“All the great speakers were bad speakers at first.”

Remember, the last presentation you delivered? Were you nervous? Be honest.

Mark Twain once said, “There are only two types of speakers in the world: the nervous and the liars.”

We all experience presentation anxiety. The real question is, how to reduce it.

Below are three methods you can use to reduce your anxiety:

Many engineers experience anxiety because they are unsure how their audience will react. Thorough preparation and repeated practice are the best antidote.

There is no more effective and time-efficient way to reduce anxiety than to practice your delivery. Brian Tracy said, “Practice doesn’t make perfect; it makes permanent.”

As you practice your delivery over and over, it becomes a permanent part of your memory. In practice, you will tend to deliver it the way you last rehearsed it.

Know your material beyond the slides. When you understand the “why” behind the data, you can speak naturally instead of trying to memorize every word. This cannot be overemphasized.

Earl Nightingale said, “Speak ideas, not words.” Know the subject thoroughly and speak in your normal conversational style. You will increase your credibility, engage your audience, and convey your material more completely.