What do you do if your confidence wavers during a presentation?

I was training some youth advocates on governance and Accountability, thrn I noticed some among them were exceptional in the topic being treated. I lost confidence briefly, and I paused a bit, and tactically changed method of training to Q and A. I became a facilitator, and allowed questions, then allow them answer amongst themselves, then summarise the highlights of the answers and voila! It was successful, and we ended up learning from each other

1. ?? **Deep Breathing**: Take deep breaths to calm nerves. 2. ?? **Positive Affirmations**: Remind yourself of past successes. 3. ?? **Notes**: Keep key points handy to stay on track. 4. ?? **Move Around**: Walk a bit to release nervous energy. 5. ?? **Engage Audience**: Make eye contact and ask questions to connect. 6. ?? **Visualize Success**: Imagine a successful outcome to boost confidence.

Good advice! Could have used this thought process just the other day. I’m wired to provide details; sometimes overlooking that my audience isn’t likely to easily grasp the details.

Complex thoughts can lead to stumbling over words, particularly when nerves are high. If you find yourself in this predicament, focus on simplifying your message. Concentrate on conveying the essential points rather than getting caught up in intricate details that might complicate your delivery. This method not only clears your mind and reduces anxiety but also enhances your audience's ability to follow and engage with your presentation. By streamlining your content, you ensure clearer, more effective communication and a stronger connection with your listeners.

Saying the obvious thing out loud can remove the tension from a situation when you're on stage. For example, if you're feeling flustered because you accidentally skipped a point, why not just own it? "Hey, looks like I got a little ahead of myself and forgot to mention something that you really should know about this feature. Let's backtrack for a minute and let me share what's so cool about xyz" Your audience doesn't want you to fail. They know you're human, they appreciate you're probably a little nervous. They might be in awe of you standing in front of them in the first place. So be human, acknowledge if you 'messed up', then get back on track. I bet someone will compliment you on it afterwards.

Engage with your audience, ask a question propose a dilemma get the audience to engage with you. Adopt the role of facilitator demonstrate active listening and engage audience members in dialogue this takes the pressure off you and enables you to sense check and escalate your engagement with the audience. The audience engagement will lift your confidence and enable you to lead again.

Silence gets a bad rap. It doesn't necessarily lead to people thinking you've stumbled or forgotten. If you use it intentionally—or seem to—two magical things happen: 1. You give your audience valuable time to cognitively digest, consider, and apply what you've said. 2. You give your mind time to conceive a smart script for your mouth to execute. Also, people generally don't remember silent pauses. But they DO remember apologies and crutch words like "ummm" and "ahhh," so keep your pauses silent and let your brain refocus on your point and get you back on track to delivering your point.

Pausing for a few seconds and taking as deep a breath as possible without being too obvious, taking a sip of water will help you recentre and regain your confidence. One thing to remember is that the silence always seems longer from the podium than from the audience. Chances are that they will not even notice anything at all if you pause for a few seconds and they will have a little time to process what you are saying and keep up.

In my experience and what I have seen mentoring new speakers, you lose confidence when you put your audience on a pedestal and yourself in a pit. This can happen due to their position, success, wealth, etc. because you think you are not at their level and thus do not think you can add value to them. The important thing is that you bring perspective. Remember, they are only seeing the world in one particular way for now, and you can open their eyes to a new perspective that could unlock more success for them. Believe in yourself. Trust yourself.

The best way of dealing with this is to create an awareness of self. Because the sooner you recognise that this is happening, the sooner you can start making internal adjustments. Not having a good awareness will delay actions to rectify the situation, and by then, you might be so deep that you end up in a panic state, which is not good.

Whenever I feel a loss of confidence while presenting, my initial approach is to enhance the interactive and knowledge-sharing nature of the session. This involves posing questions to the audience and encouraging them to share their own understanding of the topic. This approach allows for a more open and inclusive environment. Furthermore, if you achieve true mastery in your presentation, the task of re-energising will never pose a problem. A serious issue can only arise when one possesses limited knowledge about the subject matter..

Make sure you know the point you're trying to convey, not just your topic or theme. That's your life preserver because you can always go back to making your point, proving your point, and illustrating your point—which is your goal. If you're prepared with only a topic or theme, you're bound to ramble because you don't know what you want your audience to take away. Realizing you're rambling can kill your confidence, whereas supporting your point can restore or even increase your confidence.