Do you freak out about speaking in a group?

Do you see people stand up and present, looking calm, cool and collected and wonder how they do it?

Do you wish you could give a presentation with confidence?

When I started my first career job, I didn’t realise that it included standing up and giving presentations to directors.

I was a painfully shy, quiet introvert, starting my first job after uni. I had studied maths and psychology, so the career advisor recommended market research.

It sounded just like my psychology research project, so I thought, “Yes I could do that!”

I started work, in a big multinational company. I still remember my boss giving me my first research project. It was on skincare packaging. I was so excited. There was so much to learn.
It was going ok until the research results came back, and my boss said “Next week, you present the results to marketing.”

What!?! Shy, quiet little me?!? But I don’t do public speaking!

I started to freak out, so he said to me “You’re the expert in the room when it comes to these research results, and they want to hear what you found.”

So I pored over the research results for hours and pulled together my very first presentation.

I woke up on the morning of the presentation filled with nervous anxiety. I put on my skirt suit. At least I’d look professional.

When the time came, I touched up my lipstick. I stood up to speak. I was blushing and sweating profusely. I was shaking too. I hoped it wasn’t obvious.
But I did it! Somehow I showed my slides and explained what I had found.

And I knew so much about that research that when the marketing team asked questions, I actually knew the answers.

And guess what – I survived!

On that day I learned a very important lesson …

That if you know something and others want to hear about it, that as long as you focus on that, rather than on yourself, you can have enough confidence to present it.

So, next time you’re in a group, at work or socially, I encourage you to notice what you are focusing on. Are you focusing on what the others are thinking of you? Or are you focusing on the topic at hand, listening well and letting your ideas on that topic bubble up?

Try focusing on the topic at hand and see what happens.