Three Things Blog » Three Things to Hide Presentation Nerves

We’ve all heard that public speaking is considered the number one fear of most North Americans. When asked why they were so afraid, responses usually include the fear of ‘looking or sounding stupid’, ‘freezing’ , making a fool of myself’, ‘forgetting what I was going to say’. In my presentation skills workshops, I deal a lot with stage fright. One of the first things I tackle is the psychological aspect of nerves by asking “what’s the absolute worst thing that could happen in the presentation?” This lets participants start to align perception with reality and bring their fear to a more reasonable level. But like everything, this takes time and practice to overcome. And in the meantime, they still have to get up and work that room like muthers.

So here’s some tips on how to camouflage those nerves while trying to overcome them.

Learn where they show: Everyone has a nervous ‘tell’. Some cross their legs like they have to pee and sway back and forth, hide their hands in their pockets, or refuse eye contact. Others play with things like pens or end up with their shoulders up around ear-level with tension. However your nerves manifest, it’s critical to figure out what your ‘tell’ is. So next time you’re nervous in front of a room, take a moment to tune into your body and feel whatever is off or weird. Or ask your colleagues to point it out. Then, just before you go into your next presentation, act out the nervous behavior purposely and then relax, undo the behavior and breathe through it. Over time you’ll create a sense memory that will quickly clue you whenever you take your nervous pose so you can gently undo it live.

Don’t use notes: If you tend towards nerves, the last thing you want to do is use notes. All that’ll happen is you’ll spend the entire presentation desperately clinging to the paper like a drowning man instead of keeping your eyes focused on your audience. You’ll fiddle, shake, your eyes will flick up and down and you’ll be equally terrified that you’ll lose your place. But if you go in empty-handed, you have to rely on your brain alone and learn to pause in order to think. Which, by the way, is just fine. There’s not a thing wrong with taking a second or two when your mind goes blank and smiling at your audience or taking a sip of water in order to gather your thoughts. And the irony is that because body language is SO much more powerful than content, you’re better off coming across as relatively relaxed than you are remembering everything you wanted to say anyway!

Keep your hands up: According to  body language experts, the physical manifestation of nerves (hands limp by your sides, stomach muscles tight, shoulders hunched, eyes down and narrowed) is exactly how our animal instincts prepare for fight, flight or freeze. For example, arms hanging by your sides would be ideal for running to or from a threat. On top of that, dropping the hands and standing still is like ‘playing dead’ in the face of a that threat. Your body will react by suddenly feeling weak, your voice will get softer and your eyes will start to disconnect. Crazy huh? But very true. So one trick is to simply keep your hands up at waist level and constantly engaged so your body doesn’t slip into ‘react’ mode. Think like an Italian and get those hands moving – you’ll have more fun and you’ll never be mistaken for road kill!