Presentation skills are useful in many aspects of work and life. Effective presentations are particularly important in the business of sales, and developing the confidence and capability to give good presentations – to stand up in front of an audience and speak well – is a key competency for business success.
The more uncertain you are, the more nervous you will be!! To help you harness your nervousness and bring it under control, there are five key tips to remember. These tips are all designed to help you focus on your audience and their needs rather than on yourself and how you are feeling.
Step 1 – Know Your Audience
The more confident you are that you are presenting them with useful and interesting material for them, the less nervous you will be overall. Greet audience members at the door and make a connection with a couple of people – it breaks the ice.
Step 2 – Know Your Material
Nothing is worse for nerves than trying to give a presentation on a topic you are not well prepared for. This doesn’t mean you have to be an expert beforehand, but you’d better know it backwards on presentation day.
Step 3 – Structure Your Presentation
A common technique for trying to calm nervousness is memorizing what you intend to say. But all this does is make your delivery sound robotic. If you miss a word or draw a blank, your whole presentation is thrown off and then your nervousness kick in. Structure your presentation so that you give yourself clues to what is coming next.
Step 4 – Practice, Practice, Practice
Although you should avoid memorising your presentation, you do want to be very comfortable with your delivery. Familiarity brings confidence, and practice helps you to deliver the words naturally so run through your presentation a few times to get fully familiar with the content and what’s coming next
Step 5 – Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
Once you know what you are going to say, you need to prepare yourself for the actual delivery.
- Decide what you are going to wear – make it comfortable and appropriate.
- Arrive early and get your equipment set up.
- Anticipate problems and have backups and contingencies
- If possible, give everything one last run through in the real environment.
- Prepare responses to anticipated questions.
- Before you start take a couple of slow deep breaths: speak slowly and don’t let it run away from you.