Like many things, the feeling of ‘nerves’ isn’t always the same and can range from slight adrenaline right through to sweating or being sick.
How to deal with presentation fear long term
The best way to overcome the symptoms is to turn the negative thoughts about presenting into positive helpful thoughts – a process we call “Taming Your Public Speaking Monkeys” I’ve written a whole book on the multi-award-winning concept and we focus on it in our “Mindset for Speaking Success” training. People unconsciously think that the nerves are helping, but the fear isn’t helping; in fact, it’s preventing you from doing what you need or want to do. Once you have cleared the negative thinking patterns (monkeys) away, you stop worrying and will have room for new, helpful thoughts.
When you feel more positive, your body language will express that too. And it stops the downward spiral because when you have better body language, it’s easier to feel confident!
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How to stop public speaking nerves
There are a few presentation skills training exercises you can do to help reduce nerves.
1. A simple way to feel calm, confident, and ready for anything that comes your way is to stand properly. We’ve made a training video to show you exactly how to adopt this ‘Presenter Stance’ – your stance should be feet parallel, a comfortable width apart and facing forwards. Your arms should be nice and relaxed by your side, and you should make a conscious effort to stand tall. You should feel grounded like you are rooted to the floor. This helps you look more confident, feel more confident and improves the ability to breathe properly making you calmer so if you feel nervous, aim to use this stance 90% or more of the time when you are presenting.
2. Another useful exercise to build your confidence before presenting is to think back to a time when you felt really confident – it could be any situation at any stage of your life. Some people find it easier to feel confident in a sporting activity or doing a hobby they love. We want to store that feeling of confidence for later when you need to access it using an ‘anchor’. Here’s how to do that;
Other things you can do to combat unhelpful nerves is to be well-prepared and well-practised. A little preparation goes a long way. Always prepare an outline before going anywhere near PowerPoint, or better still, don’t use it at all! Being clear on the outline, story, or structure of your talk plays a huge role in feeling less nervous. In my second book ‘High-Performance Presentations” I take you step by step through the Simply Amazing Structure (SAS), a proven way to structure presentations – and any form of communication.