For many, public speaking can be intimidating and tackling any underlying nerves can feel like an overwhelming task. In fact, a survey found that one in three employees would reject their dream job if it meant facing their biggest fear, while concluding that public speaking came out top amongst these fears. Public speaking and preparing presentations could impact your career progression, so getting more comfortable with this is key to your success.
Rehearsal
Once you’ve spent time crafting your presentation, it’s time to roll out the rehearsals. It may feel uncomfortable at first, but rehearsing your presentation is a great way to familiarise yourself with its content so that it feels more natural when it comes to the big day.
Even better if you can practice in front of others so that you can get used to communicating this information with an audience. This will also allow you to take onboard feedback and make tweaks wherever you feel yourself tripping over your words.
Have backups
While practicing your presentation is helpful, it’s important to be prepared for any technical mishaps too. By saving the presentation to a USB, you have more flexibility to display it elsewhere if your device starts to play up.
You could also print off your presentation to distribute to your audience so that they have a full copy of its content to follow throughout. Having cue cards or copies of your script are helpful resources to fall back on, by providing a prompt that will help keep you focused.
Timing
Timing is everything when it comes to settling your nerves and calming yourself to reduce any anxiety symptoms that may crop up. In the rehearsal phase, it’s also important to stick to a rough timing schedule to ensure you don’t run under or over.
Then on the day itself, if you arrive early and give yourself enough time to set up, you’ll feel more relaxed and in a better mental state to deliver your presentation. It also allows you to mingle with your audience, which has its own benefits.
Know your audience
Getting acquainted with your audience can be a helpful way to start the session. You can get a feel for the kind of tone that might go down well when it comes to telling jokes or making more colloquial comments.
One tip is to jot down any potential questions you think your audience might ask you. This way, you’ll feel more confident when it comes to answering them. On another note, avoid boggling the minds of your audience with overly complicated technical phrases – it will help with retaining their attention!
Do you have any presentation tips to share? Let us know in the comments below!
