Anxiety will interfere with your ability to be comfortable, confidence and charismatic, and most often the stress comes from our threat of perceived social rejection. We are fearful that if someone knows us that they will reject us. Furthermore, we don’t want another person to think of us as stupid. This self-defeating thinking gets is our way and shows up in the body in a way that impedes our presentations. The following is a list to help you think differently so you can reduce your anxiety and enjoy presenting.
1. Re-frame the experience. Do NOT dwell in the uncertainty, but instead focus your mind on the phrase “It’s just a conversation.” Whether it’s a conversation of one-on-one or one-to-many, it’s still simply a conversation. By saying this over and over in your mind, you will start to believe it and reduce your anxiety.
2. You believe you more than anyone else in the world; therefore, you must control your self-defeating thoughts. Do not ever tell yourself that you are not smart. Instead tell yourself that you are a beautiful wonderful person who is worthy and competent.
3. Be careful of the “impostor syndrome.” You may have thoughts that tell you that you don’t have anything of value to offer – that you are not ready for this situation. Instead, tell yourself that you do belong and over time these thoughts will dissipate. Watch the Amy Cuddy TED talk; she explains it well.
4. Manage your body’s threat response. When our threat response is activated, we prepare to fight or flight. Energy moves from our brains and into our arms and legs. To quiet the threat response, breathe deep and tell yourself that you are safe, that you are prepared, that you are worthy, and that the audience is for you. Additionally, know that the threat response is often at its height at the beginning of the talk; therefore, plan an audience activity in the beginning to give yourself a moments break, or perhaps take a sip of water. Just a little moment will help.
5. Prepare more information that you need. In the moment of execution, you will forget to say some information. No worries. Nobody but you knows of your change. Enjoy it. Don’t be thrown-off by the change. Go with the flow.
6. Practice. Practice. Practice. Your brain has difficulty distinguishing imagination and reality. Use this strategy to make the uncertain certain. It will reduce your anxiety.
7. When you practice, spend more time on the introduction. Polish it to perfection and you’ll feel more confident.
8. Practice with the technology. Go early to your facility, if possible.
9. Practice on your feet. Practice saying the words out-loud, not just in your head. Hearing your voice needs not to be a surprise to you.
10. Practice to manage time. You need to know where to be at certain milestone markers in the topic. Audience’s don’t like speakers who run long.
11. Before the talk, bond with the audience. Smile, say hello, shake hands – if possible, and perhaps do a little chit chat. The bonding produces a brain chemical call Oxytocin which is our bonding chemical. When you feel more connection, you’ll feel less anxiety.
12. Move around. Give the jitters somewhere to go.
13. Be sure you have dressed comfortably – which includes your clothing and in the cultural conventions of the event. Wear shoes that feel good.
14. During the presentation find the audience member who is smiling at you or one who is nodding in agreement. Talk more towards that person to reduce your anxiety. Believe that your audience is for you.
15. Change your emotions. You can do this in the moment you decide to. Just think back to a moment, when an uncomfortable moment was happening in your home and then a knock came upon the door. You immediately didn’t want the visitor to see your uncomfortable conversation energy, so you put on a happy face. You can change your energy in a moment.
16. If you make a mistake during the presentation, do not draw attention to it as it only causes the audience to remember it.
17. Manage the chaos of a handout. If you use a handout or a sample during the talk, be sure you have a chaos strategy, as this will cause chaos in the room regardless of whether you distribute it in the beginning, the middle or at the end of the talk.
As Jeffrey Schwartz, a research psychiatrist at UCLA School of Medicine says, “You are not your brain.”
Successful Business Communication 