Face your fears — Why learning to present is difficult but important
From the beginning of your time at University, lecturers will constantly reinforce the importance of presentation skills. But why are they so important? And why does presenting seem so difficult for so many of us?
One thing that should be clear to all of us is that presentation skills are learnt and therefore improved with practice. There are very few people who deliver effective presentations without any practice at all! And as the saying goes “failing to prepare is preparing to fail”. There are those born with the ability to casually capture an entire room just when their mouth opens, but for the rest of us mortals, it’s just a skill issue that can be honed if approached strategically.
As well as being part of the assessment criteria and crucial to helping you secure those all-important marks, presentations are also important for many other reasons.
Presentations build confidence
Presenting in front of a large, or even small group, can be extremely daunting. However, stepping out of your comfort zone will build confidence and make potentially difficult situations feel easier next time around. One of the main reasons we get nervous before presentations (sweaty palms, fast heartbeat and so on) is because it’s an unusual situation and so our brain is preparing for a ‘flight or fight’ response. The more ‘normal’ you can make presentations (e.g. by practising a lot), the less you’ll have these instinctive nervous reactions.
Presentations build organisational skills
Regardless of whether you’re working independently or within a group, presenting builds invaluable organisational skills. From organising your ideas on paper and collaborating with others, organisational skills are undoubtedly improved with presenting.
Presentations build time management skills
Presentations require you to work to a deadline as you need to decide how long to spend on each slide (and stick to it!) but also leave enough time for questions at the end. Time management skills are built upon when planning and delivering an effective presentation.
Presentations build time mastery of the subject
Have you heard of the Feynman method? Richard Feynman is a renowned physicist known for his mastery of teaching complex topics in simple, intuitive ways. The way he developed his learning became commonly known as the Feynman method — you finish reading about something you’re trying to learn, and ‘teach it to yourself’ by explaining everything on some paper, in the simplest way possible. When you’re presenting a challenging topic to an audience, you’re also going to be doing this with your material. After all, you’d like the presentation to be engaging, easy-to-follow, and feeling like the audience has gained something right? By structuring your presentations in a refined way, you act as a teacher, and this also tests and builds your own mastery of the subject. By making all necessary preparations, there’s a very high chance you’re walking away with a better understanding of your task, and you’ve build upon your knowledge base with a stronger foundation, which is very encouraging for you to learn more and become a better student in the long run.
And most obviously…
Presentations build communication skills
Communicating complex ideas in a clear and concise way to an audience is a really valuable skill to develop — and one that will be incredibly useful at job interviews. It’s important to learn how to pitch your presentation correctly by thinking about who your audience is: how much do they already know about the subject and what are they interested in? Aside from that, you’ll be working on your body language, how to gesture, how to project your voice well and many other things that are important soft-skills in this day and age. Being able to communicate well and carry yourself well in a room of strange builds your comfort in standing out in a crowd, and will help you in many areas of your life. In a world where being seen is important, there are only benefits to polishing up how you are seen!
AND the best news? Mastering all of the skills above contribute to your employability and will put you ahead of the competition when applying for both internships and full time positions in the world of work!
So, now we’ve established why presentation skills are important let’s take a look at how you can overcome the difficulties!
Practice, practice, practice
Practice really does make perfect. Putting your presentation skills to the test frequently will help you to keep a hold on nerves and feel confident on presentation day. Ask a friend to listen to your presentation and give feedback, record yourself, practise in front of a mirror or do a run-through in the lecture theatre…or all of the above — the more you practise, the less daunting it will seem.
Try out these My Learning Essentials workshops:
- Presentation skills: delivering with confidence — it’s really useful to discuss strategies for feeling and appearing more confident when presenting and to improve your delivery. This is great if you’re worried about shaky hands or projecting your voice!
- Presentation skills: structuring an effective presentation — if you want to work on how to structure a presentation and ensure that you communicate your ideas clearly and concisely to any audience. It’s perfect for you if you struggle to create a narrative or worry about forgetting what you’re saying halfway through.
You can find out when the next workshops are running by clicking here.
Plan, prepare and review
Plan your presentation, prepare well, but most importantly be sure to review your performance. This might be feedback from lecturers or rehearsing with friends and asking them to concentrate on the aspects you’re most worried about. It might be that they can tell you that you do speak slowly and clearly enough, so there’s no need to worry about that in future! Maybe your nerves got the better of you or maybe you presented with ease — no matter whether the feedback is positive or negative, reviewing your performance will build and develop your presentation skills.
To Summarise…
Presentations will lead to growth
We’ve established that starting to get comfortable with presenting is, by default, a bit uncomfortable. But that’s what leads to growth doesn’t it? And what else best to do at university? You’ll be trying something new, and expanding your horizons while you’re at it. There’s tons of resources we have to help you out, and never forget to reach out to people you know who are more experienced in presenting to get some pointers, coaching and moral support. All that’s left now is to get started and throw yourself into it. Keep exposing yourself to daunting things, and sooner or later they will come to you instinctually.
That’s it from us, but if you need any more help on facing your fears, we’ve got loads of resources to help! Have a look at our suite of online resources on presentation skills which cover preparation, delivery and creating stunning visuals or you can check out our padlet, which is a collection of fantastic resources covering everything from TED Talks on body language to creating infographics. Or you can talk through your presentation structure with a member of staff at our weekly drop-ins or just have a chat with a member of the Library Student Team (look out for the red t-shirts!).
