Practice makes perfect! If you have friends, family and/or mentors, practice for them and ask for constructive criticism.
If you do it 100+ times and it's all positive feedback, there is no reason not to feel confident.
I just went through @INcubes accelerator program - probably practiced my pitch 500+ times for over 100 different people. Everyone had little nuggets of advice that I held on to until the presentation was perfect.
I'd be happy to take a call, listen to your presentation, provide some feedback and ask a couple questions to ensure your basis are covered.
Some good answers here already. Mostly it comes down to practice. If you know your material and know that your presentation is interesting and engaging, you'll feel a lot more confident.
I teach public speaking classes at General Assembly. Couple of quick tips.
1 - Always open with a joke, story or question. It helps build rapport with your audience (whether it's a live presentation, a webinar or a recorded video). Of the three a joke is best, provided it's actually funny and relevant.
2 - Watch other presentations/webinars/teleseminars. Find ones you think are good, then figure out WHY you think they're good. Pick out words and phrases that you like and use them in your own webinars.
3 - Practice. do lots of webinars. Try doing a few public speaking classes. Volunteer to speak at events or debates - the more time you have getting your point across to an audience, the better you'll get.
Hi there!
Being a trainer, coach or public speaker you have to realize that how well you perform is only a secondary issue.
The main interest that you should have in mind is the value that you deliver. If you are charismatic and flamboyant but your info stinks is of no good.
The mindset of great public speakers is this: "it's not about me, it's about how can I best serve my audience". Once, you get this, 90% of your nerves go away.
You are not on trial, you are a passionate person with a valuable message to offer. So, take yourself out of the equation and perform at your best, but keep in mind that the value you provide will make a difference in their lives.
And not lastly, I found a mantra that gets me in the best shape possible before a webinar... and it's this:
"It's showtime" :)))
As in, it's time to have fun, bond with my audience and deliver great content. You are, after all, talking about a subject that your passionate, right?
So, prepare well, enjoy yourself in the process and your audience will have a great learning experience!
Practice, practice, practice. I had the same issues early in my career, then turned it around so that I feel comfortable on the phone, web, in person, talking to 1 person or speaking in front of 500. I was able to overcome those issues by first, knowing the material completely, secondly writing it down, and lastly saying it out loud, wash, rinse, repeat.
First, I believe that knowledge leads to confidence and with a deep understanding of the material the words can flow from you, instead of you having to think about what to say next. So know what you are presenting inside and out.
Secondly, Write it down. For me, this process allows me to "work my words." By writing it down, I get it out of the vagueness in my head into clear ideas. This can be an outline or simply just a stream of thoughts, there is no right way, it's about just putting the thoughts to paper.
Once it's out of my head and on paper, I say it out loud, to make sure everything sounds right. If it doesn't I go back to the writing and continue to work the wording until they are my voice and flow naturally.
Lastly, don't hesitate to pull others into your practice session, use your friends, spouse or peers, as a sounding board. They don't have to know the subject, because they'll be able to tell if you are confident or not.
Presentations of any sort when "nailed" are exhilarating, feel free to set up a call to dive deeper.
As a coach I would ask, are you lacking confidence in your message or is it that you're not confident in your credibility with your audience?
What about presenting makes you nervous?
Is the nervousness related to lack of confidence, or are they somewhat different?
Yes, practice can help as well, but worrying about delivery or credibility will affect your presentation.
Be confident about the topic which you discuss or presenting to the crowd. Presentation is a skill to be developed by an individual,
The content of the presentation really matters and don't think about the questions which will be posted towards you. Most think about that too and due to this nervous comes in. And also create a free flow in you presentation from start till end and have the connections between the points when you go around the presentations
You can always practice in front of the mirror to gain the confidence as well as to remove the stage fear.
