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How to Control Your Nerves When Presenting · Enhance.training

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: How to control your nerves when presenting is a big deal when you have to stand in front of an audience and speak.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: You might be presenting to a small group, in a team meeting, or giving a presentation on a stage.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Just thinking about presenting in front of an audience might make your heart race, your body tense up, butterflies start in your stomach, and your mouth go dry.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: I used to absolutely hate speaking in front of audiences, even small groups.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: My body would go into overdrive, my brain would freeze up, causing me to mumble my words, and I would worry about the audience sniggering and laughing at my mistakes.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: My brain would bring back all those painful memories of reading to class, at school, and giving nervous presentations when I was early in my career.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Presenting to others was not for me.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Something to be avoided at all costs.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to change all the fear and nerves I felt when presenting to groups, and I went about learning and practicing how to do that.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm now confident when presenting to groups, on stage and on camera.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sharing four actions that I use to control my nerves when presenting.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: They will work brilliantly for you too, and they are firstly transform fear into excitement, secondly, focus on your audience and message, third, do visualization exercises, and fourth, your performance is your practice.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Before we dive in, a couple of tips.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Even the best, most experienced presenters will feel some nerves going onto stage.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is normal and expected.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can feel nervous and do a great job presenting.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly all the time, you will look to your audience a lot less nervous than you actually feel.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: When you put these four actions into practice, the feeling of nerves will drop dramatically, freeing you up to present really well in front of your audience.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: The first action to control your nerves when presenting is to transform fear into excitement.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: When your brain perceives you to be in danger, in a situation where you might be threatened, your body goes into fight or flight mode.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Your logical brain shuts down, which is why you experience brain freezes, forget what your next point's going to be, etc.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: You experience a number of physical reactions to the fear, the common ones being firstly increased heart rate, increased adrenaline, shallow breathing, tension in your muscles, you start sweating, your mouth going dry, and butterflies in your stomach.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: These are all signs your body is getting ready to fight or fly.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Typically these reactions build, you know, starting with one or two which are fairly mild.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: As the feelings of fear and nerves continue, these symptoms get stronger and you may experience additional symptoms.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can stop these feelings of nerves and fear building.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as you start feeling the signs of nerves and fear, tell yourself that you're not feeling nerves but feeling excitement.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: This mental transformation is powerful.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: The reason is that the physical symptoms you feel from excitement are increased heart rate, increased adrenaline, shallow breathing, tension in your muscles, you start sweating, your mouth goes dry, and there are butterflies in your stomach.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, they are exactly the same as the feelings you get from fear and nerves.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Your brain senses the same physiological response to both feelings.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: I personally would always rather be feeling excited than nervous, and the difference is how you mentally label these feelings.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: In the run-up to your presentation, whenever you start to feel nerves, tell yourself it is excitement.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Do this over and over again, and your brain automatically associates the physical sensations you that you feel as excitement.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: When you come to present on the day, you'll be feeling excited, not nervous.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: This really, really does work.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: The second action to control your nerves when presenting is to focus on your audience and message.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: The whole reason you are presenting to others is to communicate messages and ideas.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: The presentation is about helping others improve, change, or be better.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Your audience is listening to you so they get something out of being in their presentation.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: When presenting, think about how I can do the best job I can to get my message across as clearly as possible.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So my audience listens, takes it in, understands it, and ideally takes some action.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is all about serving your audience as best you can.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you're presenting and thinking about, you know, what if I make a mistake, stumble, mumble, etc., what will my audience think of me?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Or does the audience still think I'm interesting and will they keep listening?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Or I don't want to look silly, unprofessional, or poor at presenting in front of these people.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Or any other of these types of thoughts, then you are thinking about yourself.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: You are the focus of your thoughts.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is not serving your audience.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Your audience don't want to know about you, but they do want to know about your message and your ideas.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: When presenting to others, focus on the message that you are communicating and think about your audience and how you can make their experience easier, better and more rewarding.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: When you focus on your audience and your message rather than you, you can control your nerves when presenting a lot better.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: This mental adjustment takes a lot of pressure off you.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Stop thinking about yourself and think about your message and how you can serve your audience best.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: The third action to control your nerves when presenting is to do visualization exercises.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Visualization exercises are when you picture the outcomes you want in your mind.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: When you're practicing your presentation, picture yourself speaking to your audience.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know they are looking at you and listening attentively.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: You are speaking with a clear, confident voice and getting your message across well.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Always focus on the positives, being successful and achieving what you want.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do this over and over again.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: When you're actually speaking to your audience, it is just one more visual experience.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: You've done it a ton of times before already.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: One more is no big deal.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I spoke to an audience of around 60 people or so last week, and in the run-up to my speech, I was picturing myself walking out on stage and delivering the speech just the way I wanted to.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: When it came to the actual presentation, it happened just the way I'd pictured it.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't feel particularly nervous, and a lot of delegates came over afterwards to thank me for what I said, mentioning it was a really good speech.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Be realistic with your expectations and how you visualize the room.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Most people listening attentively don't have much going on with their faces.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Expect attention, not lots of smiles and visual feedback.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: The most important part of the presentation to control your nerves is the first 10 seconds and then the first minute or so.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Once you're past these points and everything has gone well, you'll feel a lot more relaxed.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Visualise the first minute going brilliantly for you again and again, and it will.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles, and if you're new here, Enhanced.training shares people management expertise, resources, and courses teaching you how to be a great manager and build high performing teams.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Learn more about developing the mindset, behaviours, and skills needed to build high performing teams by visiting Enhanced.training and take a look at the performance improvement our Management Skills Accelerator course offers you and managers in your team.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: The fourth action to practice your performance is your practice.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: How well you present to your audience is a direct reflection of how much you put into the practice of your presentation.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Put in a lot of good quality practice and your presentation will go really well.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't practice, don't expect much from your performance on the day.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: As you practice, I would expect you to improve how you communicate your messages to your audience.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Keep refining your presentation each time you practice.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Practice over the at least a few days, or better still over the week before your presentation.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Run through your presentation at least once per day.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: This gives you time to work out better ways of presenting your message to your audience.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: When you are practicing, keep visualising your audience in front of you, of you speaking clearly and confidently.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Always speak out loud when practicing as you will when you are actually presenting.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to how you sound, the pauses you use, the speed of your voice, and the energy and emotions in your voice.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Think about your body language.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Stand up tall, use outward and expansive arm movements.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Think about how you will engage with your audience.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Do everything you plan to do in the actual presentation in your practice team.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: As a minimum, I suggest that you do your presentation 8 to 10 times at least.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Keep practicing until you are happy with what you're saying, how you're saying it, and the body language that you're using.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Don't stop practicing until you reach this point.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of practice is a great way to control your nerves when presenting.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: After all, you're just going through your presentation one more time.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you're now much more confident in how to control your nerves when presenting.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Good luck with your presentation, it will go great.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, how to control your nerves when presenting is all about what you do before you actually present.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: The four actions I suggest you take to massively reduce your nerves when presenting are firstly, transform fear into excitement.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, focus on your audience and message.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Third, do visualization exercises, and then fourth, your performance is your practice.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to take a look in the podcast description for links to more resources to help you.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on how to control your nerves when presenting, please email me at support at enhanced.training and I'll get back to you.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.