I hate school presentations!
Help! I have to present in class soon, and I have really bad anxiety. Any tips?
Comments
Hey @Morgan241191, I understand where you're coming from - I'm not a fan of presentations either.
Some things that help me are:
- have cue cards both as a way of keeping you on track/reminding you what to say, and as somewhere to look when you don't want to look at the audience.
- make sure you've got water with you, or have had plenty to drink beforehand, b/c I know my throat often gets dry when I'm nervous, which makes speaking even more difficult.
-if you can, pick a 'safe' person in the audience that you can look at/focus on
When's your presentation? Let us know how you go! 🙂
hey @Morgan241191
i can totally relate, i have bad anxiety as well. as bad as it is i try and avoid the situation when i know it’s not the best thing for me. so never avoid it because your anxiety just gets worse. some tips are;
- find some spots around the classroom; look at the back of the classroom, pick a few people around the room to “talk” to instead of speaking to the whole class.
- always remember to breathe and stay calm as hard as it is and trust me i struggle a lot with that.
- i find that being as prepared as possible and practise as much as i can outside of class helps for me.
would you feel comfortable speaking to your teacher ? i know it’s a very hard thing to do but they might provide you an alternative or give you less time instead of speaking for 2 minutes as an example.
hope it goes well and sending hugs
The best tip I learnt for given public presentations was this: pick three people (can be strangers, helps if it's your friends) in the middle, left and right of your audience and only talk to those three people. If you look to the left, to the middle and to the right, it looks like you're talking to everyone when in reality, you're only talking to those three people. You can even pick two people and put them on the left and right instead of having a third in the middle.
@lokifish and @scared01 have also shared some great tips. I'm sure you'll be fantastic! YOU'VE GOT THIS! 😄 Good luck!
i can so relate, im not a fan of presentations either!
some tips would be
- practice your presentation on your own, then maybe in front of some family.
- keep practicing so you know your presentation quite well, that way you might be a little less nervous
- when doing your presentation pick a spot at the back of the room so you dont make to much eye contact
- do abit of deep breathing before you step up
Hey @Morgan241191!
You're certainly not alone here - I remember a study a while back which said that people are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death! Not sure how reliable that finding was but it definitely highlights an issue that a lot of people struggle with.
Would you feel comfortable talking to the teacher about your worries? Often they can be quite understanding and can sometimes provide an alternative (like being able to give the presentation to a smaller group etc.) There's also an article about 7 tips to help with stress and anxiety - reckon any of them might be useful? 🙂
