How do you cope with presentation anxiety and nerves?

If you’re really serious about becoming a better speaker, join a club where you can practice. I learned a lot during my time with Toastmasters, despite the fact that I was already an experienced speaker at the time. Not only do you have less at stake, but you’re surrounded by an encouraging community openly working on the same thing as you are! If this is for you, I recommend actively signing up for roles to speak so you can meet your goals faster. And ask for a mentor. This is part of the program, but many do not avail themselves of this option. A mentor can help guide some of your early decisions and encourage you to try things before you otherwise would, thereby accelerating your growth and comfort.

I suffered for years in the preparation phase for a presentation or talk.. I would build it up as this huge event and could only seem to relax when it was done. It was more like I would survive it than actually enjoy the process of crafting the message I had to share. For anyone who can relate, I started to actually enjoy the process when I would take my focus off what I couldn't control - my colleagues' response (or the audience's reaction) and put that energy toward my message. Even if it was a presentation for work and I wasn't passionate about the topic, I would let my commitment to do the best I can drive my preparation. Today, whenever I start worrying about being perfect, I come back to my commitment, and this feels more balanced.

Practice, practice, practice. You’ll not only relearn and solidify your knowledge, you will also find the potential gaps and weak points in your presentation. Try to present to friends, and encourage questions! Or record yourself and then (as hard as it may be) watch your recording. Make notes of pointers you see from an audience perspective. Still nervous? Take a few deep breaths, put on a smile, and lift your head up and your shoulders back. Then get out there and do it!! Procrastinating won’t make it any easier!

I use Zoom to practice! I record myself and watch it, assessing what works and what doesn’t. Then I make some changes. Record. Watch. Assess. Over and over and over, until I’ve got something I like. It’s a combination of modifying the speech itself and getting into the flow of it. Deciding when to use big, bold, body movements or facial expressions. Deciding when to play with vocal variety, add in pauses, speed things up or slow things down.

You need to lock down your slides with enough time to practice effectively. It's better to have great delivery of adequate slides than uncomfortable delivery of perfect slides.

Even if you’re tight for time, you can fit in a few yoga style forward folds. This goes for non-yogis too!! Just stand up, bend at the hips and dangle. Shake it all out!! Take a few deep conscious breaths. And remember to smile…. There are lots of muscles in your face that would benefit from relaxing before you speak! And furthermore, smiling sends positive messages to your brain further reinforcing this calming effect. Not to mention readying you to connect with your audience… which was kind of the whole point of speaking after all, right? :)

A mentor once suggested that instead of looking out at the sea of people, look at one person at a time. Deliver one sentence at a time to each person, or speak to that person for a few sentences, then move on to someone else. I use this strategy to this day when speaking to a group, which makes it feel more like a conversation. I often get feedback that I seem to connect well with the audience.

Years ago, I remember a seminar where the audience didn’t seem to be relating to my presentation. I just felt a disconnect. So before I got too deep into it, I turned to them and asked why they were there. What were they hoping to get out of the session? And I listened openly to their responses, without trying to sell them on what I had prepared. In the moment, I decided to shift gears completely. I turned off the power point and just spoke freestyle about the topics they were interested in. It was dicey there for a bit… but my decision to listen to my gut and to listen to the audience, ultimately saved the presentation. Gave me a little boost of confidence too, just knowing I could do that!

If you have rehearsed adequately then there is every chance that you can still deliver a presentation even if the slide deck is not available. Be adaptable, and don't be afraid to laugh at the situation. The audience will usually want you to come through unscathed.