One of the challenges any working individual will probably encounter in the workplace is to give a presentation. Usually, the boss will appoint the employee to conduct a presentation of a particular agenda. In a sales-oriented and marketing company, the sales representatives will also have to come up with a periodic presentation of their sales report. In related terms, they call it a business review.

In order to prepare yourself for any presentation to be done at work, you have to learn the basic skills in delivering a good presentation. This means understanding and being knowledgeable on the topic of your presentation, knowing your main objectives, and getting to know your audience.

However, in some cases, a good amount of preparation may be defeated by an insufficient level of confidence in an individual. When confidence is the bigger challenge in a presenter, many other factors are affected. This attribute must be enhanced and improved since confidence is the key in producing an impressive presentation.

Self-Consciousness and Negativity

Self-consciousness is a behavior which limits the level of confidence in a person. This factor is an enemy and a hindrance in an attempt to build confidence in oneself. When you are self-conscious, you are hesitant to do things and you find it hard to reassure yourself that you will be fine in what you will undertake. Other than being unsure of yourself, the feeling of embarrassment, awkwardness, and insecurity are also behaviors relating to being self-conscious. Who else can trust your skills but yourself?

Negativity is also another impeding factor to developing confidence, though self-consciousness is a harder issue to face. You become negative in your manner of thinking and even the use of statements in context. During a presentation, the presenter who feels and thinks pessimistically does not believe that the outcome of the presentation is positive and successful.

Effect of Low Self-Confidence in a Presentation

No matter how hard you worked hard for your presentation, even with visual preparations, if there is no sufficient level of confidence, the objectives will not be achieved. There might not be a good chance that you will attain audience approval and impression because of their general perception of the overall delivery.

For example, if you are showing a proposal to the management, the aim is to gain acceptance for the proposed scheme. But if the outcome of the presentation did not live up to their expectations, tendency is your plans for the company will not be given due consideration.

You might not have shown to them through your voice and posture that you believe in your proposal. There must have been a lack of conviction in the elaboration or explanation.

When you were asked questions, you must have stuttered and obviously grasped for your thoughts. Failure is not the term you want to be described when you are being assessed on how you presented. So something must be done to get rid of those wobbly knees and uncontrollable stage fright.

Building Confidence in Doing a Presentation

The manner of speaking characterizes your personality. A shy speaker is someone who does not really socialize and mingle with people. A confident speaker also possesses a confident and strong personality, someone who can lead a group and facilitate an event. How do we develop confidence or the attribute of believing in oneself especially in conducting a presentation? For one, you have to acknowledge and recognize your fears.

We all have fears, but experts have learned how to manage their anxieties into proper perspective. Then, keep your presentation short but simple and direct. A brief explanation on certain points will help but reading what is on your visual material verbatim does not gain credibility.

Since doing a presentation is a measure of your speaking ability, make sure you start ironing out your flaws and start improving on your speaking skills. Speech crutches and fillers would definitely make you sound unsure and unprepared. Minimize fillers by being conscious of your utterances. Learn how to emphasize key points through a quick pause after it is being said. Speak in a moderate pacing and do not let your words overlap.

Constant practice and rehearsal truly makes perfect. And believe that you have the skill to showcase.