How to dance naked in a room full of strangers.

It can be intimidating that first time. You start to peel away one layer, then the next, until finally there you are showing what you have to people you've never met before.

I am talking about showing your creative work to people for the first time of course, when I had to do presentations in my ad agency career I would refer to my part as getting up to do my song and dance. Apologies if you thought I was about to give you a masterclass on stripping.

Showing your ideas to others can be daunting, you are laying bare the work you have agonized over, it's personal, you put everything into this, it came from within, it can rattle your sensitive creative soul to the core and it can at times induce bursts of incoherent rambling and the sweats. As someone who struggled for years with stage fright I know this all too well.

Not everyone suffers from stage fright but that fear of showing your work can have the same effect. Luckily there are ways to handle it, some are quite simple. Here's a few I know.

1. Play the part. Create a persona who is your own personal 'presentation character', mine was a lad called Johnny Ad Boy. Close friends of mine knew about Johnny, he was your archetypal advertising guy. He could sell ice to people living in the arctic, he could convince you to buy shampoo when you're already bald, yes Johnny Ad Boy was the one I called on to present ideas when I was working in ad agencies. Once done I could leave the room, put Johnny into his box, and get back to being Rodd.
2. Practice. Yes, the age old but true path to many a skill - practice. As the old saying goes - How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. Confidence in a room comes from knowing what you are doing and what you are going to say and do three steps ahead. Personally I force myself never to look at notes. I practice before hand so as I have an idea of what I am going to say but then I go with the flow - but someone who is over rehearsed and trying to stick to a script can, in my opinion, come across as unauthentic. You need some natural cadence in your delivery.
3. Watch and learn. YouTube is an endless resource for almost anything you want to learn more about. Watch some skilled presenters and study what they do. There are masters of the craft such as the late Steve Jobs but there are so many more that you can pick up some tips and techniques from. Watch some Ted Talks or even some MC's who are giving the opening speech at events. You can cherry pick some ideas from all kinds of talks and presentations and integrate them into your own.
4. Make them laugh. Breaking the ice before you start to present your work can be a great remedy for the jitters. Once you realize the people in the room are not so dissimilar to you and can laugh at a gag or a few comments then you can relax a little. When I was living and working in New York I used my Aussie-ness to break the ice, I'd tell the occasional story about the antics of my pet kangaroo I had growing up, Roopert, and how I would keep my school books in his pouch, and how he would beat up bullies if they harassed me on our walk home, little fun stories like that. Oh, by the way, I never had a pet kangaroo but so many in the U.S. think we all do in Australia so it kept the room happy. And yes, I would eventually say - 'I'm just joking about the roo'. :-)
5. Listen to and read the room. If something is not going well look at how you can shift gears and get things back on track. Admittedly this is a skill honed over time in my experience, you have to be able to think fast on your feet, there is no room for 'ummms' and 'aaahs' in some situations. Ideas can live or die in a moment. If you can see people hating something purely by their facial reactions and body language you have to make a quick call as to how to remedy this. You either kill the idea you are showing and move onto another or find a way to turn them back onto that idea, again these are well honed presentation skills that can take time to master. One thing can be to move on and then come back to that idea and revisit it after they have seen some more work. This gives you some time to think of a strategy and how to allay their fears about the previous concept. But remember the age old saying - don't flog a dead horse. Choose your battles wisely, there will be some you win and some you lose.
6. Laugh before you walk in. It's hard to be nervous if you have had a good laugh right before you walk into a room. You're feeling good, you're upbeat, you are in a good zone. Maybe watch some stand up comedians you like on YouTube or simply tell some good jokes with your colleagues. Laughter is great medicine for many things.
7. Remember you're not going to die. Presenting your work wont kill you, just remember that. This is not a life threatening situation, chill. It's not like you're trying to cut the toenails of lion that hasn't had a decent meal in three days. You'll be okay. You'll walk out of the room with all the body parts you had on you still intact when you leave the room. Relax. You'll live to present another day.

Hope some of this advice helps, as mentioned I know all too well the fear that can come over some of us when we walk into a room to show our precious ideas to an unknown audience. And while that fear may never go away there are ways to cope with it. If anyone has any other techniques and advice please share below. If you'd like me to write a post on how to be a great stripper I am sorry but I've got no experience there, well none I am going to share publicly. :-)

Rodd

I'm a Creative Director / Writer / Maker / Thinker and a bit more. You can also find me on Twitter,  Instagram and on Facebook. Or drop me an email – [email protected]

Words (aside from credited quotes) Copyright ? Rodd Chant 2019

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