Confidence

[Valkyrur]

Honestly? I wonder if this should be here. Please move it if it's not in the right place... :\

Well, what are some of the tips and tricks you guys have to be confident during a presentation? Right now, at this stage of my learning, the system is now focusing more on oral presentation skills. I'm now more actively involved in projects that involve the need to pitch the idea to a crowd, or to a select group of people.

And it is there, I see that 'Public Speaking' being the number 1 fear is no joke.

Yet, to be honest, I wouldn't say that I'm actually fearful of presenting. I wouldn't mind doing it any time, but the problem here with me is my shaky hands. All right, maybe I'm anxious, subconsciously. When I go up, my hands starts to tremble slightly.

Realizing that my hands are trembling makes my voice quaver slightly, in the more serious cases.

On better days, I can present with a presumably firm voice, but the shaky hands is always present.

Any tips to help alleviate that problem? That aside, do you all have any tips to being confident?

 

[eye of the divine]

well with regards to public speaking I used to do it when I was at school in commpetitions.

All I can say is know what your talking about to start with, research, research and more research know the flaws in your argument and in your key points argue them and provide as many solutions as you can. This will perp you for questions that may come up.

Act like you are the dogs balls you have to pretend you are as confident, don't fidget stand still and try not to stammer. If your hands shake then hide them, use the podium in front of you or memorise your work before hand so you won't need que cards.

Take as long as you need to compose yourself and if theres water there use it!

 

[Toshiya]

I'm not a very confident person either, but I can make myself seem like it.
If you can't gain confidence in yourself easily, fake it until your confidence builds up - and it will once you start succeeding.
As for the hands thing... if you don't want people to notice them shaking, do something with them - some people use hand actions to emphasise points, etc. Also, you could try holding onto something (if you're behind something whilst you're talking, hold onto it).

 

[blakstang98]

Public speaking was never my strong area. When I took a public speaking course in college, they did teach us a few neat tricks.

One thing to do is have a glass or bottle of water with you. When you get a little worked up, you can take a drink from that and hopefully it'll calm you down a little.

Another one I learned, which worked absolute wonders for me was to walk around while presenting. Instead of standing still in one place, sort of pace around while presenting. When I had to make my speech in that class, I've never felt more comfortable doing a presentation than I did that day by moving myself.

I'd say give one of those methods a try. Best of luck!

 

[SaShman]

I used to be quite nervous about giving presentations but I discovered a few techniques which really helped me out to the point that I actually enjoy giving them now.

Firstly the key is practice, make sure you know what you're talking about to the point where you don't need cue cards. My hands also shake when I present which can make it hard to read if I'm holding paper. You may decide that you want to use cue cards or some sort of reference but it's best to not rely on them so you can improvise if you lose your place.

As Blackstang pointed out having a bottle of water handy helps. Sometimes my throat gets dry while presenting which makes it hard to speak, so it helps to just stop and have a brief sip if you can.

Blackstang also mentioned walking/pacing around the room while you are talking. This also helps me because it makes me feel relaxed and it just makes the environment seem more casual/comfortable. Another good thing about this is it makes your presentation seem more interesting, I've noticed people seem more attentive when I walk around.

Another tip I have is if you start feeling anxious, hands shaking etc.. focus on your breathing and rate of speech, chances are they are faster than normal. Just slow down a bit and breath and talk at your normal pace and chances are some of your physiological symptoms will disappear. Also I learned in psychology class that when we are anxious we breath high in our chest, try breathing low in your stomach and that should help you relax.

Finally I recommend that you give your presentations in a passionate manner (regardless of how passionate you actually feel about something) especially if you are trying to pitch an idea. Using elaborate hand movements works, so does changing the volume and pace of your voice when you reach the key points of your argument (and it's quite fun to do).

I know I'm probably sounding like an idiot when I break it down like this but the fact of the matter is that it works for me so I'd recommend you giving it a try. The key thing for me though is ultimately delivering speeches in a way that is comfortable to me. For example I don't like presenting while I'm sitting down so I will always stand up even if I don't have to. If anything I've said doesn't work for you, just adjust it to make you feel comfortable.

Lastly don't view presentations as presentations, view them as performances where it is your job to maintain the attention of the room. It makes your presentations a lot more interesting for the audience and much more fun for you.

EDIT: Fuck that post was a lot longer than I thought it would be. This better fucking help

 

[Clo-bot]

I'm an extremely nervous person -- I actually have and have been treated for GAD for many years.

The things that works best for me is the Buddhist steps for "Mindfulness". I just start at step one, Non-judgment, and move through them, and I usually can get myself in a pretty good mindset by the time I'm at the seventh step.

And sometimes this can keep me calm for hours.

 

[West]

Not really a tip per se, but something to keep in mind is that even though you feel incredibly nervous, it's not at all obvious to the people watching you. I also had a Public Speaking course in college, and after people gave their speeches, whenever anyone commented on how nervous they were while presenting, the instructor would ask us "Did anyone notice?" and almost 100% of the time the answer from everyone was "no".

So if you are nervous, don't get even more nervous because you're worried that people are going to see it.

Kind of playing off of the whole thing about keeping your hands busy and walking around, don't just stand behind the podium whilst gripping it--especially if it isn't fixed to the ground. Because if you're shaking, then you end up shaking the podium. My Public Speaking instructor once told us a story of a student who did that, and the student had eventually jerked the podium halfway across the front of the classroom just from shaking and being nervous.

The only other thing I can think of is to try to make your presentation as casual as is appropriate. If you can, open with a joke or try to use light but consistent humor throughout your speech. When you get the audience laughing with you, you won't worry about them laughing AT you. Everyone will feel much more comfortable--especially you--and the audience will probably be willing to pay closer attention since you've drawn them in.

And yeah, as Toshiya pointed out, one of the best ways to build confidence in general is to "fake it until you make it", or however that expression goes. If you act confident, people will believe that you're confident, and they'll be more attracted to you. And when people are more attracted to you, it'll boost your actual confidence.

 

[Tmoo]

it boils down to your attitude towards the audience. do you know your audience? do you know how to relate to your audience, and how to engage them using that relation? if you're confident in that, then it shouldn't be hard. that's half of it. the other half is your feelings. to really 'shine' in a presentation you have to have the mindset that you're going to go out and blow their minds with whatever you're presenting. basically you have to believe that you will rock and they can't stop you. if you don't then you will feel hesitant and even more nervous.

how do you get yourself into that mindset? you have to know your stuff, and you have to know your audience. don't forget to be creative in forming your presentation - use humor, use questions, use surprises. presentations are basically informative theater plays, if you think about it.