Presentation

[grizzly]

Hi All

i have just been told by my boss that i have to do a presentation in front of a large group of people.

Some may say, ok... so what.

But this is my utmost phobia, i loathe public speaking, im a bit of a loner and a pretty quiet individual, and therefore am petrified at the prospect.

Anyone got any advice ?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Are you feeling well Andy,not going down with a nasty cold or something

 

[Cazza]

Hi Grizzly
I often give presentations to large groups of people ( I am a speech and language therapist and do lots of training.) I can completely empathise with how you feel.
My advice is to rehearse several times by yourself and then try it in front of a sympathetic person. Make sure you are very well rehearsed and on the day have a quick run through.
The maxim " to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail" holds well.
Take some deep calming breathes before you start and remember to try to speak fairly slowly until you have relaxed.
YOU WILL BE FINE!!!!!
Cazza

 

[wilderness]

Hi Grizzly,
We've all been there. Not many people are natural speakers. I agree with the above, but don't chicken out. After the event you will feel very proud.

I'm guessing, but as your boss has asked you to do the talk, then you are the "expert". The audience are already at a disadvantage to you.

Practise, practise practise. Have some prompt cards with a couple of keywords so you won't lose your thread. If it is a Powerpoint presentation then I find the next slide reminds you what comes next.

Insist that you will only take questions at the end. It is difficult to get back on thread if you get interupted by a question.

Try not to tell a joke as it will probably fall flat.

You will enjoy it - trust me

 

[Poly Hive]

think it through.

NEVER assume the audience knows that step as one person is sure not to.

Rehearse. Rehearse and rehearse.

When on stage, do not put your hand in your pockets. Do not have keys or change there to jangle in case your hand does take refuge.

YOU know MORE than they do. YOU are in charge.

Look around the room, pick three or four to look at so by doing so you look as if you are looking at everyone.

Do your collapsing afterwards.

You will be fine, in fact I suspect you will be very good indeed.

Oh and if you can, try to relax. It's NOT life and death. Just a wee chat to some friends who all wish you very well indeed as they are there to learn from you.

Good luck

PH

 

[Somerford]

know your stuff

share a smile

and relax !!

S

 

[taff..]

know your stuff

share a smile

and relax !!

S

this is probably the most important thing IMO.

I'm not good at waffling about stuff I'm unsure about, but if I know the subject well then I'm absolutely fine,

 

[fatshark]

Practice does make perfect, or at least more than good enough. I do this sort of stuff a lot and find some of the following help ...

1. Not too much text on the slides (I'm assuming there are slides).
2. Don't read the slides ... let the audience do that unaided. Use the slides to structure what you want to say about a particular point.
3. For each slide have a small number of points well prepared and - most importantly ...
4. Practice the transitions between slides. Make sure you know what you are going to say as you move from one slide to the next. This helps the talk flow properly, makes the audience retain attention, and is the most common area in which inexperienced public speakers come a cropper.

Practice in front of a mirror, make sure the timing is OK (you'll probably talk faster than you expect on stage) and then step out in front of the audience and imagine they are all totally naked and it's they who should be embarrassed, not you.

Then you'll enjoy it!

D.

 

[BKF Admin]

Have a glass of water with you.
When I first started to lecture I always found I got a dry throat within the first minute.

Like others have said,"know your stuff" its amazing what confidence it will give you.
Remember to bounce your head to different audience members rather than impersonating a robot while looking at the wall at the back of the room.

Giving a talk is easy,its the thought of giving it that's bad.

Good luck with it

 

[Juststarting]

You're the expert

Just remember if you only know 1 thing more than your audience it makes you the expert!

Relax they really want to learn from you.

As the others have said practice as much as you can and write down your opening line so no matter how nervous you get you know how you are going to start.

You will find once you have said this line you will get into the presentation and it wont feel as bad you thought it would.

Good luck

 

[SixFooter]

Go see a Hypnotist.

I hate anything like that as well. I'm an IT techie. I used to hate training people, but got used to it, now I dont even think about it. I then was introduced to doing demos to senior management which was terrifying at first, but now isnt. However, I'm still scared of powerpoint presentations which are not demos.

If you have time, I'm serious about the hypnotist.

 

[grizzly]

Thanks for all the reassurance and advice, i will be using a powerpoint presentation created and used previously by my boss, so i will go through this and try and add some bits from my own perspective, a bit of an update and tweak.

I am quite creative with regard to slides, but i fall down when trying to talk away from the text on screen.

So thought about fading in text boxes so the audience dont get the chance to read the whole slide before i open my mouth.

 

[Tom Bick]

Good look grizzly best not have the girl in the bikini pop up mid way through

 

[BKF Admin]

When Grizzly took the job I informed him he would be better off taking the pole dancing job offer but he never listened..

 

[steve1958]

When I have to give presentations I always start off with either
a good story (a funny one).
a Joke (a very funny one)
or if its a small group, packets of sweets.
Its amazing how much disruption you can cause by giving out packets of sweets.
People dont expect it, and it takes their attention off you for a few minutes
whilst leaving them with the thought 'What a nice man, giving me sweets'.

It doesnt work on children though.

 

[DulwichGnome]

or if its a small group, packets of sweets.

Give them all gob stoppers, that should keep them quiet.

I have done a few presentations and I find having the slide and notes printed out helps. A quick glance to check it's changed and then you have it in front of you and your talking to the group not the screen.

Mike.

 

[shonabee]

I hate presentations and the like, too.
One thing that helps me is to look at your audience directly, as once you see them as separate individuals it's less intimidating.
If you can, think what you want to achieve by the presentation - convincing your audience of something, training them, or whatever, and focus entirely on that goal and not the presentation as such. I find if my goal is "only" not to stumble over words etc then I focus so much on that I end up a gibbering wreck.
If absolutely all else fails then, given that it's a big audience, make like you're an actor acting the part of someone specific giving a great presentation (e.g. your boss, assuming he's good at giving presentations). It stops it from feeling they are looking at you personally.

 

[tkwinston4]

"I have done a few presentations and I find having the slide and notes printed out helps."

This also helps should the situation occur when the computer packs up. The amount of times i have been to a presentation and the computer has packed up and the speaker has no back up. They normally just stand there waiting for someone from IT to fix it whilst we all lose interest/chat amongst ourselves/go for fag etc. Then by the time its fixed they have to rush thru the slides and no one learns anything.

My dad does a lot of speaking to very large audiences and he says all he does is talk to them as if they are just a friend that he has known for years.

Finally; smile smile smile

 

[grizzly]

When Grizzly took the job I informed him he would be better off taking the pole dancing job offer but he never listened..

Admin was my biggest fan, heres one from my interview.

 

[wilderness]

and make sure you turn off the screen saver on the PC.