“I’m the boss, and everyone looks up to me — but I freak out when I have to give a presentation.”

As a leader in your organization, what are you supposed to do when you’re asked to give a presentation — and despite the fact that everyone seems to THINK that you’re confident and have everything under control, the reality is that you’re incredibly nervous, and are freaking out a bit inside.

It’s a myth to think that the more senior or experienced someone is, that they’re always confident, and never nervous.

So what can you do to just plain calm down — and feel better about your presentation?

If you’re a corporate executive, business professional, entrepreneur or expert who needs to feel better about your presentations, here are a few tips to help you manage your nerves and shift your mindset, so that you continue to be seen as an expert, a role model, and a trusted leader that everyone looks up to.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

As a leader in your organization, it’s probably pretty fair to say that people look up to you. They expect that you always know what you’re doing, and that you always know what you’re talking about. They trust you, they see you as a role model, and they expect that you’re confident in every aspect of your work.

In other words, you can’t mess up.

And that’s A LOT of pressure.

So as a leader, what are you supposed to do when you’re asked to give a presentation – which inevitably happens very often – and you’re incredibly nervous about it, but you know that others THINK you’re confident so you really want to appear confident but you’re not….and you don’t have the tools to just plain CALM DOWN?

But you still get up and present in front of your employees, your clients, your team, your Board of directors. You get it done. And while you manage to project a strong outward exterior and you have the complete respect of your team, no one can tell that secretly, you’re freaking out a little bit inside.

It’s easy to get fooled into thinking that the higher level or more senior or experienced someone is, that they’re always confident, and never nervous.

But we know the truth.

So whether you’re a corporate executive, a high performing leader, an entrepreneur, a business professional….what are you supposed to DO when you’re really nervous about public speaking, you’re freaking out a little inside, but you have to look confident in front of your audience?

Here are 3 ideas that may help:

1. Shift your mindset – Focus less on yourself and how YOU feel, and more on the value that you can bring to the audience. What message do you want to get across to them? Why is it relevant to them? Why should they CARE about what you’re saying? When you’re focused on THOSE questions, that leaves much less time for you to worry about how nervous you are.

2. Preparation – Yes, I know that you are going from project to project, meeting to meeting, presentation to presentation, and there’s just no time to prepare. But please….resist the urge to wing it. Outline your presentation as best that you can in the time that you have, be mindful of what message you want to get across to your audience, and don’t overload them with too much information because they won’t be able to take it all in. Remember that being seen as a leader means that they need to TRUST that the information you’re presenting is valuable and important to them.

3. Finally…. if you’re finding that this process of ‘freaking out inside’ is getting tiring, and you want to take steps to get rid of it so that you can honestly FEEL like the leader that everyone sees you as….you may want to consider hiring a speaking coach. A coach that would be focused on YOU and your best interests, and integrates what YOU really want with what will work best for you as an individual. Someone who keeps you accountable and focused, and helps you get where you want to be as a speaker. As an executive speech coach, I’ve trained hundreds of individuals with THESE issues, and I’ve seen the breakthroughs and results.

Feeling anxious about public speaking – and freaking out a little inside every time you have to speak — can be managed, and can be overcome – and it doesn’t have to affect how others see you, or how you see yourself.

I’m Suzannah Baum. If this is something that you’re dealing with, let’s have a conversation about how YOU can get past the nerves, increase your confidence, and deliver presentations that KEEP you being seen as an expert, a role model, and a trusted leader that everyone looks up to.

You can be that speaker who shares a valuable message, and gains the trust of your audience.

You can be that speaker that speaks with confidence and poise.

You can be that speaker who presents a structured, focused, compelling message, every time you speak.  – and your team.

But they want to feel better, and feel less nervous about presenting, and they ALSO want to present a focused message, engage and connect with their audiences, and they want to continue to be seen as a leader every time they speak.

When they hire me for one-on-one speaker coaching to work through these issues, we accomplish some pretty incredible things, such as:

• The Executive VP of Sales at a pharmaceutical company whose sales conference presentation shared such a compelling story that not only was she able to turn bad news into a renewed motivation, it got everyone feeling engaged and excited to work as a team, AND it created a strong connection with the audience that lasted the entire week of the conference.

 

• The high achieving CEO who had to adopt an impactful presence, a smooth and polished delivery, the right conversational tone and rhythm – and who had to CALM DOWN – when interviewing Michelle Obama in front of a live audience of 10,000 people.

 

• The VP of Global Trade & Banking who was able to see a considerable improvement in confidence, comfort level, and readiness to deliver a presentation in front of an audience, after only one coaching session with me.

All of them started from a place of nervousness. And ended in a place of confidence, focus, audience engagement…and continued leadership visibility.

That’s the benefit of hiring a speaking coach like me. We work towards YOUR specific needs, within YOUR specific speaking style, to get the results that YOU feel are most important.

If you’re a leader and an action-taker, and this scenario speaks to you — then call me. You can always reach me at (514) 247-1761.

We’ll have a conversation about how you can get past the nerves, and create a structured, engaging and compelling presentation that you’ll be EXCITED about delivering, and that keeps you positioned as a leader.

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If you’d ever like to talk about the topics that get you in your element and energize you, and how to speak about them in a structured, engaging, and compelling way, then let’s get in touch. Contact me today!