Overcoming the Fear of Presenting in English

To know how to give a good presentation is crucial for success in business.  Being able to communicate well not only gives us a better professional image but it also enables us to get results.  Very often it’s the people who possess these skills that get the promotion!!  So our professional future depends on our ability to communicate well and deliver strong presentations.  A presentation is effectively a pitch. You are there to convince others, inform them of your ideas and sell yourself to them.

Public Speaking is not a natural situation and so it is normal that many of us feel nervous about giving a presentation.  If you add to that the stress of giving a presentation in a second language then it is not surprising that people are more afraid of speaking in public than they are of death!! 

Thousands of people have learned to speak in front of groups with little or no stress at all. Most of them were initially terrified to speak in public. Their knees would shake, their voices would tremble, their thoughts would become jumbled…yet they learned to eliminate their fear of public speaking completely. And so can you by following a few simple steps.

First let’s look at the most common reasons that cause this fear:

• lack of confidence
• making mistakes and feeling embarrassed
• being asked a question you don’t know the answer to
• something going wrong

The key to overcoming these fears is to use the 3P’s strategy – Plan, Prepare and Practice. In fact we could call it the 6 P’s strategy - Plan, Prepare, Practice, Practice and Practice and then Practice some more!!

Lack of confidence

A lack of confidence is often due to one of these factors:

1. Not knowing your topic
2. Not knowing your language
3. Not being prepared

Whenever possible talk about a subject that you know very well and feel very strongly about.  This will make it easier for you to demonstrate enthusiasm as well as confidence.  If you don’t know your topic then do your homework. Become an expert. Research the internet, read books or related magazines, study reports, ask other experts, do everything you can to know your subject inside out. 

Make sure your objectives are well defined and that you don’t stray away from them during the presentation.  It’s very easy to get carried away with one subject area only to find you’ve run out of time.

Support every argument you make with facts, images, graphs or other back up material. If you can prove your point you will feel more confident when someone doubts it.

Avoiding mistakes and embarrassing situations

If your lack of confidence comes from the language barrier or the fear that you might make a mistake then prepare what you are going to say. Planned communication is powerful communication.  So think about it and write out what you plan to say. Mark the key words or phrases so you’ll remember to stress these important points. Then rehearse and practice as much as possible.

The idea is not to memorize your speech as this can have the opposite effect, making you more nervous about forgetting your lines, your mind going blank in the middle of the presentation.  Just try to practice so you feel comfortable with the language. The more you practice the more natural it will sound to you and expressing yourself naturally will become easier.

It’s a good idea to rehearse in front of a mirror. That way you can also practice your body language and try to remove any distraction. Check your posture, your facial expressions and your gestures. Also practicing making eye contact with your audience by moving your gaze across the mirror.

If you are fortunate enough to have a native English speaking friend ask them to help you by checking your notes and giving you feedback on your pronunciation and intonation.  Even if you don’t know someone who can help you with the language you can still ask a close friend or colleague to watch you rehearse so they can help you improve your non-verbal communication.

Answering questions

Questions are nerve racking for every presenter because you never know what you might be asked.  The fear of the unknown is dominant here.  However you can reduce the anxiety with a little preparation. Put yourself in the audience’s shoes - think about what questions you might ask if you were listening to your presentation. Try to guess the areas that might cause doubt.  Summarize your presentation to a friend or family member and ask them what questions they would ask.  Once you have a list of possible questions you can prepare some answers.  

If you find yourself in the situation where you really don’t know the answer to a question, try some of these techniques:

1. Ask the audience.

That’s an excellent question, would anyone else like to comment on that.

Thank you for that question. Maybe someone in the audience knows the answer

Very interesting what does the audience think?

1. Ask an expert

I’m afraid I’m not the right person to answer that, let me put it to Peter

It’s not a question I can answer – I suggest you speak to … (about that)

I’m afraid that that’s not my field, perhaps you could speak to my colleague from XXX department after the presentation

1. Offer to answer the question later

Can we talk about that on another occasion?

I’m afraid:

• I don’t have the figures/that information with me
• I don’t know that off the top of my head
• I can’t give you a full answer right now...
• But if you give me your e-mail address I’ll be happy to send you the answer/information
• I’m afraid we don’t have time to go into that right now but I’d be happy to discuss it with you after/at the end of the presentation/another day.

Ensuring nothing goes wrong

If you’ve followed the 3 P’s your presentation design and delivery should run smoothly but there’s always the possibility of technical problems. The best way to prevent them is to arrive early at the location to give you time to check out the equipment.  It’s also a good idea to have a copy of your presentation on your laptop and on a pen drive in case you need to use someone else’s computer.  Bring back up material in hard copy form in case all else fails.

 If you would like to learn more about giving presentations in English and  want to practice applying these key business skills then see our Perfecting Presentations course on the link below.

https://www.softskillslanguage.com/home/professional-success/soft-skills-intensive-courses/perfecting-presentations  

Contact us directly on 910 251 789 or 656 455 770 or email [email protected]