5. Don’t Stress Too Much About Your Looks.

Many presenters fixate too much about their looks. As a result, But, the presentation is not about yourself — people pay much less attention to how you look than you might think, and focus on their own benefit from your talk instead. Meanwhile, your smiling face is enough to elicit good emotions in the audience! Trusting this is part of how to build self-confidence professionally in front of any room.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, social anxiety disorder — including fear of public speaking — affects an estimated 7.1% of U.S. adults in a given year, and structured preparation and exposure-based techniques reliably reduce symptoms.

So, you don’t need to look like a Hollywood star! Importantly, just look at the popular Youtube channels: some of the most popular Youtubers are not physically appealing but rather average and “relatable.” Besides, that doesn’t stop them from getting millions of fans and followers, because their content is strong and consistent. 

However, it is good to make sure that before your talk, you do not need to worry about your outfit. Make sure to prepare it beforehand and try it on. 

Perhaps, you can prepare a “uniform” — your standard outfit for presentations that is well-tested “in action,” and both comfortable and elegant at the same time. This will ensure that you never need to stress out in front of the mirror before the talk.

6. Inject Your Personality Into Your Presentation If Possible.

Of course, this piece of advice is not always applicable. In particular, it does not apply to job interviews where the tone is usually formal. But in most circumstances, it is welcome to bring your personality to the table. Once you start your presentation, you need to own the stage and invite others to your world. 

So, be yourself! Use your sense of humor. Embrace the situation so that the content is truly “yours.” Even if it’s just a technical presentation about a discipline that you didn’t conceptualize or contribute to all by yourself, the jokes and colorful illustrations to help the audience understand the topic will be yours! 

Today, the style and the working cultures mix together. Even in traditionally “stuff” corporate settings and academia, a sense of humor is more and more desired, to “warm up your image” and build the team culture. 

Moreover, remember that there is more than just one way of being charismatic. Introverts can also be charismatic, just in a different way than extraverts. You don’t need to be the funniest and the most outspoken person in the world to leave the audience with the feeling that they just attended an interesting and memorable talk. 

You can, for instance, think of original, unexpected parallels and metaphors while explaining some complex subject that will help the audience better understand and memorize the content. 

Or, display a quiz during the talk and get your presentation participants engaged in your talk. 

Or, activate your audience by asking an intriguing open question during your presentation. None of these actions requires being an extrovert.

7. Learn Some Tricks Beforehand To Tackle The Questions From The Audience.

First of all, questions from the audience are a GOOD thing. Getting questions means that the audience is engaged in your talk, finds it interesting, and tries to make the best out of the experience. Of course, once in a while you will get a stupid question but try to be understanding. EVERY question is good news. Give every questioner a feeling that their attention and questions are welcome. 

Once you get a question, make eye contact with the questioner and thank them for the question. It will also give you extra time for planning the answer in your mind.

So, there is no problem once you know the answer to the question right off the bat. But, even if you are perfectly prepared, it might so happen that you won’t know the answer to every single question that you receive. It is a perfectly normal situation. In that case, it is good to be prepared and have some phrases at hand that you can throw. 

How Should You Respond When You Don’t Know the Answer?

If it is a formal presentation, such as a job interview, it is better to give a formal response. For example, you could say: “Unfortunately, this question falls beyond my competencies at the moment.” However, you could add: “I am planning to learn this subject-matter within the incoming 12 months.” 

It would also be a good addition if you can explain WHY you don’t know the answer. For instance, you could say: “So far, my projects have focused on developing and implementing method A.” As a result, my expertise is more related to method A than to method B at the moment.

This approach works for informal presentations, for instance when you present a progress report to colleagues you’ve known for years. In that case, instead of explaining why you don’t know the answer, you can simply tell them who does. For instance, you could say: “Unfortunately, I don’t know this one, but if you ask Jane from office 321, she will know for sure.”

8. Practice, Practice, Practice!

Arnold Schwarzenegger practiced his inaugural speech as the Governor of California 67 times! He knew that he was not a native and with his strong Austrian accent, he would need more preparation than other politicians to give an influential and memorable speech. And despite his busy schedule, he still found time for it! If Arnie could do it, you can do too. 

Of course, it is best to practice by giving a trial run to other people: family, friends, or colleagues. In practice, we often don’t have anyone suitable at hand. In that case, you can use the “rubber duck” strategy: choose an object to talk to (the proverbial rubber duck) and literally talk to it as if it was representing your participant.

Practicing will allow you to get more fluency in printing your material and will also prevent you from making the most common mistake among speakers, which is overloading your presentation with content. You need to have enough space so that you don’t need to rush through the material. It will save you lots of nerves. 

Lastly, if you still feel frozen at the bare thought of your public presentation coming up, it is worth thinking of some class of public speaking. If you do not wish  to spend any funds on the class, you can learn and practice by following YouTube channels such as Charisma on Command or Communication Coach Alexander Lyon.