How to Calm Your Nerves When Presenting

I want to share with you 3 big ideas that have been helpful for me and a lot of my clients in calming their nerves when speaking in public.

I don’t know about you, but coming into a presentation, I still get a little bit nervous. And most people I speak with when I run my trainings like ‘Present with Confidence’ get quite nervous when they speak in public. I think nerves and stress are kind of like a pressure gauge — you have to get the right pressure internally so that you present at your best. When it’s too low and you’re too relaxed, you won’t be ‘on’ enough. If you’re too highly stressed, you’ll get up in front of people and freak out or forget what you’re about to say.

Have you ever been in front of an audience and just freaked out? I’ve had a few moments speaking in public and my body literally started shaking. I was holding the microphone and my left hand, which was shaking so much, that I had to grab it with the right hand to stop the shaking. So, how do we manage your nerves in these moments?

Here are 3 ideas:

1. Meet and greet. When you first arrive at the venue you must meet and greet people. Go up and say hello to them. You’ll notice they’re just normal people. They’re just humans, like you and me. I think this normalises the process of speaking in public. The audience then becomes as less scary.

2. Get present. Rather than having a whole lot of content in your head and thinking about all the things that might go wrong, you need to get present in your body. One way to do that is to take 2 or 3 deep breaths. Take a deep breath in and breathe out. Get back in your body. Wiggle your toes. Don’t think about everything you want to say — all I think about is the first sentence I want to share in my speech.

3. Focus on contribution. Find something within your presentation that is meaningful. The presentation becomes bigger than just making it about you; it becomes about transferring value and meaning. Even if you’re talking about a spreadsheet, think about what’s the one thing that is meaningful for the audience in this spreadsheet. How can you transfer meaning? That builds confidence and conviction in your presentation.

That’s today’s tip.

I’ve got a question for you: What’s been most helpful for you in this newsletter? Why don’t you write it in the comments below; I’d love to hear from you.

Look forward to speaking to you soon. Look after yourself.

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I’m Colin! I’m an Aussie, but I’m based in Newport Beach, California.
I help entrepreneurs sell from virtual and live stages (without being pushy and sales-y)
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