Giving a presentation, whether in front of a complete stranger audience or a group of colleagues, remains a nightmare for many people! They lose sleep over it or are stressed by it and spend days, if not weeks, preparing. What makes presenting so difficult and dreaded? Or is it not really that at all? We try to discover it in this blog, in the hope that we can give you some support.

What causes the fear of presentations?

In order to tackle a problem, it is first important to understand it. Why is it that many people, including you, are so afraid of presenting? The fear of presenting is also called fear of speaking and has various forms. Some people suffer from this when speaking in front of family/friends. Others in front of a group of colleagues, or a full room of strangers. If you suffer from it, you are certainly not alone. Even directors regularly suffer from it.

The causes of fear of speaking can be different for everyone. However, people are usually afraid of the reactions. We all want to appear positive and be liked. When we present, we suffer from fear of failure, because we are afraid that people will react negatively to our story. What can also play an important role is performance pressure. That customer has to be won and that brings a lot of pressure that is sometimes difficult to handle. Fear of speaking generally has very natural and logical causes that affect us all. However, one person is more practiced in it, or less affected by it.

What can you do about that fear?

Unfortunately, there is no ready-made solution to help you or one of the employees overcome your (or his/her) fear of speaking. And yet there are a number of practical tips that can help you overcome your fear.

You are the expert

By far the most important tip we can give you is: realize that you are the expert! You made the presentation, and you almost certainly know more or at least as much about the subject as your audience. In short: you have a knowledge advantage. For this reason, few critical questions are often asked about the content of your presentation. The speaker is generally perceived as an authority/expert on the subject. By realizing that you know the most about the subject, you arm yourself against uncertainty and fear.

Visualize your presentation

Memorizing a presentation is tempting but not wise at all. By memorizing something you block yourself. If you don't remember something for a moment, you get stuck, which will only increase your fear. Use your sheets as a reminder! Use images that always remind you of the story you want to tell, and stop writing notes or annotations.

Use examples

Always use real-life examples in your story. This keeps it lively for the audience, but also ensures that the presentation remains close to you. By using examples from your own practice, your uncertainty about the lecture will quickly disappear.

Take the space

There's nothing worse than having to stand still. Many speakers remain frozen in place during their story. Doing this makes it impossible to relax. And it is precisely that relaxation that is very important to limit your anxiety. So take some space! Walk around the room, talk to some people, but don't stand still all the time.

Make sure you prepare well

And finally, make sure you prepare well! One of the best ways to allay your fears is to prepare your piece well. So don't memorize, but prepare thoroughly. Once the broad outlines of your story have been thought out and in your head, the actual reading is only 10% of the work. With good preparation, hardly anything can go wrong. So start on time and invest your time and energy in the main focus of your story, instead of memorizing the texts you want to present.

Training Convincing presentations

Hopefully these simple, practical tips can help you overcome your fear of speaking. And if you are not bothered by it yourself, you may be able to help your employees or colleagues by presenting them with these tips. Of course, Kenneth Smit can also help you overcome fear. We offer extensive training for this Convincing presentation .