UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

Have any of you out there had to do a presentation !!
I am quite a nervy person most people who know me do not believe this and think i am confident. I am not.
when i was younger and had to sing in front of people i used to pee my pants!!! even know i get nervy my voice shakes and my hands shake and then i almost take off and fly!!
I have to present a half hour power point presentation to other nurses, on wednesday.
I need to get over my nerves and present this well it all goes towards final marks.
ANY TIPS TO STOP ME TAKING OF AND FLYING GREATLY APPRECIATED !!

Kerrie,

I used to give loads of presentations as part of a sales job and I hated having to give other peoples presentations. Giving my own is far easier because I know the subject.

You already have a good start because you used to sing, so forget the peeing pants but remember to breathe and pace yourself. Preperation too, get the presentation completed in plenty of time, this gives you time to practice and make speaker notes. Use bullets otherwise you will end up reading out the presentation. Practice infront of some good friends, does not matter if the know the subject matter and gradually introduce people you do not know so well. I found this route made it easier when I presented to strangers.

Enjoy yourself too, nothing worse than looking at stern faces, I try and make my presentations serous but give it in a light hearted way and engage the audience, they pay more attention so less work keeping them interested.

In case my mind went blank during the presentation I always had a glass of water to hand. It is a hand distraction having a quick gulp and commnet dry throat. Then just gather your thoughts and it will soon come back. I use animations too; talk about the point you are just about to show on the slide, that way your audience is not reading off the screen. It also helps if you get lost in the presenation, you start at the animation you need to bring in next.

Hope this helps, but it is al about preperation and practice.

Good luck

Kerrie

Having given five Best Man (men???) speeches and numerous speeches and presentations over the years, there is only one bit of advice that you really need.

KNOW YOUR STUFF.

If you know your subject and what you plan to say inside out you will be confident and maybe even enjoy it a little.

I always write my presentation out in full...word-for-word, then learn it a bit like a script and then finally break it down onto prompt cards (about the size of a postcard) in bullet point form. One prompt card per power-point screen.

Use this method and you should never get lost or tongue tied, you should be able to wander off the topic a bit here and there and soon come back to the right place.

Relax, know your stuff and have a wee first!

Kerrie

Good advice above, let me add my two pence worth. do not be tempted to have too many pp slides, and do not load the pp with your whole talk.

You can use powerpoint as a punctuation: indicating the main themes of your talk, but that is where its usefulness ends. Lots of pp presentations are ruined by too brief exposure to each slide, so that the movement on the screen detracts from the main point of the presentation.

All the best.. You can do it.

It might be a good idea to go to the loo before you start

By the way: Public speaking is part of my job, and I am frequently sick before I start.

Andrew

....excellent point.

With powerpoint, also don't get carried away with the bangs and whistles and flying words.

It distracts from what you are saying.

Nice clean simple font on a plain background with very little animation is what you want!

Can't add much to others comments which are all good sound advice - but I have done loads of presentations and always, but ALWAYS get nervous beforehand. I once had to speak to over 1500 (relatively hostile!) people at Wembley Conference centre - boy was that nerve racking!! But I did get through it.

I know this contradicts what Paul says but I never write mine out in full or learn it word for word, because when I tried that once and went wrong I struggled to "find my place" - but it might work OK for you of course!

If you are worried about your hands shaking, practice putting your hands firmly on something as a kind of rest. For example, if you have a lectern in front of you, grasp it all the time, except for when you maybe need to turn the page - it provides a kind of anchor and stops you making all kinds of gestures with your hands! Or, if its a more informal setting, I sometimes find actually walking about helps, rather than standing rooted to the spot!

But the most important words of wisdom I always remember now are that only you will know exactly what you are meant to be saying - so if you say it wrong it's actually only you that knows - not your audience! (Can help with the nerves!)

But good luck - and let us know how it goes!

My worst ever speaking experience was when I taught a compulsory but non-examined course on ethics to engineering students (it was necessary for their professional registration, but not for their degree).

Hostoile students who did not want to be there and who had no exam and therefore no motivation to pay attention: and you thought they had stopped throwing people of my religious persuasion to the lions.

