Fear Of Giving A Presentation

We all have experienced this: all the preparations have gone well. You prepared the presentation and rehearsed it. But just right now at the moment, you want to start, suddenly something unexpected happens. Your knees shake, your voice is vibrating, and you feel insecure. You suffer from fear of giving a presentation.

Let’s clear one thing first. If you think that insecurity, being nervous and fear of giving a presentation is something harmful or unnecessary: you’re wrong.

It’s the total opposite. Insecurity, stage fright is just a normal feeling. These are just normal emotions. The only unfortunate side effect is that it doesn’t feel well, that’s all. So the bigger challenge for all of us is, to learn to handle this emotion and turn them into a positive.

How To Deal With Fear of Giving A Presentation

I want to keep this real simple and only give you the best tips from many years of my own experience. Your content, your story and your visuals are important. But how you perform your presentation is even more important. So here are a few tips on how to improve your performance and lose your fear of giving a presentation.

1. Change Your Focus

You feel your emotions inside but, what does it say, that you are too much focusing on yourself. Try to shift your focus to your listeners, to your audience. Once you manage that you get your attention into their mind, into what you want to communicate, you will have shifted your focus.

2. Know How To Start

Q. When is the attention of your audience the highest?
A. It’s when you start your presentation.
Q. When are you the weakest?
A. In the beginning.
My best advice is that you know your first two minutes of your presentation by heart. Rehearse your start. Then rehearse again. And rehearse again.
The moment you know how to start your presentation, you will overcome your fear of giving a presentation.

3. Push Up The Volume

Start with a strong voice. Raise your voice level. In this way, you will signal your mind that there is some action going on, and automatically your focus will shift. The positive impact: your body language will follow your voice level, and you will appear more confident.

4. Pump Yourself Up

Before you start with your presentation, perform a power pose for two minutes. An upright posture will deliver testosterone to your body and raise your willpower, your confidence, your willingness to succeed. See the video from Amy Cuddy

Special Tip – Visualization

Learn to visualize how you give your best presentation. Athletes use this technique to recall their top performance at the spot.

Close your eyes and see yourself standing in front of your audience. See yourself how you use all this tips and tricks and how your presentation runs smoothly. Also, recognize how it feels giving an excellent presentation. Go deeper and see how others will pad your shoulder after the presentation.
The trick behind this is when it comes to the real situation your brain will say: I already know this situation. I can do this with ease.

I like it when life is simple. Just follow these pieces of advice, and you will see how your presentations truly improve.

I wish you lots of success
ANDY

PS: If you want to help others lose their fear, share this article with them.

PPS: Please use Facebook to share your own experience. I am closing the comments section of this blog. It is too complicated with getting registered.