How To Speak Confidently (Even When You’re Scared Out Of Your Mind)

…Imagine the audience naked.

Just kidding!

That’s perhaps the stupidest advice ever given.

You’re already nervous, a million thoughts running through your mind.

The last thing you need to add to your already full plate is an image of a naked Derrick from sales or a naked Janice from accounting.

Blurrghhh!

So how do you do it?

How do you speak confidently even when you’re scared out of your mind?

Remove the pressure.

It’s impossible to speak confidently when you are under stress and pressure.

So…

Remove it!

Here are the 3 keys to being able to speak confidently in any situation:

1. Stop trying to be perfect

You’re going to be in front of an audience so your presentation needs to be perfect, right?

Wrong!

There’s a huge downside when you aim to be perfect:

It’s a goal that’s literally impossible to achieve!

No one is perfect. When we try to be, we put a whole lot of pressure on ourselves.

The pressure of trying to be perfect leads to stress and stage fright.

It also leads us to make more mistakes, which brings me to…

2. Embrace mistakes

Most of the time, your audience doesn’t know you’ve made a mistake unless you point it out.

When they do notice a mistake they probably don’t care.

The takeaway here?

If you make a mistake, don’t worry about it. Just continue on with your presentation.

If you forget something, don’t worry about it. Just move on to the next point and come back to it later.

Remove the pressure!

3. Spread the love

The spotlight’s on you!

You are the center of attention!

Everyone’s watching you, judging you, waiting for you to mess up!…

…At least that what it can feel like.

Take the pressure off, spread the love:

Instead of going in lecture-mode, which will only increase the pressure on you, be in discussion-mode.

Discussion-mode is all about spreading the love and not being the only speaker.

You’re going to interact with your audience.

Ask them questions.

Ask for feedback.

Discuss the issues they are having in relation to your presentation topic.

Talk about what impacts their day-to-day working life.

Present in discussion-mode and you can relax enough you’ll forget you’re doing a presentation!