Somebody asked, “How do you present confidently at work even if you are not a speaker?”
You might be asking this, too. You might be asked to give a presentation at work, to give that status or progress report, or to give a demo about a procedure. You might be asked to present to your colleagues, to your bosses, or to your clients. And you might say, “How will I do this confidently? I am not a speaker!”
Let me share with you two keys that will help you give a presentation confidently even if speaking is not really your job. Your area of focus may be accounting, engineering, or any other technical task. But perhaps, as part of your job, you are often asked to give a presentation in a board meeting, management meeting or client meeting.
Key 1: Expert Mindset. Remember that you are an expert in that field and that is the reason why you are being asked to give that presentation in the first place. Whoever asked you knows that you know your topic, that you know your job, and you know what you are going to talk about. In other words, you are a recognized leader in it.
Reminding yourself that you are an expert in that area will help boost your confidence. Source the competence and confidence that you have in doing your expertise and bring that with you as you present. You may be an accountant and you are very good in crunching numbers and financial statement preparation or an architect and you are very good in designing buildings. When asked to present, don’t lose your confidence. I repeat, you are an expert and you know what you are going to present.
Key 2: Service Mindset. You are there to present because you have something of value for your audience. You are there to help the people who will be listening to you – your clients, your bosses, or your colleagues. You are going there to help them, to serve them.
This is not the moment to be self-absorbed, to be thinking of yourself too much. You are there to think of what you can give your audience, to think about how the information you are sharing will give them something of value, which will help them in their business decision-making. Remember that what you have will bring them into a moment of choice that may make or break their business or their career. Their decision will be creating an impact in the lives of people around them. Again, you are there to serve them.
My friend, when you are asked to present at work, it is because you are an ‘expert’ and you are there to ‘serve’ them. So, have that sense of confidence knowing that you know what you are going to present and what you are going to present will be of help, will be of service. Don’t be so nervous. You may feel some nerves but you can transform that into excitement and bring that confidence level up. Because they need you there!
When you walk into that room to present to your colleagues, your bosses, and your clients, see yourself oozing with confidence because you know what you are talking about and what you are going to talk about will be of service to them. And that is the reason why you are there in the first place.
Go, my friend. Go out there and present confidently!
(Chris Dao-anis, CPA, DTM teaches presentation skills to technical people. He is an author of 4 books, including SPEAK: How to Craft and Deliver a Speech or Presentation. To order the book ‘SPEAK’, go to http://bit.ly/getspeak. To get a free public speaking training, go to http://bit.ly/freetrainingps. For speaking invitations, you may email him at info@chrisdaoanis.com or text 0945-761-6577. Like his page at http://fb.com/chrisdaoanis.)
