uncontrollable nerves....

[Shurze]

I was required to give a presentation this morning with no visual aids allowed as part of my degree. i spent the majority of the last couple of days preparing it and i thought i had it down to a tea.. but as soon as it came down to it i adopted a serious case of parkingsons desiese and my mind went completely blank.
this never usually happens to me as i am usually quite confident and calm.. but the pressure seemed to kill me
any suggestions about how to stop this from happening in the future?

Shurze

[AtWork]

DRINK!

Or maybe just remember its not life or death and the people you're presenting to are only human. You know your stuff, they want you to be good at what you're doing so just chill.

[Arese]

See your GP and ask for Beta-blockers? I wouldn't suggest them as a long-term thing though.

[Landlord]

Practice.

Seriously. Was this the first time you've had to do it? The next one will be better and so on until you really don't bat an eye-lid at the prospect.

[bazking69]

Hip flask of JD.

[sneijder]

Look at the back wall, or imagine them nekkid.

[Steamer]

Do another one as soon as you can.

It only becomes natural when youve done a few - good & bad. Its just a case of learning to trust yourself (as with most things).

[dudleybloke]

smoke some weed!

[sleep envy]

Shurze said:

any suggestions about how to stop this from happening in the future?

keep presenting and don't waffle on about things you don't know about

the more you do it the less it will phase you

at the start of my career I'd be very nervous presenting in front of clients or other consultants, now it doesn't bother me at all

[Neil H]

Landlord said:

Practice.

Seriously. Was this the first time you've had to do it? The next one will be better and so on until you really don't bat an eye-lid at the prospect.

Practice is the only way. I always found it easier if I was well prepared, but it sounds like you had that covered. Cue cards can help you remember if you get lost at any point.

I had to do presentations at Uni and hated them, but I did get better with each one.

[RobM77]

I'd second the drink idea One of our groups at Uni used to pop down the pub before presentations. Just one or two though, otherwise things can get messy

Seriously though, all I can say is that the more you do it the easier it becomes.

[shirt]

practice is the only way, and confidence in your material and the fact you know from experience the world isn;t going to end simply by standing up in front of a room full of people.

i did a group project in 2nd year uni and when it was my turn to speak my mind went completely blank. looked a right knobhead as i simply couldn't remember what the hell i was supposed to say, my groupmates were less than impressed!

these days i am so used to it that it doesn't bother me at all.

do as many as you can at uni, makes all the difference when going for graduate interviews that require you to present.

[Shurze]

it was the first time on my own, but i have given a few in the past as a group and survived fine..

Alcohol seems to be the preferred remedy .. not sure this would go down to well with my lecturers, although it would make for an interesting speech..

[308mate]

Its likely that your uni has a "Toastmasters" society/club.

Joining one of these is good for boosting confidence for public speaking.

[norby1]

AtWork said:

Or maybe just remember its not life or death and the people you're presenting to are only human.

This worked for me...just the realisation that they all have to sit down to have a st, the same as I do....


EFA

Edited by norby1 on Friday 11th December 11:57

[rhinochopig]

Shurze said:

it was the first time on my own, but i have given a few in the past as a group and survived fine..

Alcohol seems to be the preferred remedy .. not sure this would go down to well with my lecturers, although it would make for an interesting speech..

Closing with the immortal phrase "eyes fuuckkkin' luv you" is probably not the ideal closing statement, I'll grant you that.

[RobM77]

If it makes you feel any better, I'm a trainer, so I regularly stand up in front of people and speak. If I haven't done it for a while, then I get nervous, even though it's been my job on and off for about eight years. Doing it again and again is the only way to calm nerves really.

It's the same with anything: if I get in a racing car for the first time in six months for the first few laps I'm thinking "what the hell am I doing here? This is ludicrously dangerous!", but after a few laps I'm back in the swing of it with a smile on my face

[ukwill]

down to a tea eh?

Edited by ukwill on Friday 11th December 12:03

[Daniel1]

i always used to pretend i was Tony Blair. No joke, because it made it very easy to lie and talk bks because you could copy the way he acts, his speech, his hand movements and come off very convincing

[V8mate]

Rescue Remedy. A few drops under the tongue.