Halloween is just a few days away, and that means it’s time to face your fears. One of the greatest fears that entrepreneurs often have to overcome is public speaking, and it’s not an easy one to get over. The thought of being judged by your peers or, worse yet, people you look up to can be crippling for some, but you can only achieve greatness by tapping the potential within you. If you have an upcoming work presentation that’s giving you the heebie-jeebies, here’s how you can trick yourself into thinking work presentations are a treat!

Prepare & Practice

The two P’s are of vital importance when it comes to facing your fear of presentations. Preparation and practice both significantly reduce the chance of a noticeable mistake being made when the time for your big presentation comes. Having thorough knowledge of the topic at hand makes it much easier to recover if you do end up going off track and practicing your speech over and over will reduce your overall level of anxiety.

Organize Your Thoughts

Organizing your thoughts ahead of time and sorting out when you’re going to make use of visual aids, props, and audio is a sure-fire way to help calm your nerves. If you get the chance to visit the site of your presentation beforehand and play around with the tech involved, all the better!

Take Some Deep Breaths

Taking a deep breath is probably the last thing you want to do right before a big presentation when your mind is running a mile a minute, but it has actually been scientifically proven to cause a calming effect. This simple, yet effective act will quiet your mind bring your focus away from unfounded worries.

Address Your Worries Head On

Speaking of worries, it’s best to address them head-on prior to any presentation. Challenge your thought process and pinpoint what exactly is you’re worried about. Nine times out of ten, you’ll find that your fears are grossly exaggerated and the likelihood of those bad things happening is much lower than you initially thought.

Change Your Mindset

Last but certainly not least, you must change your mindset. Your mind is a muscle that needs to be exercised, and it’s been proven that positive self-talk can yield positive results. Instead of telling yourself that you hate presentations and you’re bad at them, tell yourself that you enjoy doing them, even if you may not necessarily believe it at first.

At Project Spaces, we have a diverse community of entrepreneurs that regularly participate in professional presentations and panel discussions. Our Toronto coworking spaces are the perfect place to be if you’re looking to perfect your presentation skills around like-minded individuals without any judgment. Book a tour of our spaces today and squash your fears for good!

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