Let’s face it. We all have at some point in our lives experienced undue stress, nervousness, stage fright, wobbly legs and sweaty palms when having to present in front of an audience. By far, delivering a presentation seems to be the worst nightmare for some professionals as it is for students.

With the current state of competition, most businesses, if not all, require employees, especially the newly-hired staff, to have a combination of personality and confidence that’s befitting of their organisation’s image and values. You never know when you may be asked to present in front of managers, delegates, coworkers and department members.

Ironically so many industry professionals as well as students are found under duress when they experience projector failures or immobilised computers and laptops or even data drive failures. It goes to show how unprofessional and weak the presenter really is. In fact, to make matters worse, presenters fail to maintain eye contact, use micro-sized fonts, and try to memorise or read directly from the screen or paper when the audience can actually read faster to make headway.

We all know there is no one presentation that is perfect but it is the work ethic of carefully planning, rehearsing and delivering an effective presentation that plays the differentiating factor. The following tactics can help presenters control their anxiety while mastering the art:

Prepare — the mind and the body Accept the fact that you are going to present. Do thorough research and develop a mindset — you can deliver the presentation. Know that you are bound to make mistakes as is everyone else but in the end it all depends on how well you present and not how focused and enthusiastic you are. Ask yourself what is the real objective — to add to the audience’s knowledge by sharing new and valuable information or do you really want to kill them with utter boredom and information that they already know. Once you find the answer, you can begin preparing your slideshow presentation.

Know your venue Time management is the key to delivering an effective presentation. Arrive early and get yourself familiarised with the setup and the room or auditorium, fixtures, walking space, visual aids to be utilised when presenting and any distractions that can be done away with.

Know your audience No doubt, it is always easy to present in front of friends and familiar faces, but presenting in front of an unknown audience is what proves your mettle. One should not forget that if it is difficult to present in front of an audience, it is more difficult to sit and listen to a dry and boring presentation. The key is to get used to them and to try and control them and their emotions. Be a professional and dress appropriately. Try to arrive early and greet some of the audience who walk into the entrance of the venue. This will allow you to get familiarised with a few faces, if not the personalities, egos and attitudes present in the room.

Know your material Just like the cliché ‘practice makes perfect’, if you are not well-prepared and are not confident about your material, it is almost guaranteed that your nervousness will increase. Practice again and again and plan how you are going to deliver each part of the material and not bore the audience. Another important piece of this puzzle is the question and answer session that follows after the presentation. If you are knowledgeable and have genuinely prepared the content you are presenting, not only will you end up delivering a powerful presentation that is natural, you will also emerge as a good speaker.

Relax and visualise Visualisation is the key. First imagine yourself as the audience and what you would like to hear. Once you have envisaged this, try to visualise yourself speaking to the audience. Think about common failures that you may experience and what would you do if you were experiencing difficulty connecting with the audience and any other shortcomings that you can think of. Then, visualise how you can avoid all those failures and be successful. If you can imagine yourself as successful, there is nothing stopping you from being successful.

Never apologise Whatever you do, do not ever apologise. This is the only time in your life when you can remain silent about it. Yes, even after making an error or for any problems you think you have encountered, do not apologise. The audience may or may not have noticed the mistake or problem but if you give them a chance to doubt you, you are doomed. It is only in the case of power failure, which is beyond our control that the speaker may be apologetic but otherwise, your equipment and presentation should be nothing short of flawless.

Message v medium Content is key. Without a strong medium, no message can effectively be delivered. If you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can be a better judge of yourself. Do not think about or focus on your weaknesses and negative energy. Instead, pay more attention to the message and content you are trying to convey, not the medium. Soon you will notice that all the pieces of the puzzle are working in your favour and your nervousness and anxieties are beginning to disappear.

Be positive Be a sport and have a ‘can do’ attitude. The negative energy from nervousness and procrastination can gradually be turned into positive energy if the above steps are well aligned and incorporated into every presentation. If you can transform the negativity arising from your weaknesses and dig deep into your hearts and minds to make a lasting impression and giving the audience something positive to talk about, you have begun your journey to success where no presentation will ever give you a fret.

The truth is that nobody remembers who’s second-best so in the context of professionalism it is important to always be well prepared and give your absolute best, even if it does not win you any accolades or awards. What matters at the end is that you should be content about giving your 100 per cent, and the rest will all fall in its place. Just remember to always believe in yourself.

The writer, a member of the American Society for Training and Development, works as faculty at IQRA University and as career counselor at Bahria College.