Lots of presenters when asked what’s the one thing they’d like to do differently, would probably respond with “present with more confidence”. So what is it about presenting confidently that makes it so difficult for people to achieve this when standing in front of their audience? Is it lack of practise? Lack of training?

Typical reactions you may experience when presenting without the desired confidence are nerves / butterflies, mumbling, being inaudible, dry mouth. And of course, there are many more symptoms that people can suffer from when presenting. The strange thing is that many seemingly confident presenters also suffer from some of these symptoms!

So what do we need to do to become more confident? How can we improve our presentation skills? What effective confidence building techniques can you use to help you move into a more confident state when you are about to present.

There are lots of different techniques you can employ. You need to try out a few to find out those that work best for you personally. Here’s three things to start you off.

Be prepared. Know your audience, what makes them tick.Research your audience thoroughly. So that you can select the most important material in your presentation that is relevant and will be of interest.

Ensure you have a succinct outline to your presentation. Keep it straightforward with a definite beginning, middle and end. And restrict your main points to 3 in total. It will help you to stay on track and make it simpler for your audience to understand what you’ve got to say.

Try and speak more slowly. Lots of people speed up when they present ? when the nerves kick in. So be conscious of this and make an effort to keep in control. The temptation is always to get it over with. But if you think ’slow is best’ when you first start you will then be more in control of things and this will give you a more confident manner.

Try out these 3 simple ideas the next time you are asked to present. And you will find that you feel more confident before you start and that you feel more in control throughout your presentation.

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