Presentation skills are in use continually in today’s business world as we are presenting ourselves on a daily basis to our colleagues and clients. The same underlying principles can be applied to interpersonal presentation as formal presentations. First impressions are everything and highly developed confidence and communication skills are required to a make a success of both disciplines.
The first thing to note is that great presenters aren’t born, they’re made. Anyone can develop the presentation skills to deliver a confident, clear and impactful presentation with the right training, practice and feedback.
The starting point for many presentation skills courses is building confidence and controlling anxiety. Even top professionals, who might be dynamic, efficient and confident within their comfort zone of business relationships, can crumble at the task of delivering a formal presentation. The fact is, most top presenters also feel nerves, however they channel them to their advantage using techniques grounded in a solid foundation of presentation skills.
There is no magic elixir that can take away the fear of presenting in front of an audience. In fact many leading presentation skills consultants will testify to the fact that a certain level of nerves is a good thing – those jitters just need to be controlled and galvanised to create a dynamic and engaging presentation.
There are, however, certain techniques that can be used to control nerves and help the presenter feel more relaxed and confident. Some of these are simple physical exercises and include: standing up straight, with your feet firmly grounded; literally shaking the stress and tension out of your body; breathing deeply and in a controlled manner.
Mental preparation is also important and centres around a positive focus. Making sure you go into the presentation visualising success is really powerful. Take the time to run through a ‘movie’ of the presentation in your mind before starting and conclude this movie with a successful outcome where you’ve done a great job.
Ensure that any self-talk going on in your mind is positive and that you’re affirming your own ability, rather than listening to a host of self-criticism. It is also important to keep several things in mind: that it’s normal to make mistakes, that the audience is on your side and that they don’t know what you’re going to say anyway, so it doesn’t matter if you go a little ‘off-piste’.
These simple presentation skills will help you go into your presentation feeling positive, confident and in control. The two things which will ensure this more than anything though are preparation and practice. The more prepared you feel and the better you know your material, the more relaxed you will be and the more confidence you will project.
Visible nerves put an audience on edge and will dilute the strength of your presentation. By implementing presentation skills such as ‘shaking out the nerves’ and positive mental projections you free yourself of the negative nervous energy. Once you’re up there, act like a confident person: maintain steady, non-intrusive eye contact, use bold definitive gestures, open body language and a strong voice.
Most importantly, be real. Being yourself, rather than putting on a performance means you have less to worry about and fewer reasons to slip up. Being natural will also make you look more confident.