Tell your presentation stories better.
AUTHOR: Lolly
shift your fear of public speaking & leave presentation anxiety behind
Fight, flight or freeze: which will you choose?
Only one will serve when the spotlight is on you. How do you shake the other two so that you can deliver your presentation story with conviction? How do you learn to harness your fear of public speaking and turn it into an advantage, an energy, a weapon against mundanity?
show presentation anxiety the door
forget perfection and embrace authenticity
May I never be perfect. It’s a myth anyway. Step into a presentation thinking you need to be flawless and you set yourself up for failure. A robot cannot connect with an audience. They want real. Messy. Human. Fuck perfection. Let your authenticity open avenues to connection.
master your story, not your script
Learn your subject matter, not your script. Believe your story. Hone it. Own it. The confidence to speak freely comes from knowing what you’re talking about and knowing that what you’re talking about is real. Before you even think about opening your mouth, you need to have the right story behind you. You need to master the broader conversation so that presentation anxiety doesn't master you.
turn presentation fear into fuel
Fear is fuel. Professional MMA fighters don’t avoid fear. They don’t push it deep down inside. They don’t learn to get rid of it. They reframe it and use it as their edge. That pulse in your chest, that buzz in your stomach—it’s not fear of public speaking. It’s excitement to share your story. Funnel it into your performance. If you’re not feeling something, you probably don’t give a shit and maybe legendary status isn’t on your bingo card.
start small and conquer fear of public speaking gradually
It won’t happen straight away. It takes practice so start small. Tell your story over a coffee, one on one. Tell it to people you trust. Tell it at a bar when you’re 3 beers down. Every time you do it, you show fear you’re pulling the strings here.
embrace failure
Fuck up. Make a mistake. Stumble over your words. Forget your lines. Watch as your tech blows up around you.
And see how the world doesn’t end.
See how the audience is more on your side now.
See how the fear is not as loud.
And as you realise all this, you’ll have another epiphany as well:
It’s really not that fucking serious.
Fuck fear; none of us have the time. We don’t need any more noise. We don’t need inauthentic performers reciting lines. We don’t need ordinary. We don’t need plain.
the world needs you to shift your presentation anxiety
The world doesn’t actually need any more presentations. It needs a story worth telling stories about. You’re only going to become that by stepping through the fear.
if you need a little extra boost...
video
Reading is tough. Rest your weary eyes on this moving picture instead.
Warning: Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don't you have other things to do? Saying what you’re supposed to say? Presenting how every boring business person presents? If you don’t claim your story you will become a statistic. You have been warned.
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