- The hardest part about giving a talk is the nerves.
Anyone who says they're not nervous is lying.
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- Public speaking in general
is something that most people are nervous about.
Even if you like doing it,
there's some degree of nervousness that comes along with it.
- And I think the hardest part is learning
to control those nerves and harness them
so that a talk can be impactful and meaningful.
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- Imposter Syndrome is when you feel like a fraud.
You think that someone is gonna figure it out
and tell everyone about it.
- I'm not smart enough, I don't belong here.
- Everybody sorta feels that way at some point.
- We are always our own worst critics.
It's great to hear, after you've given a talk,
people saying great job.
I think it's natural to think,
"Sure, you're just saying that to be nice."
Take positive feedback for what it's worth.
- You're most likely to be extremely well-prepared
to any task that you'll be given,
such as giving a presentation.
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- There are a few things that will help you calm the nerves
before you give a presentation,
or while you're giving a presentation.
- One technique that I've found to be really effective
is to just completely memorize
the first three to five minutes of my talk.
If I can just say those words essentially automatically,
then it really lets me start to get into the talk flow.
- I like to sorta memorize
the first few words that I'm gonna say,
not even a whole minute or anything like that,
just literally the first phrase.
So that I can sort of get the ball rolling.
- Giving yourself something else to focus on
that's not the noise inside your head.
Focus on that back wall, or focus on that clock,
or focus on, okay, what's happening out in the audience,
what's happening on my slides.
- Making sure that you nail down
all of the technical components,
make sure that the computer works,
all the visuals are there.
You should shake it up.
You can stretch.
Do some breathing exercises.
- My cue to breath is when I change slides.
So when going from one slide to the other,
just try to breathe.
- I'll just smile.
It's helpful if you can figure out a reason to smile,
like if you see somebody else in the room,
you can smile at them.
But physically smiling, even just forcing yourself to smile,
can really kind of help your mindset.
- Your audience is there to go on the ride with you,
so they're typically very happy
to find the humor in the situation with you.
So if it's something that's comfortable for you,
if it's something that's accessible,
I think absolutely use humor.
- Making sure that what's on your slides
is going to remind you of exactly what you want to say
is another strategy that I find very helpful.
Preparation is really, really important.
- Practice. - Practice.
- Practice.
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- The more that I can go through it,
the more that it gets smoother,
the more that I feel like I know what slide is coming next.
Really feeling like I know my talk,
that really does help lessen the stress,
and at least feel like I've done what I can do.
- If you've practiced enough,
you'll be comfortable to keep moving on through the talk,
and not be so worried about something
that maybe didn't come out quite the way you wanted it to.
- At the end of the day, if you stumble,
if you can't quite remember, you're sort of hitting a blank,
it's okay, take a deep breath, this happens to everyone.
- Being nervous before I give a talk
means that I'm still willing to learn
and I'm still feeling like a student,
and that's good, because we should all be learning.
And nerves are good, it means you're alive.
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