Doing a presentation scares almost everybody. To get it into perpective, it’s worth remembering that we’re doing them all the time. We can be using a moment to communicate something important by the water dispenser, across a desk or in the lift.

However formal or informal the occasion, a successful presentation is all about personal impact. The key to this is to show something of your real self and not just hide behind a professional mask. Everyone hides in some way, but it can be particularly difficult for blokes to share something about themselves.

Be vulnerable

“Men are much less willing to be vulnerable than women. Everyone retreats behind masks and the one that men often wear is one of machismo or imperviousness,” says Stuart McKenzie, director at Maynard Leigh. Where there are high levels of anxiety – like in The City – the mask hardens.

Share a little

One technique to chip away at this veneer is to ‘self disclose’. Reveal a fact about yourself that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional contact and you’re building rapport, which is half the task. This might be something you did – or didn’t get to do – on the previous night for example. Keep it clean though!

Engage

It’s more difficult to be intimate on the big stage or when talking to a greater number of people, but your objective is still the same - to engage with the audience.

So step out from behind the podium, perch on the edge of the stage, lean forward. “You see the modern brand of MP doing these things” points out Ros Taylor, communication consultant.

Present, not perfect

It’s less important to get it perfect than to interact with your audience and put the focus on them.

Try pausing for a second and noticing the sounds around you. Whether it’s an aeroplane passing overhead or someone coughing next door, it’ll bring you back to the near and now. Don't pause for too long though as your audience will wonder what you're on.

Asking questions is another technique for engaging. If no one responds pick on someone – they’re fair game – they turned up, after all.

Shed nervous energy

Presenting and being visible does bring up distress for most people. This is normal. “We all experience nervousness or feeling inadequate... the voice in the heads that goes sit down, you’re boring“, says McKenzie. You can turn this into a positive by remembering that nervousness is energy and you need this to create something.

Tell a story

Personal anecdotes are a powerful way of creating rapport and they don’t have to be funny to work well. At the recent Bafta awards, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when David Puttnam revealed how needing his father to be proud of him delivered the motivation he needed to acheive.

Warm up

Your body is the tool that you use to present and you need to warm it up. So try breathing deeply, stretching, doing a tongue twister or singing a song!
 

My thanks to Stuart McKenzie, director at Maynard Leigh
Ros Taylor, chartered psychologist, communications consultant