Last week, I shared five tips for reducing your nerves when presenting. Here are the other five I promised:
- Practise the end. It builds your confidence to know exactly how you’ll finish, rather than ending with the feeble “and that’s all I have to say. Goodbye”
- Prepare answers to Dreads. Think of every question you’re dreading your audience asking you. And prepare brilliant answers to each of them. Practise saying them out loud
- Practise to friends. Ask a friend to watch your run-through. Ask for feedback, starting with the positives (don’t ask them to start with what’s wrong – that’s just depressing)
- Practise to bosses. Depending on the presentation, you might also ask someone important – your boss etc – to watch another run-through. Again, ask them to start with positives
- Get coaching. There are some presentations which must go well. So, for these, get someone to coach you
And one final one – as Bob Monkhouse used to say, presentations are all about your ABC and XYZ – Always Be Confident, and Xamine Your Zipper!
I always do all these. Without them, I’d be really nervous!
Action Point
For your next presentation, do some/all of them!