Common Sense Ideas for Becoming the Career Star You Are Meant to Be

Today is Thursday, so this post is on communication skills. 

Today, I’d like to discuss presentation anxiety – what some people call stage fright.  We all get nervous before a talk.  I make speeches for a living and I get nervous.  In fact, if I’m not a little nervous, I start to worry that I will be flat and deliver an unenthusiastic talk.
Over the years, I’ve developed a few tricks that I use to calm my nerves before a big presentation.  I’d like to share them with you here.

1. Practice your talk out loud.  This will help you get comfortable with your material and your delivery.
2. Get there early.  In this way, you’ll be able to set up your computer and run through your slides one last time.
3. Greet people as they arrive; exchange a few words with them. This will help you make a good first impression with members of the audience.  It will also help you get you’re your nerves because you’ll feel more comfortable speaking to a group of people you know rather than a group of strangers. 
4. Move around during your presentation.  Body movement will help release some of your nervous energy. 
5. Think of your presentation as a conversation.  There might be 10, 15 or 25 people in your audience.  But in terms of real communication, there are only two people in the room: you and a single listener.
6.  Ask questions during your talk.  This will help you build a dialogue and a participatory feeling. I try to make at least one quarter, and as much as one half of my talks a discussion with the audience.  In this way, it’s less of a speech and more of an expanded conversation with every person in the room.

These are my tips for calming my nerves and getting me into the right frame of mind before I do a presentation.  They work for me, and they’ll work for you.  Good luck in your next talk.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a small business.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.