この記事では、緊張しないために行うプレゼンの練習方法をご紹介しています。 記事は英語です。 どうぞお役立てください！
I recently took up karate again after being away from the dojo for a while. It feels GREAT!
I realized that what helped me to win a gold medal in the 2009 Itosu-ryu Karatedo World Championships in Malaysia was exactly what helps us to become champion presenters: practice.
In karate, we spend the first part of each session repeatedly practicing the basics – punches, blocks, and kicks. Up and down, up and down, up and down the dojo. Some people find it boring, but I recognized early that the more I practiced the basics, the easier it was when faced with something more challenging – when you can’t think.
In presentations, we often feel nervous because we’re worried about what the audience will think of us. As human beings, it’s our natural reaction to fight or run away to survive when we sense a threat.
Practice helps you to overcome nerves
This fight or flight mode triggers a series of physical reactions, such as a pounding heart, shortness of breath, a dry mouth, and starting to sweat, which I talk about in more detail in the book Eigo no Shigoto-jutsu and in the Speak Like An Expert online presentation skills course.
Another result of fight or flight is that a part of the brain called the amygdala stops signals from reaching the neocortex (the thinking part of the brain).
This was helpful for survival in primitive times because we didn’t have time to think when we were in danger. We had to act. And today, it’s the amygdala that helps us to jump out of the way when a bicycle suddenly comes round the corner and is about to hit us. Imagine what would happen if, instead of acting immediately, we paused to think, “Oh, look, here comes a bicycle. At it’s current direction and speed, it’s likely to hit me. What should I do?”
It’s not helpful though when we’re giving a presentation and we feel under pressure. We lose the connection with the neocortex. And that’s when we have that horrible feeling of going blank and not knowing what to say next.
But if we practice enough, we don’t need to think. We can just act or speak automatically as we’ve practiced.
When I was training for the karate world championships, I practiced in the dojo as well as every morning in the bicycle park outside our apartment. And I visualized the moves during my commute. If I hadn’t practiced so much, I would never have been able to win the gold!
You may think that you’re too busy to practice – especially if you want to spend time creating impressive PowerPoint slides to go with your presentation (hint: keep the slides simple and spend more time practicing if you really want to have impact).
Here are four practical ways to practice your presentation even during a busy business day.
1. Practice in your mind
Run through your presentation in your mind as much as you can. I often do this while I’m on my morning walk in the park, in the shower, and doing the dishes. This helps me to be sure that my structure is simple enough for me to remember easily (so that I can focus on the audience). I pay particular attention to being clear on how I’m going to transition from one section to the next.
2. Practice out loud
Where possible, practice your presentation out loud. Get used to the sound of your own voice. If you don’t say exactly what you planned to say, keep going instead of correcting yourself.
How often do you correct yourself in a normal conversation? If you keep correcting yourself during your presentation, it suggests that you’re talking from a script and that makes it difficult for the audience to connect with you.
3. Practice with others
When you have the opportunity, talk through your presentation content or sections of your presentation with friends or colleagues.
This doesn’t mean that you need to make them sit through a full rehearsal. Simply talk as you normally would when you’re chatting with them.
This helps you to be able to speak naturally about your content, so that you don’t have to spend so much time thinking about it and can focus on the audience – just like having a conversation.
And it’s an opportunity for you to see how people react to what you say.
4. Practice with video
Videoing yourself is so effective because you can play back the recording and see and hear exactly how you’re delivering your presentation. Use your smartphone or a video camera.
Use these different approaches to practice your presentation as much as you can. Your aim is to know your presentation well enough so you don’t need to think about it and can talk naturally. You can kick out the nervousness, focus on your audience, and put a punch in your presentation.
Keep practicing and you’ll be a champion before you know it.