The day of that important presentation… The day of shaking knees, butterflies in the stomach and nervous smiles… It is quite common for people to tense up before or during a presentation. It’s a proven fact that public speaking is one of the biggest fears we have. This is especially true, when someone is new to the public speaking. A newbie public speaker needs to learn few techniques that will help him relax and put forward point of the presentation effectively. Lets take a look..
The day of that important presentation… The day of shaking knees, butterflies in the stomach and nervous smiles… It is quite common for people to tense up before or during a presentation. It’s a proven fact that public speaking is one of the biggest fears we have. This is especially true, when someone is new to the public speaking. A newbie public speaker needs to learn few techniques that will help him relax and put forward point of the presentation effectively.
If you are relaxed, your audience will be able to relax and focus on your topic. Your anxiety & uneasiness distracts other people from what you are saying. Fortunately, we can make ourselves feel relaxed at will.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways to be extremely confidant and at ease during presentation.
Know your Audience
One of the first steps that you should take before giving a presentation is to find out who your target audience are. Find out their motives behind attending this presentation. What they are expecting from your speech? Find out few things about their background… their age group, their cultural background, education level, etc.
Knowing these things will allow you to tailor your speech for maximum effectiveness. For example, a speech for top level management will be quite different from a speech prepared for college students.
Your anxiety level will be a lot lower when you know your audience and have prepared a killer speech just for them.
Visualize your speech
This technique helped me the most when it comes to feeling relaxed during speech. Before presentation, go to a quite place. Close your eyes. Imagine yourself standing on the stage and speaking to your audience. The key is to visualize it in as much detail as possible. See the entire room. Where are the lights? What is the color of the room? People who are looking at you… How are they listening to you? What are the expressions on their faces (Hint: Pleasant)?
Now you will start feeling anxiety. But Keep your eyes closed. Try to remove your focus from the anxiety and put it on your topic and its delivery. See yourself making a spectacular speech. People are listening intently. Soon, you will start feeling calmer as you continue to focus on your how effectively you are communicating your topic.
Practice this for 15-20 minutes. Now when you do on stage, you will realize you have next to no anxiety. You are able to deliver your speech much more efficiency. Try it once and I assure you, you will be surprised by the amazing result.
To understand how to visulize easily & effectively, read this.
Confidant Body Language
Your emotions follow your body. You are never a slave of your emotions. We all have the capacity to make ourselves feel whatever we want to feel, just by changing our body in a certain way. To prove this, think of an event that makes you sad instantly (we all have at least few of those).
Now you are feeling sad. Stop. Now put a big, wide, ear-to-ear kind of a grin on your face and look up to the ceiling. Now imaging that same event again and try to feel bad. You will find that you are unable to make yourself feel bad, just by having a big smile on your face (even if it’s a fake smile). Amazing, isn’t it?
Similarly, having a confidant body language during speech makes you feel relaxed and confidant. Stand straight. Don’t slouch. Take full Breaths. Keep your hands out of your pockets. Hold your Head up high. Don’t look down on the ground and make gestures with your hands.
If you need more details, search confidant body language on Google. There are lots of sites dedicated to body language. Just know that the way you use your body has a lot to do with how you feel in a situation. Use this to your advantage.
Focus on your topic
Most people focus more on how people will think about them, rather than focusing on the topic of the speech. This makes your delivery poor and diverts audience’s minds to your anxiety rather than what you are saying. Remember the golden rule of public speaking: Audience will feel exactly what the speaker is feeling.
We have something called mirror neurons. They make us feel exactly the same emotions as the once being expressed by the face which we are looking at. For more information on mirror neurons, check out (Book) Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman.
The point is this. We must focus on the topic and be passionate about conveying how it will help our audience to get what they want. For example, if you are giving presentation about real state, be completely passionate about conveying how your audience will benefit by investing in that. What advantages they will get over other options? What will be the short and long term benefit? How they will get a sense of security? How easy it is to work with your organization?
When your mind is completely focused on how you can give your audience value, your anxiety will disappear. You will feel much more confidant knowing that you are helping your audience get what they need.
Change your mood beforehand
To counter the anxiety you feel before giving your speech, do something which will put your mood in a more joyful, happy state. When you are sitting and waiting for your time to give presentation, you can do one the following things to put yourself into good mood instantly:
Keep funny videos and pictures on your cell phone which make you laugh.
Joke around with your friends.
Call someone you love talking to.
Do deep breathing.
Do light meditation (if you like it)
Change your body language (your posture, Facial expressions etc)
Think about all the ways your audience will benefit from your speech.
Do light exercise before getting ready for your speech. (if possible)
Be grateful for the things you have been blessed with.
This list can be endless. It really depends on you. Add your own ways to this list. What makes you feel happy and joyful? Put it on your list and do them before going to your presentation. Preparation is one thing, but putting yourself in a good mood before you speech will make you much more enthusiastic. You will carry that momentum to your speech and be better able to put your point across efficiently.
So that’s it. It is up to you now to utilize these techniques for making you relaxed and focused in your speeches. I personally use these and get great benefits from them. I urge you to try these even if you do not think it can help you. Remember, experience is the best teacher. After using these techniques, you will be amazed how relaxed and in control you feel.
Till next time…
