Whatever be your position, as a working professional or as an Entrepreneur you need to connect with people to share your ideas and to put your points across. This could be  while addressing a large audience, or meeting a small group or even while meeting your seniors or team members.  Research shows that more 75% people fear public speaking. What it means is that when they don’t speak up or express themselves they could land up missing opportunities or even negotiating a lose-win solution for themselves. This can impact their self confidence and even career growth. Most of the times these fears are because of some prior experience or conditioning during the growing up years.

However, with a little work on these skills it is possible to overcome these fears and cross the mental blockage of public speaking or Presentation Skills. Here are 5 tips to help you overcome your fears and  confidently present your ideas when it is your turn.

Tip #1 : Start with a topic you are most comfortable with, something you feel passionate about. If you are getting an opportunity to speak or express to an audience, do your homework  and prepare well for the topic. Read, Listen to Podcasts, join communities with similar interests. This will boost your confidence. When you know the topic well, it will help you speak about it without hesitation.

Tip #2 : Focus on the audience : If you are getting an opportunity, use it to solve the problem of your audience. Don’t talk from your perspective only and never make it only about yourself. It is important to focus on their needs and how you or your solution can help solve their problems.  That will get them interested.

Tip #3 : Prepare Well : Plan for the questions that can come up.  Think through them. Prepare how to answer them and you will never fear any questions thrown at you.

Tip #4 : Take away the  attention from yourself to your audience : When It’s time to present or share your thoughts, don’t think about your performance. Your audience is not there to bring you down, they are there to take away something which would be of value to them.  When you focus on yourself, especially from a space of fear, it leads to performance anxiety which stops you from being your best.

Tip #5 : Take a Pause : A pause allows time to your audience to digest what you said and also helps you put your thoughts together. More importantly, it also breaks the monotone in your voice which can make  your speech more interesting.

I conduct trainings on “Present to Impact” to help you make Impactful Presentations and influence others. To know more, connect with me.