About Those Nerves…
So often when I chat to someone before they attend presentation training, I get told something seemingly unique to that one person:
“You know what my problem is? I just feel so nervous and intimidated, especially when I’m talking to senior people.”
Well this may sound a bit odd to you, because I’ve been teaching presentation skills for years, and now speak professionally. But I used to get so nervous, I would get a choking feeling, my voice used to tremble and I would feel ill before having to speak or do a presentation to an audience. So what changed? Mainly two things.
First, I discovered that most people in the audience have not come to listen to me make a fool of myself, they’ve come to hear me succeed. Their time is too precious to spend listening to a dud.
The second thing that changed for me was I just got up and started doing it, and the more I did it, the better I got. Sounds like stupidity, but perhaps it’s plain common sense. But certainly something to think about long and hard. Because, as I’ve discovered, the secrets we keep best from ourselves are not really secrets at all.
And, oh yes! The bit about senior people? I’ve discovered they also usually have just the same number of fingers, toes, chins, heads and knees as the rest of us. Now who would have thought…
Paul du Toit
