Building Confidence for Presentations
Posted on May 28, 2022 by Barb Chapman Schutz, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
So many of us struggle with low self-confidence at certain points in our life which can lead to fear, self-doubt and shutting down.
Building Confidence for Presentations
So many of us struggle with low self-confidence at certain points in our life which can lead to fear, self-doubt and shutting down. Feeling a low sense of confidence may lead some to stop what they are doing and never try again. This can occur at any time in life, but many find presentations to be a place where they do not feel confident in their ability to present their points. Many of us have experienced this from grade school speeches to large global presentations. Overcoming “stage fright” as some call it, it very hard, but with small steps it can be done.
Let’s use an example and see how we can build that confidence.
There is fear, doubt and lack of confidence that you will win over your audience or get buy in from what you are presenting about. You may be afraid that an audience member will ask you a question that you don’t have the answer to and feel that you are not the best at what you are presenting about. These are all normal thoughts, but how do you overcome that?
Well, let’s use the example above and give the person a name. We will use Bob. Bob works developing software and has a great new product he is developing that he feels would benefit these types of companies worldwide. He wants to present it at the next global meeting which would include all the senior management of several global companies; about 100 people. Sound intimidating? It would be for anyone. So how does Bob prepare to increase his confidence and decrease his “stage fright” before the presentation? One answer is by practicing.
Fear of giving presentations is very common and many people prepare their presentation for hours and review, re-write and re-read multiple times. Even if Bob was presenting to just a couple of senior managers, he would likely still feel he needed to do this review. But what about practicing? Here are some tips for those with low confidence around presentations that can help build up confidence so you can focus more on the presentation and less on how you feel.
Always prepare – write it out, review it, make changes and go prepared to answer questions you anticipate may come up from your audience.
Practice reading it out loud – Yes, read it out loud so you can hear it
Practice in-front of a mirror – this allows you to see what others see and can help you develop better posture, slow your words down, hear what you are saying and correct any confusing language and see what areas you still need to develop
Practice in-front of someone you know. – Yes, this is very helpful in developing confidence around presentations. Ask your spouse, friend, or other family member to be you audience and provide feed back.
Practice in-front of a group of people or peers you know well– do this allows you to read your presentation to a group of people.
Practice in-front of those who understand what you are presenting about – this is great if you have the resources or co-workers who can listen to your presentation. Ask them to ask questions about what you are speaking about too. This may help elevate the fear of not knowing how to answer something; thus increasing your confidence in the knowledge you have.
Finally, present. Take a deep breath and remember you are the expert in what you are speaking about. You are the one that knows the most about what you are presenting so go out there with confidence and put the fears aside.
Remember, you are the expert about what you are presenting so your audience is looking to you for the answers. If they ask questions beyond the realm of your presentation or knowledge; that is okay, just state that their question goes beyond today’s presentation but that you can connect afterwards to delve deeper into their inquiry.
Some people may feel they have to go through each of these steps, while others don’t; and that is okay. Practice until you feel confident in your ability to present the materials well. It is important to remember that confidence comes with feeling that you are doing your best at something. So always prepare for your presentations, do your research if there are areas you are unsure about and go out there with a head held high. You’ve got this!
