Dear class,

There are some of you who may get nervous when you present. Although you are now into the second semester, it’s normal for some of you to experience some degree of nervousness or anxiety when presenting. In fact, it’s been said that even the most experienced presenter feels nervous during their presentations as well. It’s just that they are experienced and hence their anxiety is not shown externally.

To present well, we need to look at the causes that makes us fumble, be it in our speech when we stammer, in our voice when it quivers or in our body language which may seem awkward to ourselves when we make class or public presentations. Someone once states that we usually feel that we act awkwardly during our presentation but most members of the audience think otherwise. The members of the audience often think that the presenters do fine. In another words, our experience of not presenting well is often exaggerated many times more when compared to reality. Therefore, know that you are usually doing better in your presentation in front of your audience than what you really feel.

However, knowing this fact is not enough. You need to have self-confidence. This is true. Nevertheless, what’s more important is that you remain focused on the message that you are delivering rather than on yourself. What this means is that before you present, you can ask yourself questions and statements that are directed towards your message, as follows:

• What is the exact message that I am trying to convey to my audience?
• How am I able to make the message more concise to my audience?
• How am I able to better engage the audience?
• Am I able to use some appropriate humour to make my presentation my lively?
• I am going to do my best in my presentation so that my audience benefits.
• I believe that I will do well.

It’s important to remember not to question your own abilities as a presenter. That is, avoid asking the following questions:

• Am I competent to make this presentation?
• Are my audience laughing at me?
• Am I behaving unnaturally?
• Did I memorise my speech properly?
• Is this the right time to make the presentation?

Do note that all this questions will make you self-conscious, cast doubts in your mind and compromise your presentation. You need to have more confidence in yourself. Tell yourself that the presentation will go well and that you will try your best to deliver the message so that your audience will benefit from it.

Remember, always focus on the message that you are delivering to your audience when you present and not on yourself.

You will have noticed by now that I have mentioned self-confidence several times above because in the absence of strong self-confidence, whatever assertive statements or questions that you make to yourself will not work.

Because of the fact that one’s self-confidence plays a determining role when it comes to being successful in presentations, I will be talking in detail about the ways and techniques that you can use to increase your self-confidence next.  In the meantime, you can check out ways on how to increase your self-confidence by clicking here.