The Neuroscience of Presentations

Glossophobia - the fear of speaking in public - a very common phobia, which is believed to affect up to 76% of the human population.?Yes, approximately 76% of us have fears and anxiety towards presenting or speaking in public, presenting online, or facilitating a meeting. According to?Forbes Magazine, the number one fear for the average person is that of public speaking. The second fear is death... So maybe you feel more relieved now, knowing that statistically, most people would rather die than give a presentation...

What is fear anyway?

Well, it is one of the four primary emotions, together with joy, sadness and anger. Fear?is induced by perceived danger or threat, which?causes?a change in our metabolic and organ functions, and ultimately an immediate change in our behavior (such as fleeing, hiding, or freezing from perceived traumatic events). It's what we call ''the flight or fight response''.

The hypothalamus controls the fight or flight responses, through increased heart rate and a signal sent to the adrenal glands in our torso, releasing cortisol and adrenaline into our bodies. The?response is also a release of glucose into the bloodstream - a ''power up'' to get us running for our lives. That is why we would prefer to run away and hide, rather than speak in front of an audience.

Let's look into the most common fears, when it comes to presenting or speaking in public:

1. The fear of failing (self-doubt)
2. The fear of forgetting the content
3. The fear of looking nervous or insecure
4. The fear of judgmental (tough) audiences
5. The fear of the unexpected (impromptu speaking)
6. The fear of time
7. The fear of technology

So how can we diffuse the fear of speaking in public? Well, not by avoiding it, but quite the contrary:

• Whatever your fear, if you face it, you will know how to deal with it. So the number one solution to the fear of speaking in public is understanding what will ''take away'' the fear of it. And here is one of my posts where I explain the fight or flight response.
• Try imagining the worst thing that can happen – maybe you will forget your content, maybe you will look a bit awkward. It's fine, we've all been there. It's really not the end of the world. Learn from it, it's never failing when you learn from it - and there is neuroscientific proof for this!
• Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse again. We're talking about the 3 P's of public speaking: ''plan, produce, perform''. So before you perform, make sure you plan and produce (your preparations and rehearsals should take at least 10 times longer than your performance).
• Learn about the technicality of a presentation, the types of microphones, the lights, the angles of projection, the clicker you hold, or where you will stand on the stage so that you are not in the way of the projection, presenting TV, etc.
• Do not forget, the audience is there to support you and they WANT YOU TO DO GOOD. Often we think exactly the opposite. Become aware of this reality, and your reality will look different as a result: change the way you look at things, and the things you look at will change.
• Talk to someone who knows how to advise you. So fundamentally important! Find those people who you believe are willing and able to help YOU become better at speaking in public, rather than trying to make you a copy of their ideas around presenting or speaking in public. But make sure you know who you choose, and that they focus on YOU, not on talking about themselves.

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