Back in October, I was asked to give a presentation to my colleagues at Penn State University on managing stage fright as part of our monthly professional development event for designers. I was both excited and honored to give this presentation. The following blog post is a quick summary of the points I discussed during this session.
I like to recommend three main strategies when trying to manage stage fright.
1. Prepare
2. Practice
3. Focus
There is actually quite a bit of information included in each of these strategies, so they are broken into three different posts. This first post is dedicated to preparation.
There are many people who feel completely comfortable speaking ‘off the cuff’ (also known as extemporaneously) but that isn’t for everyone, and there are a number of factors that are involved that can impact your ability to do so. Speaking ‘off the cuff’ isn’t just something a person does easily no matter who you are. You need to have a deep understanding of your material and you need to be able to construct a clear and cohesive pathway for your audience while giving the presentation. This isn’t an easy task and as we know, your brain can only focus on one task at a time.
Know your Content
For anyone giving a presentation, whether they are managing stage fright or not, I recommend being prepared. Put the time in. Know the information forward and backward so that if something happens, the presentation can still go on. The best way to do this is to begin planning the presentation for several weeks in advance.
Think of it this way. Professional actors begin rehearsing a play nearly two months in advance of the opening date. Why? Because they need to give a polished performance if they want you to believe in the world they are trying to create for you. If all the actors in a play gathered together the night before the opening and decided who was going to play which part, the performance would be a disaster. You might not be a professional actor, but you are on stage when giving a performance. If you are prepared and know your content, you’ll be able to handle anything.
Case in point – Several years ago, I was giving a presentation and I had three – count them three laptops fail as I was setting up. My laptop died unexplainably, so I switched to the laptop provided by the conference, which also died. A friend who was attending my session offered his laptop, which as soon as it was placed in my hands, also mysterious died. My entire presentation was to demo an online course with an active learning strategy. It was a full room. I had to give the entire presentation with no visual support and no notes. I wouldn’t have been able to do that without knowing my content.
Chunk your Content
This is a fairly basic, but almost critical design concept. Chucking, if you’re not familiar with the strategy, is to take the big picture and break it down into more manageable pieces. This does a couple of things for you.
1. It provides clear breaking points. These breakpoints can create an opportunity for you to reset if the presentation isn’t going well. If your audience’s attention seems to wain, once you reach a breakpoint, you can easily stop at the end of a chuck and switch strategies to re-engage them.
2. These chucks can also be used as a mental break for you. You can give your audience a moment to reflect on the information you’ve covered thus far, or you can have them discuss and share their thoughts with a neighbor. This allows you to step back, reflect, and reassure yourself. You can see that things are going well and so you can relax.
Plan for Moments of Engagement
One strategy that people don’t tend to use very often is engagement, but this is an amazing strategy to use if you’re really nervous. Why? Because now, it’s not just you on the stage. By engaging your audience, they essentially become your co-presenters. The difference is, you’re going to be far more prepared then they are – you have the advantage in the conversation. If you plan for moments of engagement, this also ties in beautifully with chunking.
With chunking, the natural break is there and ready to be used if you need it. But by planning to include moments of engagement, you have that breakpoint coming up which can really take the pressure off of you mentally. They can serve as a presentation progress bar. If you can make it to the first break, then you know you can survive the entire presentation.
Conclusion
When you’re dealing with stage fright, the more prepared you are, the more effectively you’ll be able to reassure yourself. This will lead to greater confidence and ultimately a stronger presentation. Good Luck!