Effective Presentations

Tips for reducing anxiety

1. Organise

Lack of organisation is one of the major causes of anxiety. Knowing that your thoughts are well organised will give you more confidence, which will allow you to focus energy into your presentation.

2. Visualise

Imagine walking into a room, being introduced, delivering your presentation with enthusiasm, fielding questions with confidence, and leaving the room knowing you did a great job. Mentally rehearse this sequence with all the details of your particular situation, and it will help you focus on what you need to do to be successful.

3. Practice

Many speakers rehearse a prsentation mentally or with just their lips. Instead, you should practice standing up, as if an audience were in front of you, and use your visual aids. At least two dress rehearsals are recommended. If possible, have somebody critique the first one and or have it video-taped. Incorporate any changes you feel are required before your final practice session.

4. Breathe

When your muscles tighten and you feel nervous, you may not be breathing deeeply enough. The first thing to do is to sit up, erect but relaxed, and inhale deeply a number of times.

5. Focus on relaxing

Instead of thinking about the tension, focus on relaxing. As you breathe, tell yourself on the inhale, "I am" and on the exhale "relaxed." Try to clear your mind of everything else and continue this exercise for several minutes.

6. Release Tension

As tension increases and your muscles tighten, nervous energy can get locked into the limbs. This unreleased energy may cause your hands and legs to shake. Before standing up to give a presentation, it is a good idea to try to release some of this pent up tension by doing a simple, unobtrusive isometric exercise.

Starting with your toes and calf muscles, tighten your muscles up through your body finally maning a fist (i.e. toes, calves, thighs, stomach, chest, shoulders, arms and fingers). Immediately release all of the tension and take a deep breath. Repeat this exercise until you feel the tension start to drain away. Remember, this exercise is to be done quietly so that no one knows you're relaxing!

7. Move

Speakers who stand in one spot and never gesture experience tension. In order to relax, you need to release tension by allowing your muscles to flex. If you find you are locking your arms in one position when you speak, then practice releasing them so that they do the same thing they would if you were in an animated one-on-one conversation. You won't gesture too much if it is natural.

Upper body movement is important, but moving with your feet can serve to release tension as well. You should be able to take a few steps, either side-to-side or toward the audience.

8. Make eye contact with the audience

Give your presentation to one person at a time. Relate with your audience as individuals. Look in people's eyes as you speak. Connect with them. Make it personal and personable. The eye contact should help you relax because you become less isolated from the audience and learn to react to their interest in you.

For more information on effective presentations see our short courses information.