Presentations

LegacyUser

Hi, this seems like a really trivial problem compared to others here but I am so worried about this. I have my first ever presentation to present next Friday and I am so nervous. I can't eat, My heart beats in panic when I think about it, I am considering calling my lecturer and explaining how anxious I am in the hope I may be excused. I have it written and practiced but I am an extremely anxious person and I embarrass very easily. I feel so foolish because everyone has to do it but for me it's just terrifying. I know my voice is going to go crackly and my breathing will be all over the place. My friends say face my fears but this is something I simply can't do and it's so silly.

Can anyone offer any advise before I drive myself crazy?

Victor

What format is the presentation in? Is it verbal one to one or do you have to stand up in front of the class and give your 5 minutes?

LegacyUser

It is a 20 minute oral presentation in front of about 25 people with an open floor at the end for questions. It is my 4th year and have never been required to do anything like this before.

ogriofa

Helloooooooh
This is well publicised as the greatest fear felt by people across the world. I'm guessing you'll subscribe to that particular newsletter.

I had a presentation to do in front of all my lecturers and an external examiner. I can turn on the performer gene but the principal remains the same. Prepare.
I had a 7 minuter to do and so with the lights off in my bedroom I rehearsed it over and over. I mean for an hour at a time I would go through what I wanted to say over and over. In your bedroom with the lights turned off you can act it out. You can play it as you think youd play it, then you can be over flambouyant etc etc. This way you can get a feel for the type of approach you're going to go for. I did this until I knew it inside out, and then practised a few times a day after that.

You WILL be nervous. But so will everybody else. Also, IF you meet someone that reckons they'll be grand and just "go with the flow"... they nearly always make an arse of it.
If you prepare your stuff really well, you'll be fine.
Its college, they're not expecting a chilled out weather man like performance. In fact, the people that go for the "chilled out weather man like performance" can often be seen as arrogant.

Bet you'll be grand.

Type out your fears here.

Again, this is college, they'll be on your side. They know all too well how scary it is.

cafecolour

Have you practiced in front of your friends? Start with that - ask a few of your friends or flatmates to humour you and practice the presentation for them.

mysillyusername

Hi there...I know what you are feeling. But you know the topic you are talking about so what you should do is concentrate on talking slowly and clearly. You are in college 4 years you do know what you are talking about..so slow and clear is the way I usually go...

LegacyUser

hi

i was exactly like you when i was in college when it came to presentations. They would just freak me put - shaky voice, feeling sick - the works. Then I discovered a miracle I went to my doctor and told her my story about the presentations - she gave me these pills - im not sure if i should write the name of them up here but your doctor will know the name of them. They were performance anxiety pills or something like that. Well they worked a treat - I didnt shake or anything and usually id be dying. You just take one before the presentation ( I took two ) and the presentation went great. If you dont want to take a pill then I guess practice in front of a mirror until you are really confident that you know your stuff.

Contessa Raven

Hi OP,

I suffer from this same anxiety. It's called Glossophobia which is the proper name for a fear of public speaking.

I am also in my 4th year of college and ever since my 2nd year I've had about 2 presentations a year. I would sweat, hyperventilate, shake, get palpitations, my mouth would dry up and my voice wouldn't work on some occasions.

I know it's really scary and you think you'll mess up or that people will think you look stupid up there but trust me when I say that 90% of the other students feel the terror and are too busy worrying about their own presentations to criticise yours! I usually have a chat with the lecturer a week or so in advance to let them know how anxious I am. You find that they are always willing to offer words of reassurance (they probably won't excuse you though).

The only way I deal with this fear is to do it. Honestly, once you're up there you don't notice the time flying. And when you sit back down and think about it, it's never that bad. I usually ask a friend or even a classmate who I wouldn't know too well (cuz I know they won't try make me feel better) if it went ok. And I've yet to hear that I ruined it or didn't look like I knew what I was doing.

Honestly OP, there is nothing wrong with being nervous but try not to let it consume you.

Best of luck with it. I'm sure you'll do well!

CR

Victor

Talk to your lecturers. Ask them what assistance is available.

Most of your audience won't know when you've made a mistake unless (a) its blatant (b) it is something that the have in depth knowledge of.

I think start small and informal. Do you have a tutorial / study group or friends that you can give the presentation to and will give honest feedback? Try doing a 3-5 minute presentation to them first and build from that. Can you do your presentation for your lecturers first?

For things like this I am generally un-shy. However, when asked to give a 5 minute presentation by a lecturer on no notice and with no preparation on a subject I had noticed a pattern in*, but hadn't studied properly, I too was worried. So I asked the lecturer if I could do it after the break, which gave me an hour and it then it was no particular problem. So, put your thoughts in order and it is do-able - I was drawing on something I hadn't studied in 19 years.


* I'm doing a post-grad in statistics. My background is construction, although I did three honours science subjects in the Leaving Cert. The presentation was on the patterns I noticed in plot of body mass against brain mass in animals (I don't know if the people who collected the original data studied this). There is one pattern for mammals, but dinosaurs do not fit that pattern.

Within that pattern, there is clustering, so the elephants are together, felines and canines are together, different hedgehogs are together and primates are together (except for gorrillas due to their large muscle mass).

LegacyUser

This is exactly how I felt doing my 4th year presentation. I didn't eat beforehand and nearly got sick anyway, really built it up to be more than it was.

The bad news is that you're unlikely to be excused - if it's really extreme you may be allowed present to a smaller group. You should be able to ask to go first though, so you're not sitting listening to everyone else and working yourself up into a frenzy.

Best thing is to just go for it, as stated above, the time will actually fly, and the questions lecturers ask are to help show off what you know, not to catch you out. I got round the fear at the start by copying the style of a lecturer I liked and found interesting, and just switched it on. That was the first in a long line of presentations as I went on to do a PhD where there's definitely no escape!!

Speaking from experience - I promise you'll be so proud of yourself for doing it, and it does get easier with practice. Let us know how you get on x

LegacyUser

Thanks guys

LegacyUser

Read "Instant Confidence" by Paul Mackenna, and listen to the "mind programming cd" as he calls it that comes with it (even this by itself will help almost as much, but the benefit of reading is that it sets your mind up for the message the cd gives). You can get it online via Amazon (see the reviews) or in Easons or Waterstones.

Obviously the longer you have to use it the better as the point of it is to gradually turn you into a more confident person, but I think with even 3 days it will help you. I used to be a mess at presentations etc. but this really helped me. I have come very far - I went from being terrified and racing through 15 minute presentations in 5 minutes to giving a lecture/tutorial type set-up for an hour to 18 students recently despite only being a masters student. If it worked for me, it will work for anyone!

Some of his suggestions take a bit of mental work (e.g. using your imagination to look at your life on a cinema screen, positive visualisation etc.) but the trance he puts you in I think really does work. I like to listen to it in bed as added bonus is it send me off to sleep but just try to get started on the book and get at least one listen a day in between now and Friday. You'll do great, remember the majority of your classmates are in the same boat. Everybody just wants to get through it. By the way if you can swing it, try and be one of the first few to go up. Nothing is worse then waiting and waiting for your turn to come. Get it over with quickly and you'll feel so relieved.

To work on this issue in the longterm, you could also find a local toastmasters group - google it. This is a group open to anyone of any age that practices public speaking in a safe, non-judgmental environment once to twice a month and they will even give you feedback afterwards.