problems during presentation

[ankur rathi]

Whenever I have to give any presentation, My heart beats goes fast. I don't know but its true. What I want to say, can't say properly.

What is this? lake of confidence...
How to improve on that.
Please help.

Thanks a lot.

[Chetan Parekh]

Well in the beginning of my career I faced same problem. But lucky someone suggested me to read motivational books that bring self confidence in you. I suggest you to read The Power Of Positive Thinking, it really nice book.

Read book and other material about presentation skill / communication skill / negotiation skill. I have also found that reading books about seduction also give some useful tips. Attend any public speaking and communication improvement workshop. Auto-suggestion technique is also very helpful in some cases.

The most important thing is when anybody is giving presentation (at office / in TV / Radio / in public ) just observe them and try to adopt good presentation skill from them.

[gov kur]

I have also found that reading books about seduction also give some useful tips.

yeah.... if nothing else works seduce the boss.. and i guess that book also has a movie version of it

[ankur rathi]

Originally posted by Chetan Parekh:
Well in the beginning of my career I faced same problem. But lucky someone suggested me to read motivational books that bring self confidence in you. I suggest you to read The Power Of Positive Thinking, it really nice book.

Read book and other material about presentation skill / communication skill / negotiation skill. I have also found that reading books about seduction also give some useful tips. Attend any public speaking and communication improvement workshop. Auto-suggestion technique is also very helpful in some cases.

The most important thing is when anybody is giving presentation (at office / in TV / Radio / in public ) just observe them and try to adopt good presentation skill from them.

Thank you very much Chetan.


Could you please let me know the author of 'The Power of Positive Thinking'.
Thanks again.

[Chetan Parekh]

Check Here

[Chetan Parekh]

If you are at Mumbai, you can easily get the same book near Flora Fountain by paying 40-50 Rs.

[ankur rathi]

Thanks Chetan.

[ankur rathi]

Any other suggestions???

Thanks a lot.

[R K Parulekar]

Yes,remove below lines from your reply,just shows your negative approach.

Sun Certified Java Programmer 5.0 Beta (311-055) - 05/03/2005 - Failed
IBM Object-Oriented Analysis and Design with UML (486) - 25/06/2005 - Failed
IBM XML and Related Technologies (141) - 28/06/2005 - Failed
IBM WebSphere Portal V5, Application Development (348) - 29/06/2005 - Failed

[Chetan Parekh]

I don't think so.

You have to be a brave enuff to display those.

[Dharam Singh]

What is so brave there?

[Sameer Jamal]

Public speaking is one thing which people are most afraid of, dont think that you are the only person who is afraid of giving the presentations. When I did my MBA in first semester it was the problem which most of my batchmates faced, but slowly and gradually we all improved our presentation skills. I dont think any book will help you much in this regard its the practice which makes the man perfect.

[Damanjit Kaur]

Well, when I make some presentation, the moment I look at people's faces I forget what I was going to say. So I just pretend to look at them i.e. I just look at the top of their heads.

My hands start getting cold before the presentation and so I prefer to drink coffee before I go for it.

I gain back all my strength the moment people start asking me questions. As at that moment I feel the whole thing is not very formal and I can feel relaxed and cool. So I make the presentation in a way that others are poked to ask me questions and in this way they also don't fell asleep during the presentation.

To gain positive thinking I prefer to have as much knowledge as I can about the subject on which I am going to make the presentation. Otherwise I just don't feel confident as I don't have good skills to manage the situations when somebody ask me something which is out of my knowledge.

So all in all, Rathi ji, perhaps you need to first find out your weaknesses, feelings (I mean - why you are feeling that way?) and then it will be very easier for you to get over them.

[Jayesh Lalwani]

What I like to do before presentations is imagine that I'm giving the presentation to one person that I'm comfortable with in a professional environment.

One day before the presentation, go through a *dry run* of the presentation:- Pick any one person whom you talk day to day with , say your boss or a colleague. Go through that entire presentation as if you are giving the presentation to that one person. Once you have the flow of the presentation in your head, you simply have to repeat the process in front of other people. In the actual presentation, your brain won't freeze thinking about what you are going to say next. It works even better if you can convince your boss/colleague to volunteer for the dry run

[Marc Peabody]

See if there's a Toastmasters club in your area. If not, you could always start one.

[Stan James]

Hey, you beat me to Toastmasters. Good suggestion. Practice helps, even if it's just you in a quiet room somewhere.

Avoid reading PowerPoint slides out loud. People will quickly look for beams over which they can loop their belts and hang themselves. Don't let PowerPoint destroy your message: http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/

[Mehul Sanghvi]

What has helped me the maximum over the years is:
a) Almost complete knowledge of what I am going to speak about.
b) Timing the presentation with some buffer time for small talk with the audience.
c) Practicing in front of a full length mirror (helps to understand and change your body language)
d) See if you want to adjust the temprature or lights of the room before the presenation starts.. (Maybe switch off the A.C. blower pointing right where you are going to stand!)
e) Incase you dont know anyone from your audience, get yourself acquainted. (Works with audience of less than 20-25 people)
f) Outline the content at the begining and if possible at the end of the presentation.
g) Meet the eyes of the listeners as you speak, moving your gaze from one section of the audience to another.
h) Most importantly RELAX and enjoy your own presentation!

Hope this helps.

[Suresh Naidu]

This occurs when you are worried about being judged or fear of failure.
One technique is consider you are talking to people who don't know or not capable to understand about your presentation.
Other technique is tell yourself "Today i am going to make ... this many mistakes" .This sets you free from fear of failure.
This is additional to every thing whatever is said in previous posts.
[ September 30, 2005: Message edited by: Suresh Naidu ]