What comes first? I’m so nervous. How do I get comfortable?
I was
recently working with a student who was in first year of her Master’s Degree
and wanted to work with me in preparing for her 30 minutes presentation of a
final paper. She rapid fired questions about her upcoming presentation in
presenting her thesis paper and how to calm her nerves for this oral
presentation.
Easy answer
– write the paper! She had not written
the paper yet so there was no framework for the presentation. It’s like going on stage to perform without
knowing what the play is. You are
confused and your audience is even more confused by your ad lib delivery.
The written
paper will help you frame your content for delivery. It will also give you tools to work within
your personality and comfort zone while you are on the platform. For example, this Masters student was going
to be writing about music of the Romantic period. One mode of presentation would be to let the
music “speak for itself”. That is, imbed
a sound clip within her presentation, give a short narrative and then let the
music be the featured “speaker” for the class to enjoy.
What’s the
one thing that you can do to be really comfortable with your presentation? Practice your opening paragraph. Practice while you’re in the car, practice in
front of the mirror, practice while you’re on the treadmill. A great open sets the stage for the rest of
your presentation. It also helps, as
Dale Carnegie used to say, “your butterflies to fly in formation”. Anticipation
nerves haunt most of us whether it’s a marriage proposal, a championship
football game or a presentation. However,
starting strong gets your energy up, your confidence up and gets you
comfortable in front of your audience.
