Presentation Skills Training: 5 Secrets For Fearless Presenting

Being able to present to a small or large group, speaking in public, and standing in the spotlight can bring even the bravest leader to his or her knees. Public speaking is the number 1 fear of most business professionals. Discover 5 easy secrets to move from fear to fearless.

In today’s fast-paced environment, comfort and confidence in business presenting is a must. You must be able to present effectively to a group—whether it is a group of peers, your superiors, or important clients.

But what if presenting makes you feel nauseous, queasy or having the overwhelming urge to run out of the room? If you are experiencing symptoms of presentation anxiety, there is hope. Use these quick and easy secrets to escape the jitters and shine in any spotlight.

As you can see from the 5 secrets, it’s time to make friends with the entire process and practice of presenting. Let’s jump into each of these 5 powerful secrets.

Secret 1. Training Is Your Friend
Many professionals not only dread presenting, they also avoid presentation skills training. This is strange and faulty logic. When you take a professional training seminar, you’ll get valuable insights. You’ll learn step-by-step processes that make presenting in public much easier to do well—and to do without fear.

Secret 2. Technology Is Your Friend
With radical advances in technology, it’s time to ‘make friends.’ If you’ve been resisting presenting because you feel technophobic, all that’s about to change.

Technology has gotten much, much simpler. For example, it’s easier these days to add colorful graphics to your PowerPoint slides. Just click on the SmartArt icon and find the graphic that’s right for you.

If you truly can’t relate to high-tech presentations, then go low-tech. Use a whiteboard to sketch while your audience watches. As this is not used as frequently as slides, you’ll show up as creative and innovative.

Secret 3. Presenting Is Your Friend
As presentation experts advise: “you can do more for your career in a 5-minute presentation than you can achieve in 5-years at your desk.” Face-to-face presentations get you noticed by the top brass. Presenting well in front of your boss or senior leadership puts you on the fast-track.

Secret 4. Coaching Is Your Friend
If you’re in luck, your company provides targeted presentation skills training. But if you are caught in a downturn and budgets are tight, take matters into your own hands. Get personal coaching and you’ll get the focused attention you deserve.

More and more professionals are opting for personal coaching delivered virtually because it is convenient, affordable and customized to what you need most. This is hard to achieve in a traditional classroom with 12-40 participants.

Secret 5. Rehearsing Is Your Friend
This important secret could be the most important. Rehearsing. Practicing. Practice your script. Rehearse what you say. Rehearse how you move. Practice overcoming objections. Practice responding to questions. Practice to make the most of the technology. Practice personal strategies to present with total confidence.

Break out each part of presenting so that you can improve your skills. The more you practice—and get real-time feedback from a professional coach, the faster you’ll improve.

When you look at these 5 secrets, it’s easy to see that fearless presenting is a skill that is completely learnable. And yes, you can learn how to present your way to the top of your career.