 To beat nerves, practice the first minute of your presentation three
times as much as the rest. If you practice the entire thing five
times, practice the first minute 15 times.
It’s critical to get off to a strong start. You’re nervous. And if
you stumble at the beginning, you’re going to go downhill from
there. But if you do well at the beginning, you’re going to relax.
You’ll gain momentum and you’ll do fine.
Recently, one of our coaches was about to give a speech to a Rotary
Club. And for some reason he was particularly nervous. But he knew
his first line. : “I’d like to start with a statistic that comes
from a researcher at UCLA. . . ” He repeated that line 20 times in
his head as he waited for his turn to talk.
He stood up, his heart pounding. The first line came out perfectly.
The speech went great.
Practice the first minute over and over. It’ll get you off to a
strong start. And you’ll overcome your nerves.
At Speechworks we
help our clients learn how to communicate in a way that connects and
persuades. If you’re interested in becoming a great communicator
give us a call at 404-266-0888 or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net.
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