Conquering Past Anxiety

Conquering Past Anxiety and Winning Your Audience

If anxiety over a past, failed presentation has robbed you of confidence, join the club. All of us can recall times when we have blown a presentation or said something we didn’t mean and have reaped the consequences. GOOD NEWS! If you are reading this that means that failure did not kill you.

Here are some basic tips to regaining your confidence and your audience all at the same time.

If you are addressing a new audience, the best advice is to forget about the past. The past is the past and the people to whom you’re speaking have no idea what happened before.

If you are addressing the audience or most of the audience that heard your blunders, you can have lots of fun with this. During your preparation, plan to address your past fumble right up front using humor. Think of ways to let the audience know that you’re not perfect. For example. If the last presentation had all of your PowerPoint slides mixed up, you could say, “Unlike last time, I let my 4 year old son put together my PowerPoint so it will be much better!” Simple self-deprecating statements let’s everyone know you’re human and offers you a second chance.

Obviously, if you are constantly unprepared or are not getting any better at public speaking, you will need to make it your goal to get better. Period. Otherwise, all the excuses in the world will not win your audience over the long term.

For more resources on winning your audience, and overcoming anxiety, go to resources for better public speaking

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