£0.00 (0 items)

You have not selected any courses

Are Communication Skills at an all Time Low?

Posted by administrator
Published on 23 October 2022

It's natural to feel nervous before a high-profile speech or presentation. In our fear of public speaking course, we introduce several strategies to help you manage your nervousness.

You have just been told that you will get a promotion, and you ask yourself - do I have the communication skills to cut it?

Your newfound joy is quickly dampened by the realization that your new role includes regularly presenting to senior management, and you are scared stiff.

What do you do?

Perhaps you enrol on a presentation skills course, and while on that course, you feel your nerves ebb away with each presentation you give and each piece of feedback you receive. One month later, you are to give your first presentation at work, and the nerves just flood back as though the training course meant nothing.

There are many simple ways to avoid this dreaded possibility, most of which are very straightforward.

Firstly be prepared, which means fully researching your subject and, as far as possible, your audience. Confidence increases considerably when you know your subject and know that no question from the audience can throw you.

TIP 1: All presenters naturally feel more at ease answering a question (assuming they know the answer) than they do present, so, if possible, get a plant in the audience to ask you an agreed question early on in the presentation; any nerves will simply vanish!

Knowing your audience will allow you to structure your presentation in a way that will hold their interest; seeing the audience interested in what you are saying will boost your confidence.

Secondly, try your presentation on trusted colleagues and get them to tell you what works and doesn't. Doing the presentation is a guaranteed way to feel more at ease on the day.

Thirdly, do not worry about making a mistake. Joking about it can smooth the incident while endearing you to your audience.

TIP 2: Plan to make a harmless mistake early on and have a prepared humorous follow-up. The tension between you and the audience melts as rapidly as ice in the desert. You could say perhaps, "I fully expect sales to exceed £3,000 this month" (when you and the audience are expecting a figure of around £300,000), hesitate briefly, say, "oh well, I'd better cancel the family holiday to Australia that I'd planned with my bonus this year!" Then follow up with, "of course, I meant £300,000".

TIP 3: Break the ice by meeting a few people from your audience before you speak; you will find that making eye contact with those people will be a great aid in making you feel at ease while you're speaking.

Finally, deep breathing does help to relieve tense muscles, a quaking voice, and a queasy stomach. It also helps to sit in a chair and contract and relax your arm muscles. You can feel a big difference after doing this, but if you become tense again, simply repeat it or try it with other muscles, especially the neck muscles. Always have some water handy to prevent your mouth from becoming dry.

Try these tips, and you will soon see that your confidence will rapidly increase. Also, make sure you do as many presentations as possible; the more you do, the easier it gets. And the very best of luck!

Communication skills matter, It's difficult to develop a progressive career path without them.

If you're looking to enhance your professional skill set or want to help a colleague on the road to success, enrol in our Public Speaking Classes This executive public speaking course helps you to polish your skills so you can present comfortably to the board and other industry professionals.

Overcoming your fear of public speaking,
sign up for one of our courses today!


See our courses

Testimonials

  • "An exceptionally useful day's training, delivered in a positive and personanable manner, very enjoyable and significant food for thought. Thank You."

    Diane Wilson - DCI Notts Police
  • "The anxiety is gone - now that I understand it. Not only can I make a presentation - I feel I have so much to give now. It's quite a transformation."

    John Eden
  • "Since attending the course, I feel like a completely different person; more confident, relaxed and easy going. I gave a speech at work last week and it went so so well."

    Ben Harding
hsbc
oxfam
bt
sky
hm treasury
deutsche bank
  Contact us