Doing a presentation is the scariest thing for some people. The thought of standing in front of a big audience and presenting something is terrifying. Whether you present to your team or boss weekly, making a presentation is always a source of stress, though it is natural to sweat under the spotlight or have a mini heart attack when trying to make a point, it doesn’t have to stay that way. Alice Munezero, a public speaking coach, says that anything that wasn’t prepared and practiced beforehand will always make a person stressed about it. “We have always heard of the line practice makes perfect and it is true, but you can’t practice five minutes before the presentation and expect to nail the presentation. Because that is a practice made in a hurry, before a presentation it is always better to prepare your content before the day of the presentation and also rehearse your presentation before the day, you can prepare two days before and get enough time to rehearse,” she says. Munezero explains that the reason rehearsing and preparing for a presentation earlier is essential, is because when you prepare and rehearse your content enough and several times you allow your mind to be familiar with it and therefore, you can’t forget anything when presenting but also when the mind is familiar with the content you are most likely to not feel that fear when presenting because you have given yourself time to understand the content. Munezero adds, “Not for presentation days only but for a person to always nail their presentation at work they need to practice public speaking because when you know how to speak in front of a lot of people making a presentation will always feel like a simple task to you. Whenever you get a chance to speak in front of people grab it, it will help you subside that fear of standing in front of a lot of people, even though you think that you don’t how to present or talk just do it because that is how you learn and practice”. Munezero states that another key that can help after preparing and practicing is to be specific and precise while presenting. “During a presentation it is always good to be specific, trying to use a specific example will help you not to take much time explaining and to make a point easily, being specific helps you to create a connection with the audience because they understand and feel what you are talking about. Rather than being broad in your examples, try using specific stories that have a meaning in their lives or that relates to them, and also focus on the impacts rather than the problem,” she says. Danny Rugamba, an interpreter, says that dropping expectations can reduce nervousness and help you to make a good presentation. “Forgetting about “everything has to be perfect” will help you feel less stressed because you won’t be relying on the fact that your whole presentation should be perfect but you will be relying on to make a point and that your audience will understand, you will not wait for the claps to give you a validation that everything went well you will only focus on your presentation being meaningful and insightful,” he says. Rugamba also stresses keeping the content simple and short, “When a presentation is long it tends to be boring and uninteresting, you don’t want people sleeping during your presentation right? Then it is important and clever to keep everything short and simple, your content should be brief with the necessary information and should be delivered in a simple manner, with a simple language that everybody can understand, keeping things short and simple also helps you to keep track in your presentation”. He adds that using stories and humor throughout the presentation is another way of nailing a presentation. “People love stories, testimonies, and comedies, if you have some try and use them, and if they relate to what you are saying they will definitely catch everyone’s attention, but don’t overdo it because also a lot of stories and humor can make you look as if you are not serious,” he says.
