As promised, I’m responding to some reader questions in December. This one’s from Stephen:
You’re prepared and well-rehearsed… and a minute into your presentation, you feel like you’re bombing. What do you do? Are there strategies that can help avoid a total collapse?
This is such a bad feeling, especially when you’ve prepared well. There are a number of strategies you can use here:
- First, pause and take a breath. It’s very easy to start to rush, to default to a “try to get this over with” intention, and that’s only going to make things worse.
- Remind yourself of your deliberate, positive intention. What impact do you want to have on your audience? How do you want them to feel?
- Sometimes facial expressions or body language in the audience can make you think you’re doing a bad job. Decide, then and there, that those people just look like that when they’re paying close attention, and move on. Don’t think about them, and definitely don’t worry about them.
- Don’t push. You’ve rehearsed—stay the course. There may be voices in your head urging you to be bigger or funnier or to try something new in an effort to get the audience back. Don’t listen to it—stay present.
- Finally, when you finish, get some genuine feedback from a source you trust. Ask a specific question: “At this point, I felt like the audience was confused,” or “Did this example work?” The input will give you more information, and you can apply it the next time you speak.
Thanks so much for the question, Stephen! Readers, send in your questions!
