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Dread presenting at work? Read these tips before your next meeting
Image source: Studio Grey for Social Market Foundation
Image caption: Dani Payne would have panic attacks at the thought of presenting - now she does it most days
By Emily Holt
Published 1 hour ago
Dani Payne was so anxious about public speaking, she had a doctor's note to excuse her from presenting at school and university. Now aged 28 with a job in politics at a cross-party think tank, she's spoken in parliament, sits on discussion panels and presents social media videos.
"Most days I do some form of public speaking," she says. "I wouldn't have believed that at 15."
Want to get better, or simply get started? Here are five ways to help you nail your presentation or speech.
Woman's Hour
Speaking in Public: Why it feels so hard to do and how to do it anyway. Listen now.
1. Start with your passion
Payne, from Exeter, says she stopped any form of public speaking after developing a severe anxiety disorder and experiencing panic attacks. But looking back, she says avoiding it didn't help her build "coping skills or resilience you need later in life".
"The more you avoid what you're anxious about, the more you're anxious about it."
In her second year of university she was invited to give a talk on a subject she was passionate about and realised: "I was losing out on opportunities that I felt really strongly about."
She presented research she had carried out for her dissertation on sexual misconduct in academic fieldwork settings and that was the start of her getting over her fear.
"Picking something you genuinely feel passionately about will always make it easier to speak about in front of other people," she says.
Her advice is to pick a topic you feel strongly about and look for or create opportunities to speak about it.
2. Practice in virtual reality
Image source: Getty Images
Image caption: A virtual reality headset can help you present in front of a pretend audience
Daisy Schofield, a 32-year-old documentary producer and journalist, had her first panic attack at university during a presentation, she tells Woman's Hour. She managed to avoid public speaking until she got her first job and had to present company statistics on Teams every Monday.
To build her confidence, Schofield practises by using an app on her phone to create a fake audience in a virtual reality headset she bought online for £10.
"It makes practising feel much more engaging and like the real thing, compared to practising at home on your own, which feels a bit awkward and boring."
Prof Nazanin Derakhshan, a neuroscientist at Birkbeck, University of London, suggests focusing on six breaths per minute before presenting. You can do this by breathing in for five seconds and out for five seconds.
"It can improve the brain-heart communication and the more in harmony they are, the better we feel about ourselves."
3. Choose one word
Image source: Fred Ferschke for Emotion
Image caption: Stand-up comedian Viv Groskop
Viv Groskop, a stand-up comedian, writer and public speaking coach advises picking a word that encapsulates what you want your speech to convey.
"It could be something like clarity. No one can ever say that you got that wrong if you were clear.
"So choose something that you can think to yourself afterwards, 'did I set out to be clear? Was I clear? Yes. It's a win.' And every time you choose a different word, it reinforces that message."