You must deliver a presentation tomorrow. In this presentation, you must deliver a material in front of 250 audiences. This is your first time delivering the presentation before hundreds of audiences.
You feel anxious. You are afraid of not being able to do the task properly. You are afraid you will suddenly forget the points you have to deliver.
In the midst of fear and anxiety, you want to absorb energy from the well-known MCs and presenters, who are always performing in front of public smoothly and calmly.
A well-known MC was caught sitting, clasping his hands. His face showed an anxiety. He admitted that he was afraid to face the event because he had to speak in front of the national elites there.
When the time to perform came, the anxiety was suddenly gone. The MC could do his task properly. He performed confidently and his performance amazed the audience, including the president and the ministers.
A very well-known MC will also experience even the anxiety and nervousness before performing. So, it’s very common if you, who are not used to speak in front of many people, feel the anxiety or fear. Moreover, if the material you should deliver is something you are not interested in or if the audiences present in that presentation are not familiar to you.
Anxiety or fear is something normal. As long as you are not driven by them, you will be just fine. The anxiety or fear will force you to make a good and proper preparation. The most important thing is that fear and anxiety can be overcome by several ways.
Accept Your Fear and Anxiety
Anxiety and fear before delivering presentation are something very normal because famous and experienced presenters will also experience them. But, they can pass thru them. The most important thing to do is you accept the fear or anxiety you feel in facing a presentation.
Fear or anxiety before delivering presentation will make you feel nervous on stage. Feeling nervous on stage can cause certain physical symptoms, such as palms of your hands are sweating, body shaking, or the increasing of your heartbeats.
This nervousness can make someone not confident. If you are not confident, you will not deliver the material well. You will be nervous while you are presenting the material.
If you can accept that you feel the fear or anxiety, you will be more relax. After feeling a bit relaxer, you will be able to ignore your fear and anxiety.
You can make yourself more focus on your materials for your presentation. Think of the best ways you can use to make the audiences get the point you want to deliver.
If you try to fight your fear or anxiety, you will be more nervous. Nervousness will not make you focus on your presentation.
How to get rid of the nervousness? By making a positive visualizations right before you perform and deliver your material.
First, visualize that the audience is enjoying your presentation. They pay attention to your presentation with enthusiasm, while sometimes they applause you.
Second, visualize that the presentation you deliver is going well and smoothly. The presentation gives the information the audience needs.
Third, visualize that the audiences are your friends. When you present the materials, visualize that you are talking with your friends.
By doing those visualizations, the anxiety you feel will soon disappear. Besides, try to pray before you deliver your presentation. Prayer can make someone be calmer. While praying, try to close your eyes and take deep breathes and exhale slowly. This way can make your body be so relaxed that fear and anxiety can be overcome.
Make a Good Preparation
In fact, the key for not being too nervous in facing a presentation is making a good preparation. Although a good preparation is not a guarantee that your presentation will be spectacular.
What is a good preparation? It’s of course preparing the materials for your presentation well. Specifically, try to prepare the proper opening sentences. The proper opening sentences will make your presentation go well and smoothly. It also will make the audience more ready and curious to keep paying attention to your presentation.
Besides, try to practice in front of your friends. This practice can you use to anticipate the probable questions so that you will be ready and prepare alternative answers.
To increase your confidence, you can also practice in front of a mirror. Mind your style of speech. If you don’t like it, the audience can feel it too. Practice and practice until you find the proper style of speech you like.
Reconcile with Your Fear
According to what I experience in my whole time, sometimes fear and anxiety before delivering speech will not disappear although I have made a good preparation.
But still, the nervousness will show up several times before I deliver a presentation. I choose to reconcile with the fear and anxiety I feel.
Nervousness before delivering presentation is a sort of energy which waits to be released. You can release it by letting it go on the podium where you deliver the presentation. If you reconcile with it, you will be calmer and surer to perform well and properly.
Nervousness, anxiety or fear is a positive energy for you. if you don’t feel an anxiety of fear, you will not have the motivation to prepare a good presentation. The lack of anxiety or fear indicates that you are being used to with the material you are going to deliver.
Someone who is getting too used to something will probably perform something monotone that will make the audience feel bored. By feeling anxious and afraid, you will try the best to make the presentation go well.
Basically, a presentation will go well if you have the knowledge of presentation. You can learn the ways to deliver presentations well so that your presentation will be spectacular. After learning the tricks, you can prepare a presentation better than before.
