I panic for presentations!! Help?!


Question: I panic for presentations!! Help?
I always panic in presentations and I try to hide as much as possible in class. Whenever we have to present something in class, it's such a huge alert for me.

I skip class many times because I fear of the presentation. I feel so ashamed of myself. The odd stare people give me, I feel so scared.

Can someone help me ? I can't do this forever.

Answers:

I always felt nervous in school too. But I did not panic. But I am trying to understand your nervousness.

I think the one thing you need to realize is that very few are comfortable up there. Most, however, don't want to admit it - so they fake it, acting as cool as they can. So please don't think you are the only one. That is far from the truth.

But I can take it further. To get over my shyness I took a job selling door to door in college. It was killer at first (bad killer). This is what I found out. Most people who answered the door did not need what I was selling. Most could see I was a little nervous and trying to do this as best I could. Most if not all, were extremely nice to me and more than half invited me into their house. Some even bought something.

Later I got a job as an educator visiting company clients and talking to their employees. And here is the thing I found out. No one cares if you are nervous. And no one will know, as long as you know your material.

So what I used to do was practice new presentations a bunch of times. And in my mind, I would imagine the room, the people and everything when I practiced. Usually, I did very well.
However, I do remember once having to speak to about 250 people. Usually I was only in front of 20 or 30. During this presentation I realized I was really nervous when I looked down briefly at notes and I felt my bottom lip quiver. I thought to myself, OMG! But I said to myself, "keep talking or else everyone will see that lip quivering." And I did keep going, focused on my outline and at a good pace. I just anticipated where I had to go next by briefly looking at my outline notes before I moved on in topic. Few saw me look down so quickly or noticed any hesitation. (I prepped real well for this, I admit).

When I was done, they all clapped. To them, I sounded like a pro. But it was because I owned my material, that I was able to work through the nerves I felt.

For sure, if you know your material inside-out, good things will happen. So take that out of the equation and know your material.

And if you are still very nervous you can always do that old saying, imagine your audience is listening with nothing but their underwear on. :)



Forget about waht people are thinking, their thought of you can change in a day.. and they won't matter in the future years. Be you, and I guess act like you know everyone really well like they are all your best friends and remember always look at the teacher once in a while, smile, stand tall, and speak to the whole class glancing at them just liek the teachers do! You can do it, just believe. Tell yourself "I know I can do this" over and over after a while it will work.:) Goodluck! Oh and remember it takes time to get used to presenting but once you do it enough times its like nothing, I believe in you.



I had a presentation today. I was really scared myself to say the least. But right between the panicking and the second i had to present, I realized... It's just my class mates there, not some strange staff from some corporate company. If I mess up, sure it will suck but we are in school to learn from our mistakes and do it better next time. I tried to say "private people" today and failed 3 times. I just sighed, laughed at myself and said it slow and steady.

When you present, you take control of the atmosphere in the room and you have a chance to shine. And those are your own terms. Use them or learn to by trying and failing. I mean, sure, you'll screw up a few times, no experts fell from the sky yet, but better to screw up now in front of your classmates rather than later in front of those strange people in suits and ties.

And what I'm trying to say is, its like learning to ride a bike. you can screw up pretty hard the first few times, but that's ok, your there to learn how. After a while the panicking will lessen and eventually fade away and you will get really good if you keep doing it, just think calming thoughts before you present.

So don't feel ashamed, if your class mates laugh, it's OK. Your there to learn how to stand in front of a crowd and take that in and present. I personally sometimes make small jokes about what I'm trying to present to loosen the mood :) And besides, there will always be someone who will screw it up worse than you :) trust me.

Good luck and have fun on your next presentation ;)




The consumer health information on answer-health.com is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions.
The answer content post by the user, if contains the copyright content please contact us, we will immediately remove it.
Copyright © 2007-2011 answer-health.com -   Terms of Use -   Contact us

Health Categories