
Research has shown that for many people the fear of public speaking ranks higher than the fear of their own death! Yet it cannot be avoided.
The call to present may arise in your personal life, giving a Best Man or Maid of Honour speech for example. It will certainly arise on numerous occasions in your professional career, perhaps at a job interview, a presentation to your staff or a pitch to a potential client. It really cannot be avoided. Rather than live in fear, here are my top ten tips that will assist you in mastering the art of presenting.
Wear what makes you feel confident
Most people will be familiar with the adage that humans make their judgement regarding their first impression of someone within seconds of meeting. You literally never get a second chance to make a first impression! Dressing professionally and appropriately is naturally of critical importance to making that first impression on your audience a positive one.
From a psychological perspective, the right outfit creates a sense of confidence which is an essential requirement for successful public speaking. We all have a go-to outfit that we feel good in. That confidence radiates from you when you step forward to present. Alternatively, wearing something that you are self conscious in will have you on edge before you even start and will only enhance those naturally occurring pre-presentation nerves.

Tame those fidgeting hands
Your hands let the audience know how you are feeling. A nervous presenter doesn’t know what to do with their hands and can completely distract their audience with a series of nervous ticks you may not even know you have. Tame those hands by holding something. The best option is the clicker that remotely moves your slides forward or back. If you do not have one of these, a laser pointer pen can do the same job. If that isn’t available then a pen will suffice.
Practice practice practice
Everyone finds everything difficult the first time they try. For example, who has stepped into a car for the first time and drove effortlessly around their neighbourhood for an hour? The first lesson is traditionally a nightmare, because you are trying to remember the clutch, the orientation of the gear box, the mirrors… The list goes on and on. Eventually through practice and repetition, all of that becomes second nature and happens without conscious thought.
Speaking and presenting is no different. You have to practice to build your confidence. As a young man, I was advised to practice in front of a mirror so you learn to see how stern you look and try and relax your facial expressions and throw in the occasional smile. With the advent of mobile phones you can now film yourself and play it back. Trust me, very few people enjoy watching or hearing themselves on camera. However once you get past the shock and stop asking, “is that what I really sound like?” this becomes an essential process. You get to identify any nervous ticks or habits that will distract the audience and can undermine the power of your presenting. It also helps enormously with perhaps my biggest tip…

Eliminate the Errr!
We all do it, but to varying degrees. You need to avoid the habit of saying “err”. When you watch the first playback of your speech, count the number of “errs”. Try to reduce the number with every rehearsal. If you don’t say it, congratulations, however you are in the minority. Invariably people use it as a bridge to allow them to pause and gather their thoughts before they go onto their next point.
Rather than err, tell yourself to take a breath. Make taking a breath your default position instead.
Slow down
Nerves tend to manifest themselves in us speaking far more quickly than we would do normally. Check your speed when you watch your recorded rehearsal. You may be surprised by how fast you are talking. Find a routine to slow you down. Taking regular conscious deep breaths is perfect to check your pace and has the additional benefit of elimination the err.
An easy option if you are using powerpoint is to take a moment to pause between slides rather than racing from slide to slide. Another option is to have a drink on hand and stop occasionally to take a sip.
The more you practice the easier it becomes to identify when you are talking too fast.
Posture
Good posture will make you feel good and raise your confidence. As you can see from these tips, confidence is a running theme. If you have it, it will enhance your presentation and how you resonate with your audience.
Experiment with it in your recorded dress rehearsal. Walk into the room shoulders hunched, head down and arms hanging limply by your side. Then try and capture a few lines on camera. Next, walk out and come back in with your shoulders back, chin up, standing at your full height and begin your presentation. The difference in how it feels and how it looks will be enormous.
Eye contact and a smile
Good posture makes my next tip easier, which is maintain eye contact. For a presentation to be successful you need to engage with your audience. Maintaining good eye contact does that. It doesn’t need to be weird where you lock onto someone in the front row and don’t take your eyes off them. Just ensure you are sweeping the room and picking up eye contact with as many different people as possible.
A nice benefit of this is that you will become aware of people nodding in agreement or offering smiles of encouragement, both of which will help relax you and - you guessed it - lift your confidence. Offer a few smiles back to your audience. Such a simple gesture can be incredibly powerful in helping relax you and reduce anxiety. Remember to build a solid presentation as well though.
Sadly, simply staring at everyone while smiling profusely won’t get the results you desire!

Put a loved one at the back of the room
A common piece of feedback I receive is that people feel most intimidated in that first moment of stepping up to present to their audience. Fears peak at this point and they feel like they are going to unravel before they have even started. The first thing I like to address here is the difference between their perception of and the reality of the situation.
People often wrongly perceive their audience to be a hostile one waiting to tear their speech, presentation, or pitch to pieces. The reality however is the complete opposite. The audience is nearly always with you. For example, the interview panel are desperate to find a candidate, and they want to be impressed and will be hoping you are the one. The wedding party are celebrating a special day, and they want to enjoy your speech, not critique it.
Acknowledging this reality becomes far easier the more you present. Once you get into your rhythm, you quickly realise the audience is nearly always with you. Another trick to get you through those opening lines is to imagine a loved one sitting at the back of the room smiling back at you as you begin. I have found it helps people get through those first few seconds of fear as the speaker can imagine they are just presenting to their wife, husband, parent etc. Once they are off and running they can begin sweeping the room with good eye contact, but can always return to that loved one if the nerves kick in again.
Visualisation
Visualisation is lauded the world over by high achievers in a range of sectors. Whether that be elite sportsmen and women, actors, musicians, or special forces operatives, the list of those that endorse the practice is seemingly endless. Yet so few people practice it in the world of business. I always encourage clients to spend time visualising a successful presentation.
I won’t delve into all the science here, but essentially what I find is that speakers spend far too much time worrying about what might go wrong and virtually no time on visualising what could go right. Close your eyes and see yourself in the interview, on the stage, at the wedding venue delivering your presentation or speech successfully. See the smiling faces and positive reactions of your audience as you deliver and after you have finished. Experience that euphoric feeling of having nailed it.
Spending just a few minutes a day on this process in the run up to your big day can yield powerful results.

Content is king
The 5 P’s were originally referenced by ex-SAS soldier Andy McNab in his best seller Bravo to Zero. His phrase, “proper planning and preparation prevents piss-poor performance”, is equally relevant to public speaking as it is to special forces soldiering. If you really want to be successful, you have to do the work. By spending time researching and developing your content you massively increase your chances of delivering on your big day.
All of the preceding tips I have shared become somewhat redundant if you don't create the right content to work with in the first place. Feeling underprepared in anything we do in life is a sure route to creating feelings of anxiety and stress. Conversely, if you have taken the time to build a quality presentation or speech and honed it with filmed rehearsal you will generate a sense of calm and confidence.
If all else fails turn the audience into dogs
My seven year old daughter spent time during the summer holidays with a local theatre company. The children practiced a song and dance routine with a view to performing in a show for all the parents and siblings at the end of the week. One of her friends was really nervous about having to perform in front of such a big crowd and confided her fears to my daughter.
It transpires that she calmed her with a simple piece of advice - “Don't worry about the crowd. I just imagine them all as dogs (she’s a dog lover) and when I see all those different dogs looking back at me, it makes me laugh and I forget to be nervous”.
I saved the best until last, heeding the guidance of a seven year old. Just turn the audience into dogs!
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