Still, I managed to win some of the time.

Andrew

Hehe hey hun! Boy do I remember all those presentations we have to do in university for nursing!

I found relaxing and not thinking too much about the presentation helps, but hey if it was that simple we wouldn't get so nervous about it!! To be totally honest when you think about it though how many student nurses are actually going to be paying that much attention to what you are saying?!!!! Hehe! They are probably sitting there as I well remember panicking about having to go on stage and talk next!!!

Ok ... let's just think about this. If you had to talk to just one person there is a 50/50 chance they will like the presentation or not. The odds aren't good really are they?!! I used to think that there was much more of a chance of someone liking what I had to say if there were more people listening!! So having to present in front of a group of your friends is not such a bad thing, they are all in the same position and won't attack you if it isn't as good as you want it to be! I have learnt that I am definitely my own worst enemy and what I stress about and what I think went wrong, is the last thing that others remember!!

So my advice for what it is worth and what helped me talk at uni ... know what it is you are talking about! That way you can talk your way out of any questions at the end. You will find that if you can confidently answer a question most won't want to ask anymore for fear of looking silly for not knowing!!

Try not to have many notes to read from. If you can talk about your subject without having to read you will appear much more confident and able to talk well. If you are reading from a paper you will get nervous and be afraid to make eye contact with anyone.

Be friendly this makes you appear open and welcoming. Lectures and presentations are never fun if the person talking is rushing through without looking at people who are losing interest. You are teaching others about what you have learnt. A nursing presentation does not have to be rocket science! I always learnt that a brief information session on what I was explaining with small patient histories was a much better way to make everyone at ease. Humour is always a good way to look professional and make the whole experience more fun!!

Power point is a brilliant thing if you are ok with it! It will take everyones attention away from you as they are looking at the screen instead and you can list points which you can go through so that you don't forget!

If you are really really scared the greatest trick of all is to have printed handouts but to give them at the beginning not at the end!! That way everyone is so busy reading that they aren't paying you much attention at all!!! Oh ... and Bachs rescue remedy is fantastic!!!

Good luck with it and let us know how you get on!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the advice. i have completed pp and it is around 34 slides long.
my topic is renal failure aspect of the topic is dialysis and the life changing factors, IE fistulas/cvp's dietry restriction fluid restriction. It is about the bio-psycho-social needs of the particular client group.
About how everything completely changes in their lifes and how their philosophy on life and themselves changes.
I am briefly going through the stuff and i want them to sit and think about what if it was them. what if they could only drink 500 mls a day and could not eat alot of fave foods. trying to encourage a small discussion.
I will do a handout for my assessor and some to dish out into the group for people to share and look at.
(inclusive of one for myself!) I know what i am on about it is the going brain dead on getting up thats worrying!!

All good points...

I have a lot of experience of large conference speaking, actually the bigger the audience the easier it is.
Wear clothing you are comfortable in and shoes you have broken in.
Do 'speech practice' beforehand both for timing and also how you say it. How you present yourself, having some variation in tone and pace is as important as the content. Fully scripted speech is a good idea but make sure you are familiar enough with it so that it doesn't look like you are reading it. Take your time, it's fine to pause, clear your throat/cough or take a swig of water.
I've often found starting the presentation with a related or unrelated joke can be a good ice breaker for both you and them, especially when it's a known tough audience. It's good to look slowly around your audience, to engage them with eye contact or the occasional smile. Lower the tone of voice and slow it down when you are making hard hitting points, it has greater impact.
Arrive early, ensure you get time alone before you start. Don't worry about sweaty palms or a slight tremor, noone can see that and you need a certain amount of adrenaline to project yourself.
When you're not holding the lectern it's ok to make a few hand gestures and it sounds like you could have the basis of a good exercise to get them to think about what it would be like to drink 500 mls and to have to restrict foods. You could always illustrate this, have 500 mls of water in a jug, get people to spend 5 mins noting what they eat in a typical day and contrast that with what they would have to eat in the patients position to bring it home to them. Likewise the fluids.
Powerpoint should only ever be an addition to a presentation.