How to handle presentation anxiety

What can reduce presentation anxiety:

It is sensible and sometimes necessary to practise these in advance of the situation you are going into.

Breathing:

Breathing exercises are a well-known tip for many, and perhaps the most important advice there is for regulating the nervous system when the fear system in the brain is activated.

There are many different breathing exercises. It does not need to be complicated. For example, you can try 4x4 calm breaths in and out (box breathing). Here is how you do it:

1. Breathe in calmly through your nose for 4 seconds.
2. Hold your breath for 4 seconds.
3. Breathe out calmly through your mouth or nose for 4 seconds.
4. Hold your breath again for 4 seconds.

Repeat as needed for 1-5 minutes depending on what you need.

Include breathing pauses in the presentation

Such a pause may feel long to the person giving the presentation, but is often not experienced that way by those listening.

It's good for both you and the audience. Practise some simple breathing exercises and practise when you are calm!

Cognitive activities:

Try to divert your attention with a complex cognitive task (for example, counting backwards). Research suggests that this can regulate anxiety.

Physical activity:

Move your arms and legs to get oxygen around the body. This is good advice for cognitive functions in general, and can definitely be useful in relation to presentations. For example, you can do some squats or other exercises that activate the large muscle groups in the body before giving a presentation. The brain works better with enough oxygen!

Progressive muscle relaxation:

Tense all the muscles in your body and hold before slowly releasing.

Here is how you do it:

1. Find a comfortable position and breathe calmly throughout the exercise.
2. Work your way through the body one muscle group at a time.
3. Tighten the muscles in your feet for 5-10 seconds.
4. Release the tension completely and notice the feeling of relaxation for 10-20 seconds.
5. Move on to: calves, thighs, buttocks, stomach, back, hands, forearms, upper arms, shoulders, neck, face (jaw. eyes, forehead).

The whole exercise normally takes 10-15 minutes.

Many people find the best effect by practising daily for a couple of weeks.

Shift your focus outward:

Turn your focus to something other than yourself.

• Observe your surroundings: Notice five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste (the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise).
• Describe what you see as if you were an observer.
• Engage in a task: Find an activity that requires attention and focus on it (for example, cooking, practising an exercise, playing music).
• Be aware of others: Notice facial expressions, voices or what people around you are doing.

The point is to avoid giving so much attention to how you feel and to be more present in the situation you are in.

Self-support:

Try speaking to yourself in a supportive way. This can be about having realistic thoughts about how the presentation is going to go. Choose self-supportive thoughts that feel credible.

Here are some examples: 

«I can be nervous and still give a good presentation»

«A small mistake does not mean the presentation is bad»

«I will be nervous, but it often passes quickly»

«I can be uncertain without that meaning something is wrong»

A simple way to find a self-supportive thought can be to ask yourself:

• What would I say to a good friend in this situation?
• What is the most realistic way to look at this situation?

General tips for mastering presentations:

Most people want to appear confident and competent when giving presentations. 

Here are some tips on how to appear more confident:

Body language

• Stand in a neutral position with your feet shoulder-width apart (legs firmly on the ground, steady, back straight and chest forward).
• Keep your arms visible and use calm hand movements if you want to emphasise a point, for example. Many professional presenters keep their hands still in front of them.

Eye contact

• Look at one person at a time for 2-5 seconds.
• Z-gaze (move your gaze around the room in a Z pattern from the back to the left and forward). In this way, the audience gets the impression that you are looking at them, without looking directly at them.

Movement

Feel free to move from station to station in the room. You can plan this in advance if you have the opportunity.

Tips for appearing competent

1. Write a good script: good speakers have good scripts.
2. Have a clear opening with what you are going to talk about.
3. Practise a little extra on your introduction. It is common to be extra nervous then, before it usually passes quickly and settles down.
4. Plan what you are going to say and when you are going to say it.
5. Practise your script! Find out what works best for you (reading it aloud, recording it on video, listening to it).
6. It is often a good idea to read the text aloud to spot sentences that do not flow well and change them into spoken language.
7. Finish with a short summary.