By Deidre Bastian

Hands up, those who become nervous and foam at the mouth when asked to stand up in front of an audience and say a few words. Probably quite a few of you, but don’t fret. It is widely accepted that fear of public speaking is second only to fear of death.

Picture this: The phone rings and you recognise your boss’s voice at the other end of the line. “Congratulations….your team did it again! For the past several months your department’s performance has consistently set the pace for the company. You’re doing a great job, so I have arranged to put you on the agenda for a 35-minutePowerpoint presentation”.

Your heart immediately starts beating irregularly. After hanging up the phone, the reality sets in: You quickly realise that the butterflies in your stomach are real. ‘What if I Fail?” This could be a career disaster. What will they think of me?” Certainly, these are typical anxieties.

Unlike the president of the United States and top executives, who rely on professional writers to develop their presentations and press releases, you are your own speech writer. Therefore, your main mission now is to keep your nerves under control.

Initially, the first 10 seconds are typically a make-or-break moment, but here are a few tips to a avoid feeling like a failure.

Video: OK, this can be embarrassing, but it’s not until you, er, videotape yourself that you realize, er, you have funny little quirks, like saying “er” over and over, similar to parakeet speak. By recording and watching your presentation, you can see your style from the audience’s point of view.

You are the Communication device: Don’t become overpowered by PowerPoint. Be mindful that it is you, and only you, who is the communication device. You do not have to be the world’s greatest, but your genuine enthusiasm will sell your message as opposed to a dazzling display of pie charts.

A Crutch: Some presenters feel that if they don’t arm themselves with PowerPoint, the audience will think they are unprepared. The truth is that jazzing up a presentation with visual aids all too often results in technical fumbling, and takes the speaker out of rhythm.

A large number of good speakers with interesting topics are derailed by PowerPoint presentations. They spent half their talk fumbling around with slides, until the audience, sometimes with little compassion, screams: “Hey, ding bat, leave the slides and just talk!”

A big joke: Presenters often feel they have to begin with a joke, but sometimes a joke is worse than gum decay. Remember the great Woody Allen intro: “I’m reminded of the incestuous farmer’s daughter...”. No, it’s not necessary. If you are good at delivering jokes, then yes, but a brief story will achieve the same objective of disarming your audience.

Impression: If you feel that the template simply looks drab or uninteresting, please do not use it. Never leave the wrong feeling. There’s no point standing in front of an energetic audience to leave them more sedated and depressed than when they first arrived.

Focus: One of the main challenges when presenting is capturing an audience’s attention. Not everyone will listen, but always focus on those who are listening, as they give off moving energy. Ignore the ones who aren’t listening.

PowerPoint won’t open my presentation: This is a big one. You bring your presentation on a flash drive, plug it into your host’s computer and get the fateful error message. It’s good to confirm if the host computer has PowerPoint loaded on it, but did you ask which version?

To eliminate compatibility issues, set PowerPoint to save its files in an older format by using the PowerPoint Options dialog box. Your files will be significantly bigger, but you probably will not run into other problems.

That’s not the font I picked: You replaced an ugly-looking font with an attractive one, but when you launched your presentation it flipped. Unless you are sure that you will be running your presentation from your own laptop, you should embed your fonts to avoid overrides from the host machine by using the Options dialog box.

Audio: Fonts are not the only components of your slideshow that may fail to follow your PowerPoint file to another PC. If you have added music to your presentation, it may play flawlessly on your computer, but elsewhere leave you with the sound of silence.

Know in advance if the presentation PC has speakers attached. If you are not sure that you will be using your own laptop, set up your slideshow in a way that avoids this particular embarrassment. When it’s time to insert audio, be sure to link rather than embed.

The Venue: Do not assume that the venue will have the necessary equipment. If possible, check out the setting. Will you require a hand held microphone? What about a flipchart?

Do not read: Remember, it’s not just what you say but how you say it. The ultimate insult to any audience is to use your audience to practice your reading skills.

Water: Try to have some water handy just in case you get an attack of ‘dry mouth’.

Introduce yourself: One of the reasons presenters are nervous is because they are talking to strangers, and it is much easier to present to people you know. I was 19 years-old and nervous when asked to give a speech at a wedding. I recall walking to tables at the reception asking people if they were having a good time. This enabled me to bridge the gap and break the ice.

The main reason for you being asked to present is because you have earned the right, either through reputation or expertise. Stop worrying and change your thought patterns, as every audience wants to see a presenter do a good job.

But be ready to make a mistake. Yes, that’s right. I guarantee it will hardly go as planned. Jack Penn says: “One of the secrets of life is to make ‘stepping stones’ out of stumbling blocks.”

After you are done with your technically watertight presentation, you can return home and have a good night’s sleep, assuming, of course, that the audience stayed awake.

NB: Columnist welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com

Ms Bastian is a trained graphic designer who has qualifications of M.Sc., B.Sc., A.Sc. She has trained at institutions such as: Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training College, College of the Bahamas, Nova Southeastern University, Learning Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy Bahamas