It can be nerve-wracking delivering a big presentation to a room full of colleagues – especially if you’re not the most polished public speaker. The fears are mostly overblown, especially because most of the time people won’t pay too close of attention to you anyway.
Seriously, think about your last class. Odds are, you were probably concentrating more on not falling asleep or daydreaming about what to eat for lunch instead of listening to your teacher.
Most people sitting in presentations at your office are behaving in the same manner, thinking about something else while desperately hoping the meeting doesn’t run long. That’s it. They are certainly not expecting you to be the next great orator of our time and they are not judging you as much as you think.
On one hand it might be disappointing to know you’re probably not as important as you would like to be, commanding everyone’s attention. But on the other hand, it’s incredibly freeing to know the world won’t end if you flub a line or become too sweaty. In fact, mistakes are unavoidable. While it’s important to work diligently to really learn and know your subject matter, remember you can’t be perfect – remembering this means you won’t freeze up in the spotlight if something minor goes wrong.
Now that we’ve outlined why to keep calm, we know you still want to nail that presentation at work or school. Check out this playlist of eight fantastic Ted Talks on better public speaking and you’ll be on your way! Good luck!
