Overcoming Nerves
The thought of speaking in front of an audience causes many people to feel anxiety and leads to lost opportunities as the of fear of public speaking holds them back. However, overcoming this fear is not only possible but is also essential for anyone looking to advance their career. Effective communication skills are highly sought after by most companies. Read on for tips to increase your confidence!
Strategies for Managing Anxiety
Preparation - one of the best ways to boost confidence is to prepare well. That way you can be present and in the moment when you deliver your speech and don't need to remember what comes next. Start your preparation early so that you can plan your key messages, content structure and slides, (if you are using them), in good time. That way you still have enough time to rehearse your delivery - this will help you adjust the flow of your content, adjust the timings and develop muscle memory. When you go through your talk several times, your mind and body have already gone through the motions and that creates a reference point when you eventually have to speak in front of an audience. Try to record yourself when rehearsing - that way you will see and hear what the audience will experience. You can always delete it afterwards! Alternatively practise in front of someone you trust to give you useful and honest feedback.
Focus on the Audience - a common source of anxiety is when we focus on ourselves, in particular thinking about nerves or worrying about unexpected questions. When you shift your focus to providing value to the audience, you give your mind something else to focus on and divert it from self-centred anxiety. After all, the whole point of a presentation is for the benefit of the audience.
Practice Deep Breathing - physical symptoms of nerves such as increased speech rate, racing heart, shallow breathing and sweating can all be reduced with calming breathing exercises. Whilst breathing is an automatic function that most of time we do not need to think about, sometimes in high pressure situations we forget to breathe properly. Before the presentation, deep breathing techniques can help calm the nervous system and reduce the physical symptoms. Something as simple as breathing in for four seconds and then out for four seconds will work. During the presentation, it's a good idea to pause at various points to remind yourself to take a breath. When shifting from one point to another is a good time to do this. It also gives the audience time to reflect and process on the point you just made.
Mindfulness - negative self talk can be quite powerful and have a big impact on how you feel about presentations. Shifting to thoughts that are more positive and empowering is a habit that can be built over time. Every time you catch yourself thinking about a negative disempowering thought such as lack of confidence or unwanted audience reactions, think about how much preparation you have done or how much more you know about the topic than your audience. Training the mind in this way is a great habit to develop and worth setting time aside a few minutes each week to dedicate to this. Just stopping for a moment as soon as you notice a negative thought is a good start - now it's in your conscious awareness and you can do something about it.
Embrace the Possibility of Mistakes - no presentation is ever perfect and that is worth remembering! Even the most confident and experienced speakers make mistakes - we all do because it's normal human behaviour. The audience won't know if you get things out of order or miss something out - they haven't seen your notes or plan. If you stumble or have tech issues with your slides then just carry on. When these things happen the most important thing is how you deal with it. If you draw attention to an error and keep apologising then you risk feeling like you are losing control. Audiences are forgiving and undertand that these things happen. If you have prepared well, then you will be able to get back on track easily. Practise what you would say if something does go wrong on the day - that way you will be prepared, just in case.
Visualise Success - this is a very powerful tool that can help reduce anxiety and build confidence. Think of it as mental rehearsal that helps to condition your mind to expect success. It is a technique that is used a lot by athletes and one very famous example is Michael Phelps, US swimmer and arguably the most successful olympian ever. In his autobiography "No Limits", Michael talks about visualising his training swims and upcoming races - what could go really well and also not so well. That way your mind is prepared to come up with solutions if needed. He credits much of his career success to this technique. To really get the most out it, use all your senses. Picture yourself with confident body language, looking relaxed and breathing easily. Imagine the room you are in and the faces of the people in the audience who are reacting to you positively. The more detail you can add in terms of what you see, hear and feel, the better. Your mind can't tell the difference between reality and imagination.
Mind/Body Connection - what you think about affects your physiology and your physiology affects what you think about. In order words, if you feel worried then your body language will show that and vice versa. This is a similar concept to training your mind to go towards more positive thoughts. Holding a confident, open stance (whether sitting or standing) will have a positive impact on your mindset even if you aren't feeling too confident in the moment - over time, it will have an impact and you will start to feel better. Our mind and body communicate with each other. For a more detailed explanation of how this works in practice, watch Amy Cuddy's TED talk "Your body language shapes who you are".
Building Confidence Over Time
There is no quick fix to overcome presentation anxiety - it comes with practise over time. However, any one of the ideas above will help you feel better about your next presentation, you just need to try them and find out which ones suit you best. Once you do that, keep building on the techniques that work and your public speaking skills will grow as will your confidence. This will serve you well throughout your career, enabling you to seize more opportunities because you no longer need to shy away from them due to lack of confidence.
For more in-depth insights and tips, take a look at my book "Ultimate Presentations".
