How to reduce stress and fear before and during your next presentation

Giving a presentation can be stressful. In this video, you'll learn a couple of very effective strategies to combat fear and stress in this setting.

This teaching video contains several hands-on tips and tricks to boost your success rate on grand-rounds, talks at conferences, or wherever else you want to speak.

This video was taken from our hands-on and CME accredited Presentation Essentials for Clinicians course.

[00:00:00] Expect to have stress right before your presentation. Remember, it will help you do your best. Here are six suggestions for handling stress before you present. Visit the room where you will be speaking. Walk around and visualize how the room will be setup. If you arrive in the evening before your program, try to do that then. Get a good night sleep, eat your normal meals, if you normally exercise, try to do that ahead of time to reduce stress, rolling your head, yawning and making

[00:00:30] funny faces can also help you relax your face, your throat, and your neck. Plan to deal with a dry mouth. Most speakers make sure they have water available. Here's another idea, suppose I have a thick juicy lemon in my hand, then I take out a knife and I slice the lemon in half. The juice runs all over my hand. Did you salivate? This is a simple way to deal with a dry mouth, just think about lemons. Here's another suggestion, carefully bite the side of your tongue with your back teeth or lightly bite

[00:01:00] the inside of your cheek. Both of those will cause you to salivate, they really do work. Be in the presentation room early so you can check everything. For example, I usually always request to have a table in the room and I usually never have the table when I get there. However, since I'm there early, I have plenty of time to arrange to have a table brought into the room. I like to try to talk to some audience members before I begin. Often I find people to use as examples of my major points. I asked them if I can call

[00:01:30] on them during the program and ask them to share the point. It's a great way to get the audience involved. It takes the spotlight off of me as a speaker and puts it on the audience. Avoid negative thoughts and negative people. Think positive, make affirming statements such as I really know this material, I have information to share, I am so glad to be here, I am so glad the audience is here. Try these ideas and see what works for you. Just know to expect

[00:02:00] stress but know that you can handle it in a professional manner. If you enjoy this video, make sure to check out our medical presentation essentials course and register for a free trial account, which will give you access to selected videos and quizzes from the course. You can earn CME credits with every Medmastery course. If you want to learn more about how Medmastery can help you become a great clinician, be sure to watch the About

[00:02:30] Medmastery video.