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12 Most Massive Worries to Stop Sweating During Your Next Presentation

Stop Sweating Your Next Speech

“Do you want to look good on stage during your next presentation?”

Professional speaker and 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking, Darren LaCroix, posed this question during a presentation at a recent conference I attended. Hands shot up all across the room including mine. Of course, I want to look good on stage. Who doesn’t?

To this Darren shouted: “It’s NOT about you!”

He’s right — presentations are NOT about the speaker. They are about the audience. Yet speakers spend a lot of time, energy and emotion worrying about how they are going to look on stage. The fact is that worrying about how you look breaks your connection with your audience. Here are 12 worries to stop sweating before your next presentation.

1. Fear of Failure

Fear and anxiety are a natural part of speaking. Fear doesn't mean your presentation is doomed to fail. It just means you care. You want to do well for your audience. Welcome fear as part of the process, but don’t let it get in the way of giving your audience a message they need to hear.

2. Worst case scenario

Your mind is not your friend. When I ask speakers what is the worst thing that can happen to them on the stage, the answers I get would make even the most enthusiastic horror film fan cringe — being boo’d, vomiting, falling off the stage, wardrobe malfunctions and ruining your career so that you have to live in a van down by the river. With proper preparation and practice, there is a 99.9% chance your worst presentation nightmare won’t come true. Get out of the worst case scenario mentality and focus on what you can do to provide value to the audience.

3. Constant comparison

It’s time to banish the curse of constant comparison. Stop worrying that another speaker had better slides, better stories or a nicer suit. It’s not a competition. Speaking is about connection not comparison.

4. Reading the audience’s mind

Do you ever wonder what your audience is thinking about you while you're speaking? Do you look at their faces and your mind wanders off to places like “Do they think I’m totally boring?  Do they hate this speech? Would they rather be somewhere else?” You can’t read your audience’s mind. If they look confused, ask them if everything you are saying is making sense. Trying to read minds freaks you out and breaks your connection with delivering your message.

5. Answering every question the audience has

Question and answer session can cause even the most seasoned presenter to break out in a sweat. You try to prepare for every question you can possibly imagine your audience asking. Instead of preparing and practicing your presentation, you prep answers to questions that most likely won’t be asked. Remember, there is nothing wrong with saying, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out for you.”

6. The “umm” factor

“Umms” happen. Everyday you use all kinds of filler words in conversation. A few crutch words like “umms” and elongated “so’s” are not going to kill your speech. Don’t worry about it. Chances are your audience barely noticed because they are so used to filtering it out in presentations.

7. I can’t believe I forgot…

My clients often say “I can’t believe I forgot…” They beat themselves up for what they wanted to say, but didn’t. Here’s the white-hot truth: No one but YOU knows what you wanted to say. If your audience didn’t miss it — why should you fret about the fact you didn’t remember to say it?

8. What if I finish early?

Filling-up all of your time is a common worry. You’ve got 20 minutes to speak, but you only have 15 minutes of material. What are you going to do? Have you ever heard an audience complain that the speaker ended early? No! If you end early, the audience will thank you.

9. Screwing up

What if you mess up in front of everyone? Will it ruin your credibility? Undermine your authority? Will the world end? Once I was giving a presentation in front of 100 conservative professionals. I wanted to say “quite a bit of research,” but my mouth opted for efficiency and instead I said “quite a bit + ch.” Yep, I swore and my adrenaline started to course through my veins. Was I met with disapproving stares? No, I was met with laughter! Mistakes are magic. They make you human in the eyes of your audience.

10. Memorizing

Memorizing puts the focus on getting everything just right in your presentation. It’s a constant inward focus on what’s coming next and the ceaseless pursuit of perfection, instead of  focusing outward to the audience. Don’t memorize — internalize. I like to group my presentations into chunks, i.e.; my intro is a chunk. That way I know what is coming next and I can keep it conversational.

11. Taking a pause

There is a myth that you must fill-up every second of your speaking time with words. If you pause, your audience will think you don’t know your material or somehow you’ll undermine your credibility. There’s noting wrong with taking a pause. If you need to catch your breath before you start your presentation, pause, make eye contact with the audience, smile then begin. Additionally, pausing let’s your audience’s brain process all that great information you are relaying.

12. Will they like me?

Presentations are not about you. They're about your audience. Create value for them, give them a great experience and don’t worry about you. Do your best to prepare before ever stepping on the stage. Then just enjoy the connection you make and serving other people.

Giving a presentation makes you vulnerable. It’s easy to fall into the trap of worrying about all the things that could go wrong —  making a mistake and how you are going to look on stage. However, with proper preparation and practice, you don’t have to sweat these worries during your presentation. It lets you focus on building a meaningful relationship with your audience.

How do you prep for presentation success? Share it in the comment section below.

This post originally appeared on 12Most and is reposted with permission, love and positivity.