How to Give a Great Presentation, Even if You’re Super Anxious about It

I recently worked closely with a 24-year-old client—let’s call him Martin—who was tapped to deliver a five-minute presentation at his company’s annual Town Hall meeting. Martin had never given a public speech in his professional life, but his accomplishments impressed his supervisors, and they wanted Martin to share his success with the rest of the organization.

Martin would have felt rightfully honored and proud, but one dominant feeling dwarfed all the others: abject fear.

With three weeks until the event, that’s where Martin and I started—with his fear. Below, I’m sharing eight pieces of advice I offered to help him manage his anxiety, build an engaging presentation, and convey it with confidence.

It’s not about you. It’s about your point.

Many people would rather pour hot soup over their heads than speak in public, but that aversion is not really a fear of public speaking. It’s a fear of public humiliation—that you will somehow screw it up and embarrass yourself.

But here’s the thing: Your presentation is not a public speaking contest and you’re not being judged. You’re not even a performer; you’re a presenter, moving important concepts from your head to your audience’s heads. (That’s why you “deliver” a presentation).

Shifting the spotlight from yourself to your ideas can make you less anxious because it focuses you on your real job—not to be amazing, charismatic, or entertaining, but to effectively convey your point.

Know your point

Of course, you must know your point in order to convey it. But don’t make the mistake of confusing your point with a broad topic or theme. Typically, your point is a contention that a specific idea will lead to a successful outcome.

Once you understand your contention, ask yourself four easy questions:

What is the idea?
What tactics make the idea successful?
What is the impact of that success?
What can others learn from that success?

The answer to those four questions—supported by data, stories, or reasoning—is your presentation. Boom.

Adjust as necessary, but a five-minute presentation means answering each of those questions for a rough average of 75 seconds each. And so long as you make a point, no audience will ever complain about you running short.

Let your notes support you

Think of your speaking notes as you would a shopping list: shorthand reminders (no complete sentences) of what you need to cover and in what order. Your notes may be lengthy at first but shorten them during your practice as you rely on them less and less.

Remember: Your notes are there to support you, not script you. Audiences want you to relay your points, not read them.

Get loud

Whether you’re in a room or a Zoom, volume is critical to making powerful points. In addition to making you more audible, increased volume instantly conveys authority, confidence, leadership, and competence.

I run an exercise in my workshop in which I ask every participant to speak in a louder voice, then ask other students to weigh in on the resulting differences in that person’s overall impression. Universally, I hear reactions like “more assertive,” “more confident,” and “more persuasive,” whether or not the speaker was, in fact, more assertive, confident, or persuasive. That’s the value of volume.

Be yourself

A day before his presentation, Martin messaged me with a series of sudden questions: How often should I gesture? What happens if I sneeze or say “umm”? Should I start with a joke?

My answer to all: “Be yourself.”

Audiences respond best to authentic, even flawed human behavior because they can relate to it as fellow human beings. Coming across artificial, on the other hand, breaks that connection, reduces your engagement, and harms your reputation.

So if you’re comfortable gesturing, gesture. If you need to sneeze, sneeze. If you’re funny, be funny. Being your most authentic self will also best convey your personal conviction for your points.

Practice meaningfully

Effective practice is about having your mind and your mouth act together to produce points. When you mumble your presentation—as we often do when we practice—you’re only practicing one of those two key elements. To practice meaningfully, say it out loud and in real time. You don’t need an audience, a camera, or a mirror (in fact, avoid practicing in front of mirrors entirely). All you need is time and space to run through your full presentation.

This is also the only way to know precisely how long your presentation will run.

Turn nervous energy into excitement

Studies show that toggling from nervous energy to excitement may be as easy as telling yourself “I’m excited” every time you think “I’m nervous” because the reactions are closely related. Try saying, “I’m excited. I’m excited. I’m excited” in the minutes and moments before your presentation.

Chances are good you will come across as excited, exuding passion for your point versus anxiety in your performance.

Kill Roy

Meet Roy. He’s the voice in your head constantly trying to destroy your confidence, whispering things like, “you’re boring them,” “this is not going well,” and “you’re embarrassing yourself.” But know this: Roy is a liar. He’s the voice of your insecurity, trying to make you feel more self-conscious, not less.

I hear Roy with my own ears whenever a workshop student starts a presentation with “I’m pretty nervous…” or ends with “Sorry, I know that wasn’t great.” The ironic thing is that these presenters never came across as nervous or underwhelming. That’s just Roy, doing whatever he could to sabotage the presentation.

The good news is that confidence is Roy’s Kryptonite. Recognize that the voice in your head is lying and let your faith in your abilities and your points diminish Roy’s impact until no one can hear him.

After lots of practice, Martin eventually nailed his presentation, coming across focused, confident, and passionate (which was confirmed in a follow-up survey including hundreds of staff).

To the audience, Martin “did a great job,” but he knows, I know, and you know that he succeeded not because he was born a great public speaker or has a special gene for fearlessness. Martin succeeded because he knew his point, his job, what mattered most, and what didn’t matter at all.

Joel Schwartzberg