Need to give a presentation? 5 tips to stop shaking at the knees…
The network event I went to last night was great. An enthusiastic crowd was entertained by the host of the night – Barbara Gabogrecan, president of the MCEI, Melbourne Chapter and Deanna Roberts, a first class speaker/mentor/presenter.
In my previous post, I talked about public speaking and raised a few issues I’ve experienced when delivering presentations. Here are some useful tips Deanna gave on how to overcome nerves and stop those knees from wobbling:-
1. Expanded Awareness –utilising your peripheral vision to connect with your audience, shifts the focus, allows you to build rapport, absorb and control so much more. If we’re not in control, we’re being controlled.
2. Memorising Content – utilising letters or acronyms to remember content, eg: H T N T N introductions are: Hello, Thank you, Name, Tell them what’s coming up and Now good, was bad, ie your current business situation compared with your history.
3. Negative Self–Talk – It’s important to focus on the outcomes, not the negatives. What is it you want to achieve? Focusing on the negative gives you exactly that. ‘’Don’t think of green sausages” – what do you think of? “Don’t be nervous” – what will you be? Your mission is to give to others, not languish in self-imposed limitations.
4. Anchoring – a stimulus that triggers an emotion. Eg, a smell or piece of music acts as an anchor when it reminds you of something. You may want to ‘fire off’ your anchor just before you take the platform to speak, eg it might be to squeeze your thumb. Achieved through visualisation techniques, anchoring is an extremely powerful tool.
5. Look the Part – no matter how you’re feeling inside, disguise it. How you use your hands for example is all very important. The more confident we appear, the more our audience is likely to connect.
If you have any other useful tips on public speaking, let me know. Either comment on this post or email me ruth@purplechameleon.com.au.