116 Improve your Communication Skills
• sweaty palms;
• blurred vision;
• nausea.
And the worst of it is that,
however much you suffer, the
audience will forget virtually everything you say! That’s the bad
news. The good news is that you’re not alone. Every presenter –
indeed, every performer – suffers from nerves. Many actors and
musicians talk about the horror of nerves and the fact that
experience never seems to make them better.
The best news is that nerves are there to help you. They are
telling you that this presentation matters – and that
you
matter.
You are the medium through which the
audience will understand
your ideas. You
should
feel nervous. If you don’t, you aren’t taking
the presentation seriously and you are in danger of letting your
concentration slip.
Preparing for the presentation
The trick is not to try to dispel the nerves, but to use them. Once
you understand that nervousness is natural, and indeed
necessary, it becomes a little easier to handle.
Everyone is frightened of the unknown.
Any presentation
involves an element of uncertainty, because it’s ‘live’. You can’t
plan for the audience’s mood on the day. You may not even be
able to foresee who will be there. You can’t plan for any sudden
development that affects the proposal or explanation you are
giving. You can’t plan for every question that you might be asked.
This is, of course, the greatest strength of presentations: you and
the
audience are together, in the same place, at the same time.
You are bringing the material alive for them, here and now. If
nothing is left to chance, the presentation will remain dead on
the floor.
The trick is to know what to leave to chance. If you can
support your
nerves with solid preparation, you can channel your
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