Visualizing Your Presentation: Checklists for Building Confidence

Do you get nervous before you need to speak in public? Most people do. You practice and practice, and yet still, as you walk up to that stage, the nervousness can be overwhelming. It's hard to understand this feeling when you know you've put in the work and you're prepared.

Visualization is the most powerful tool I've found to help manage stressful situations and help you to maintain focus before important presentations. It's an easy tool to apply as well, because you can integrate it into the physical practice you are already doing in preparation for your talk. 

Many people confuse visualization with meditation. Although you could do visualization while in a meditative state, this is absolutely not a requirement. Most of my visualization is done with my eyes open while practicing my talk, and visualizing my audience in my mind's eye. 

When visualizing an important talk, you want to get the picture in your mind to be as close to reality as possible. You need to think about each and every detail, so when you come to the real presentation, you feel more confident because you've already "been" there. You've already given the talk in that very room in front of those very people and it was enormously successful.

In order to create that feeling, you need to go through a few stages:

Set the scene

Here is a checklist of things to think about and integrate into your visualization before your talk so that it can be as true to life as possible:

1. Where is the venue? Which room will you be speaking in? What does it look like? If you have the opportunity to visit the venue beforehand, do so.
2. What is the seating like? Auditorium? Boardroom? Clusters? Fixed chairs? Movable chairs?
3. Are you on a stage? Do you need to navigate steps up to that stage?
4. How tall are you compared to the people seated? Can you see everyone easily? Where can you walk? Can you move into the audience?
5. Do you need a microphone? What kind of microphone will it be?
6. Where is your computer? Is there a table?
7. Can you use your hands? Are you holding a clicker, microphone or notes (or all three)? How will you manage your things?
8. What are you wearing? If you have a lapel microphone, have you chosen appropriate clothing? Women, especially, have you thought about where and how you'll clip on a microphone and transmitter, if needed?
9. Do you have water? Will it be in a bottle or glass? How will you sip your water so you don't spill?
10. Who is in your audience? Try to visualize the faces of any people you know will be there. 
11. What is the lighting like? Is it dim? Are there windows?

Envision success

Once you have set the scene in your mind, you are ready to go through your talk as you would normally practice it, but now you have a room full of people in front of you. It's a mental dress rehearsal, even though you're in your pajamas in your living room.

Visualize yourself arriving at the venue and seeing everything in order. Your computer connects perfectly to the projector. The colors and fonts look great on your slides. You have your choice of microphone (if needed) and have no problem with the audio set-up. The seating in the room is exactly as expected and you feel calm and confident as you settle into the venue.

Your audience members begin arriving and you greet them with a smile. There's a nice, comfortable atmosphere and you chit-chat with audience members as they find their seats. You take a quiet moment to prepare yourself for the talk. You feel centered, focused, ready.

You see yourself going up to the stage (without tripping), looking out at the faces in the audience exactly as they will be when you stand in that venue. They are smiling and nodding in approval as you begin to speak. Your voice is strong, and you feel excited (not anxious or nervous) to share your message. 

You get a lot of positive feedback during the presentation through attentive body language and interaction with audience members. A few people ask questions and you handle them perfectly. You know your stuff. There's nothing that can throw you off course.

You end the session well and everyone is happy with what you had to say. 

In a perfect world, you just gave a perfect presentation. Hold on to the positive emotions and feelings you have as you do this visualization because they are the feelings you want to tap into when you are about to speak. You want to feel the same confidence, have the same positive attitude and know that you are going to do a great job.

Envision overcoming failure

Unfortunately we are not in a perfect world, and the stars will not always be aligned for the perfect presentation. One mistake I see people make is spending so much time envisioning the perfect scenario that they aren't prepared when something goes wrong (and believe me, something WILL go wrong). In order to build resilience and your ability to quickly tackle unexpected situations, think about what could go wrong and how you'll easily fix it in the moment.

I do not mean that you should dwell on all the horrible, negative things that might happen to you. The focus here is on the SOLUTIONS.

What will you do when (I'm sorry to say, all of these have happened to me personally, but I survived...):

• you get stuck in traffic and arrive much later than you would have liked?
• you  spill water down your front?
• you completely blank?
• you forget an important person's name or use the wrong name?
• you can't get your computer to work with the projector?
• your fonts and colors are ALL WRONG?
• you trip on the stairs to the stage?
• your dress or jacket rips, your nylons snag, or you have some other wardrobe malfunction?
• you lose your voice?
• you have a cough attack?
• you can't stop shaking or sweating?
• you slip and say something totally inappropriate?
• your clicker/laser pointer is out of batteries?
• the audience is half the size (or double the size) you expected?

Are you prepared to bounce back from these situations? Envision yourself coming up with the perfect solution for all of the negative thoughts that are popping up in your mind. You can (and will) handle anything that might happen with grace and style, even if that means just laughing it off and not taking yourself too seriously. Keep things in perspective. The audience is on your side and they want to see you succeed. 

How do you prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for a big talk? Do you also use visualization? Are there any points I've left out here? Please leave your thoughts in the comments! 

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If you're interested in learning more about how to speak clearly and confidently in global settings, I've just opened access to a free video training series. The first video is all about developing the mindset of a confident communicator. You can join the course for free for a limited time here.

Heather Hansen is Director of the corporate training firm Global Speech Academy, where she helps international leaders present themselves with clarity and confidence in English. She delivers talks, runs workshops and coaches one-on-one with leaders from the world's largest companies, including MasterCard, Chevron, Bayer and Kelly Services. She is creator of the online Pronunciation Mastery Program and author/contributing author of 4 books. Born and raised in the US, currently based in Denmark, and with 8 years experience in Singapore, Heather is the perfect choice for helping international teams communicate across borders, languages and cultures.