Dealing With Nerves
We've all heard that Americans fear public speaking more than death. There was even that line from "Seinfeld,"
“According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
Frankly, it makes sense. When speaking in front of an audience, you're in an extremely vulnerable position. You're up there in front of 10, 20, 50, 100, or more people all of whom (hopefully) are all looking at you and paying close attention to everything you have to say. Unless you have a true phobia, how you react to this situation says more about your preparation, than anything else. The unprepared crack and fumble. The prepared can deal with virtually any pressure or situation Murphy throws at them.
So, what does it mean to be prepared? It surely doesn't mean you have your presentation memorized. Just look at Chief Justice Roberts' swearing in of President Obama and Vice President Biden's swearing in of Secretary of State Clinton. Those are examples that show just how fragile your performance becomes when counting on the precise word-by-word repeating of text. One little slip-up quickly becomes a highly-visible train wreck.
Being prepared means knowing your material. It means knowing your story. If someone were to completely deny you your slides, can you still give your presentation? Sure, your word-for-word performance will be different, but can you get your message across? Can you still sell your big idea? An obvious way to get prepared is practice, practice, practice. Keep practicing your presentation. Don't try to memorize anything outside of quotes that may be up on the screen. Those shouldn't be a big deal anyway because any on-screen quote that's not going to detract from your presentation will be brief.
Well, how about slides with facts and figures? Don't memorize them either. The point should be to practice the presentation enough such that if you couldn't see your slides, you know which slide follows the next. That way, when you advance to the next slide, you know what's up there. If you know your material, then you know the story that the chart on the screen is supporting.
Another way to learn your material is to write out your story in narrative form for the handouts that you (may) hand out after your presentation. I have found this to be an effective way to reinforce in my mind what it is I'm sharing with my audience. The organization of the content also gets reinforced through this process.
I've been in that zone where even though I could look at the laptop that showed the next slide, I advanced on and on, continuing with my presentation, all without looking at the laptop. It's a wonderful situation and can be compared to a runner's high. What I even find is that in situations such as those, I'm talking on auto pilot. This is thanks to practicing enough so that I literally knew my material inside and out. Fear and nerves are tossed aside and I am on a roll.
Keynote
If you're not lucky enough to experience the speaker's high, then what else can you do in addition to preparation? One thing you can do is to take advantage of the presenter's tools in your slide program. Don't be staring down at them, but glance every now and then, as needed, to maintain your sense of place. Don't use them to read your material to your audience, either. However, merely having them there can be a mental support to help you stay in sync with your audience's visual aids or nail that quote on the screen without looking at either the on-screen or on-laptop version. I can't say why that helps, but it surely seems to help me. Maybe just knowing it's there is enough to calm nerves, allowing me to focus on the content I'm sharing rather than the slide itself.
Lastly, one piece of advice that has helped me over the years came from a college friend of mine who would also be the Best Man at my wedding. It was simply, "What are they going to do, hate me?" They're not going to assault you physically. You're not going to be leaving by way of an ambulance. So, if the audience hating you is the worst that could happen, you're going to be OK.
Do you have your own ways to deal with nerves when presenting?
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