Dear class,

I have noted some effective ways on how to increase your self-confidence when presenting and have condensed them into 21 points as shown below. I hope that you can have a good read.

So, how can you be more self-confident of yourself? Here goes:

1. Be more certain: Go through the materials that you are going to present and familiarise yourself with it. Then rehearse your presentation several times before presenting. Remember the adage: Prepare, Prepare, Prepare and you will not go wrong.

2. Get organised: Teams and presenters fumble because they are often not organised. There are several instances whereby team members are unsure who is presenting which part of the presentation. This has often resulted in unnecessary delays and hiccups during the presentation. Being organised helps in this aspect. Delegating the role that each team member will play prior to the presentation will surely help a great deal.

3. Understand human nature: People love to feel good about themselves, so be very positive when you speak, Try your best to avoid the negative. Using humour is a good way to diffuse tense situations while letting the audience have a good laugh. This wil in turn boost your confidence as well.

4. Be open to ideas: Some of you are scared of the Q & A session because you feel that you might not know the answer or answer the question wrongly. Do not be afraid. If you are stumped by a question, simply inform the person who pose the question that you will get back to him or her at the end of the presentation. This shows your dedication and confidence to respond to all questions while not allowing the question to hold up the presentation.

5. Attire: Having a neat attire when you present will boost your confidence level by a great deal. In fact, professionals dress well all the time, not only because it increases their credibility, it makes them feel good as well. Just think of how job candidates dress for their interview. Different situation, same concept.

6. Adopt a good posture: Some of you have made presentations while spinning a chair with your knees or you tend to present while sitting down. All this actually
sabotage the effectiveness of presenting well since it does not demonstrate
your confidence level. Stand upright while presenting and notice how a change
in physiology changes your confidence level as well.

7. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones: It is important that we replace our negative thought with positive ones. Keep encouraging yourself instead of putting yourself down. This is important.

8. Exercise: Try to exercise at least twice a week. Exercising often has the effect of making you feel positive and uplifted. There are many types of sports for you to choose from and most forms of exercise are healthy. You can try to engage several exercises instead of one since it can bore you over time.

9. Be familiar with your audience: I believe that most of you have no problem in this area, since your audience are your friends. Nevertheless, some of you are still afraid despite of this. However, do take this opportunity to practise presenting before friends because you might be presenting before strangers, colleagues and clients when you work in your later years.  Remember, try your best to familiarise yourself with your audience to increase your confidence level. Notice how comfortable you feel when you talk to your close friends when compared to conversing with strangers. The same concept applies.

10. Alight your personality with your presentation style: What I mean by this is that if you are someone who is humorous, imbue some humour into your presentation. If you are someone who is into details, elaborate more, If you are someone who is into photography and infographics, use them in your slides. Enjoy the process of presentation by making your presentation a part of you through the integration of your interest(s) into your presentation. You will feel more confident when you are comfortable with your presentation.

11. Prepare your own slides: Some of you may be presenting slides that are prepared by your team mate(s). This will often result in unwanted confusion as you look at one another when a point appears that you, confused about who are supposed to present. You are at a loss since you are unfamiliar with the slides. Knowing which slides / points that you are supposed to present because you are sure of what you are presenting is important when it comes to increasing your confidence level.

12. Simplicity is best: Use key words on your slides instead of wordy explanation. This will give you more space to explore by presenting using your own words (where it should always be the case). This is also a good opportunity to use your creativity as well. When you are fluent in your delivery after some practice, your confidence level will rise.

13.  Anticipate questions from your friends: Make it a habit to look through your presentation materials as a team. Look for areas that you feel that members of the audience will enquire and prepare your answers for them. The best way is to integrate these points into your presentation. However, if these points are not directly relevant, research the answers, note them down but leave it out of the presentation slides. When member of the audience pose these questions to you, use the researched answers to respond. Do note that you will need to be fluent and familiar with the researched answers to do that. If you are able to do this well, your confidence level will not drop and may even rise.

14. Rectify all technical and presentation difficulties: Before the presentation, make sure that the laptop(s) that you are using for the presentation are up and working. Also, project your slides prior to the presentation to make sure that all the font colour chosen for the words on the slides are visible on the screen. If you are using wireless projection, ensure that there is no lag time. Experiencing technical difficulty before or when you are presenting will seriously affect your confidence level in presenting successfully.

15.  Look for signs of acceptance among the audience: When you present, there will probably be several members of the audience looking at you, smiling at you or even nodding their head in agreement to what you are presenting. These are signs of acceptance of your presentation. Maintain eye contact with your audience around the room but look at these specific members of the audience often, as this will boost your self-confidence and improve your abilities as a presenter.

16. Creative visualisation: Before you present, try to imagine yourself presenting successful before your audience. Visualise yourself speaking confidently. How you do it is up to you. However, do employ the use of your sight and auditory function. Imagine yourself standing in front of your audience and hearing the words that you are saying. Look at the audience smiling at you and applauding after your presentation. Create an image of success before any presentation will reassure you and boost your confidence level.  

17. Physical and mental state: It’s important that you are in the optimal state of alertness during the presentation. So make sure that you have drunk enough water and have a good night’s sleep before the presentation.

18. Storytelling: I am sure that most of you will remember the times when someone told you about a story and you are totally engaged with the tale. Similarly, children often want their parents to tell them stories. Do you know why? This is because our mind takes better to story than words and statistics. So, do prepare a few stories before the presentation, familiarise yourself with it and then use it. The more engaged your audience is, the more confident you will be over time.

19. Never read from your slides: When you read from your slides, you show a lack of confidence. Paraphrase in your own words what you want to say. Remember, if you are reading from the slides, one question will pop up in your audience’s minds: Why will they want to listen to the presenter when they can get the information from the slides? Always surprise your audience with what you want to say. Make it special but ensure that what you are saying relates to the points on your slide.                                                          

20. Use of pauses: If you are unsure of what you are going to say next (which sometimes happen to the best speakers too), pause. Yes, you just pause. Do pause at appropriate moments though, such as during the “commas” and the “full stops” of your sentences rather than abruptly in the midst of a sentence.

21. Smile: This factor may be placed as the last item but it is the most important. This is because it is the strongest indicator of your confidence level. Think about it. Why do we find someone to be approachable and charismatic when we first meet him or her? It’s because of the smile. So, how different can it be when it comes to making presentations?

I may be adding more points in this section over time, so do come back for more updates.