Lots of presenters when asked what’s the one thing they’d like to do differently, would probably respond with “present with more confidence”. OK so why is this so lacking in many business preseters today?

Typical reactions you may experience when presenting without the desired confidence are nerves / butterflies, mumbling, being inaudible, dry mouth. And of course, there are many more symptoms that people can suffer from when presenting. And you might be surprised that many now confident presenters also suffered at one time from these same problems.

So how do we create the confidence required to control these nervous habits? what can we do to improve our presentation skills? What effective confidence building techniques can you use to help you move into a more confident state when you are about to present.

Lets be clear, there are many different strategies that people use to become more confident. Some will work for you better than others. Some of the more obvious ones are:

Be prepared. Know your audience, what makes them tick.Research your audience thoroughly. Make sure that your slides are likely to make an impact with them.

Have a clear outline to your presentation. Always keep it straightforward with a specific beginning, middle and end. And limit your main ideas to three in total. This will help you remember what you have to say and make it easier for the audience to follow you.

Slow down your delivery. Lots of people speed up when they present ? when the nerves kick in. So be conscious of this and make an effort to keep in control. The temptation is often there to get it over with. But if you think ’slow down’ when you first start you will star to feel more in control and this will give you a more confident manner.

Try to use these three tips the next time you present. And hopefully you’ll be more in control and of course more confident throughout!

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