If you have experience of public speaking/presentations PLEASE come and help me

[NervousNeel]

I’m a very junior manager. A small fish in a large pond. Our department recently piloted a new way of working which has worked out very very well for the company.

My manager has been asked to organise a whole day where we are presenting the process and findings to the top executives and all higher level managers.

She wants me to present the segment behind how we came up with the idea and the process behind the new way of working for 40 minutes.

I appreciate her putting me forward for it, she’s very keen I get recognition for my part in it but I am TERRIFIED.

This group of people are the top of the top within our organisation. I’ve had three people pull the same face when I told them today (a very much “gosh good luck” face!). All very supportive and telling me it’s great exposure but all I can focus on is what if I get up there and start stumbling and make a fool of myself and die a death.

Im usually great at faking it but this is way out of my comfort level. PLEASE if you have experience of public speaking give me your tips. I know there’s loads of high level important women on here who probably listen to presentations all the time - I need help please

So much good advice here.
I do lots of presenting too. One thing that helps me when I'm nervous, is how I frame those nerves in my mind.
When you're nervous your heart beats faster, you breathe faster, you're adrenaline surges... But this is also true when you're excited. Tell yourself, "I'm excited to... share my presentation/to show these guys my amazing work/etc". Your brain doesn't know the difference between nerves and excitement, so tell yourself that over and over and it honestly does help the nerves go away.

Also, if you're giving the presentation with the main aim in your mind of being enthusiastic to share your work, as opposed to being nervous of making a fool of yourself, you will feel calmer, happier, and it's way way way more likely to go well.

Get your mind in a good place (as above), know your stuff, and practice practice practice! Record yourself and listen back. Slow down, and take plenty of pauses.

I have a phobia of public speaking - I asked my manager for her tips as she is a very charismatic natural speaker. It transpires that she is not a natural speaker and what she does is

• Write out what you want to say in a speech including pauses (ie write a large PAUSE in caps)
• then practice is 10 times in front of mirror, to video, to friend

10 times makes sure you have it but gives you the confidence when you get up that you know it. Have the speech to hand on the day in case you need to refer to it.

Everyone now thinks I'm a natural speaker!

If you are a natural speaker then you won't need to over prepare but if not try this - it has worked for me. For questions, think of the 10 most likely questions and prepare an answer. Anything else try answer on the fly or you can always say you will come back to them with a fuller response.

Good luck!!

Can you do your presentation to your own department as a rehearsal?

On the potentially difficult COO questions:

You always have the 'I can't answer that right now but can get that information to you after this session.' option. Perfectly valid.

Also, you can be honest, if the tough question comes up say something like 'That's a great but tough question (biding for extra time)...'I can say this (say the bit you can answer) but on X I'd need to come back to you.' Or indeed ' Kate (colleague)...what do you think on that one?'

I assume you haven't worked on this in isolation, so pre agree to defer to your team colleagues in areas where you know less.

Also a public forum like a talk isn't really suitable for a deep grilling tbh, so when I've faced combative/challenging questions that are derailing a session, I've tended to go with 'I'd love to set a session with you to go over that, let's set that up after today.'

Might not be appropriate for you and your COO, I just use it as an example of how you can difuse challenging situations professionally.

Practicality. @NervousNeel

Make sure you have a glass of water handy. My mouth can go ‘bone dry’ leaving me unable to manage words!

In fact I found a tic- tac under my tongue was unobtrusive and helped.

From feedback when I have carried out presentations the audience relate to personal experience and anecdotes. ( not over used of course).

I get so nervous - but know that others don’t see it.

Good luck.

I have never used cue cards apart from one disastrously occasion and never again (for me... I know they work for many).

If you are using PowerPoint or similar, I would massively recommend a clicker. It means you can move around and look at your audience and not worry about forwarding slides via the mouse or keyboard.

Also, go big with pictures and small with text. Tell your story but take out as many words as possible. If they're reading bullet points, they're not listening. Plus, reading out what's in the screen is dull.

I keep meaning to read How to Own the Room... But there's a podcast of it too now.

Think of it as if you were telling all your mates about it. Write it as you would tell the story. Tell it over and over again. No one will judge you. They want to head your story.
Keep it simple.
Tell them what you are going to tell them.
Start the story & tell the story.
Recap
Whilst telling them, think of them as just a bunch of people who want to head your story

As everyone has said, it’s about preparation. But to help you, you can always be creative, film interviews with colleagues to play as part of your presentation, ask questions of the audience, plant some questions for the Q&A etc.
to help with delivery it’s worth watching some TED talks to see how professional presenters work. Good luck!

Practice out loud at home.
Don't speak too quickly. Speak at a steady pace and pronounce your words clearly.
If you have long hair make sure it is pinned/tied away from your face. Possibly some listeners will not be able to look straight at you. I have been thinking of training days at work when I was a listener, so I would also suggest that you don't fidget or pace about or rock from one foot to another.

Prepare

Practise

Look at the audience and smile at them - people in all seats

If you start to panic stop .. sorry let me try they again and smile at everyone again

The audience will know what it's like and will be wanting you to be ok - they will be on your side

If you do get a duck head , "boss could you comment on that ?"

I also use a 'car park' flip chart. Write all the questions if there isn't time or you have to get back to people. Or you can be sneaky and use a tool like post-it sorting or even an electronic version like Poll Everywhere to get all the questions and answer the ones you want.