Obviously the benefits of proper planning are very important—and will certainly help to reduce nerves. However there are other things that you can do to fully take control of the nerves before you present.
Physical techniques
The benefits of breathing are often overlooked but this one simple technique can really help to calm you and slow you down. When you are nervous you probably also speed up your speech. So controlling the speed that you speak at is a good way to help control your nerves. Of course, as you can imagine, there are lots of other physical strategies that people employ to help reduce nerves and focus their minds.
Psychological techniques
There are also some key psychological techniques that you can apply to help you to kick out those negative thoughts that can creep into your mind and reduce your confidence.
These techniques can help you to maintain a positive mental attitude towards your presentation and help you remain in control if any negative thoughts start to creep into your mind. One technique is to imagine that the presentation has just taken place – and that it was successful.
Spend time imagining that success—and how you feel at that time. Imagine the voices and other sounds that you hear at the end of the presentation and what the audiences’ faces look like and what else you can see in the room. Take time to imagine all of the positives about the presentation that made it a success.
A lot of the time our imagination focuses on the negatives—so forcing it to focus on the positive can help to turn things around and will help build your confidence.
Rehearsing the presentation
Rehearsing your presentation is essential for practicing and assessing your timekeeping, body language (such as eye contact and hand gestures), voice projection, pace of speech and logical order of content. It gives presenters a chance to amend their presentation and envisage how they will go about presenting on the day. It may be useful to record your voice on a mobile phone, or video yourself and watch it back, noting good points and areas for improvement.
The more presentation experience you have the more confident you will feel and less nervous you become. Familiarize yourself with several techniques for overcoming presentation nervousness so that your next speaking engagement can be a fun and rewarding experience.。