to fly/run.
What happens to your breathing when in this state?
…short, sharp, shallow breaths.
What happens to your mouth?
…it dries up like a water-starved pond in the middle of a long summer drought.
Your shoulders and body?
… hunched up and tense.
The sweaty palms and tapping feet are further signs of how your body exhibits this state when tense or nervous. Now, this is not the best state to be in if you’re about to deliver a keynote presentation or pitch for the biggest deal of your career.
You need to be in the performance zone. You need to change your state, and the quickest way to do this is to change your breathing.
Instead of taking short, sharp, shallow breaths that starve your body of oxygen, you need to be in the optimum performance zone. Instantly take control of your breathing cycle by switching to long, deep, and slow breaths on a 20-second cycle. Breathe in for 7 seconds, hold for 3 seconds, out-breath for 7 seconds, and then hold for 3 seconds.
The great news is that this is instant. It’s the trigger that will positively impact and unravel all the other ways you use your body when in a tense or nervous state.
Repeat the 20-second cycle at least 12 times. Lock in your core, get the oxygen pumping again, drop the shoulders, and you will transform your physiology and state to one that is aligned with stepping up and delivering the best nerve-busting presentation of your life.
Presentation Tip #7
Create a positive incantation
Not only do you have to tackle ‘the ‘flight or fight’ challenges, but you also have a little voice in the back of your head talking to you. This is your self-talk, “our “Chimp,” as Dr. Steve Peters calls it in his book The Chimp Paradox.
At this point, your Chimp voice is not your best friend. They are trying to sabotage your success.
‘Don’t mess this up’,
‘What if I forget what I want to say.’
‘What if someone asks me a questidon’t I don’t know the answer to.’
‘I wish I didn’t have to do this. I hate speaking in public and to a big audience.’
So, we must deal with your Chimp and turn them from the derailer to the enabler.
Create a positive Incantation.
The first fundamental principle is where you emphasise one letter. The difference between an incantation and an incantation!
The mind is a powerful force, and what you say will be the way. Even if you’ve been running a harmful de-railing programme for years, you can still override it.
For example, if you’ve run a programme – ‘I’m always late for meetings’ – and you’ve run that negative incantation for long enough, guess what? You’ve got it. You will be late for meetings as your conscious mind does everything to play out the self-fulfilling prophecy you’ve created.
Likewise, if you run the programme with all the negative Chimp messages about your presentation, I’m sure you can guess what could happen.
But if you created and played over in your mind a positive, empowering incantation that silenced the negative Chimp, then you can have the opposite effect.
A positive incantation that goes something like this…
“I’m about to deliver the best nerve-busting presentation I’ve ever delivered”.
If you had this incantation on playback repeating 50 times in your mind while you waited to kick off your presentation, imagine how pumped up and in the performance zone you would be.
If you apply your incantation in parallel with the techniques and ideas covered in #6, nerves will be a thing of the past.
So, there you have it. Your 7 top tips for delivering the best nerve-busting presentation of your life!
As you get up on the stage ready to deliver your presentation, remember this powerful quote from Carl W Buechner: “They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
