By Virginia Auciello

How do you feel about standing in front of an audience? Do you get butterflies in your stomach when you think about making a presentation? A colleagure recently told me that Americans fear speaking to an audience more than they fear death! Is that possible? If you fear presenting, or even if you are one of those rare creatures who enjoy it, what can you do to make it easier for yourself and be successful with your audience?

The first step you can take to reduce your anxiety is to prepare yourself. Many wonderful books and products offer great structures for presenting. Successful structures focus on letting your audience know what to expect so they will feel comfortable in the introduction protion of your speech or presentation. I recommend making a purpose statement that relates the benefits of your topic to the audience, giving a time frame to cover your topics, introducing yourself with only relevant credentials and stating any guidelines. A guideline might be that the audience may ask questions at any time, or only at the end of your presentation. If you are new at presenting, it may help you to answer questions at a specific time. This technique will help you stay focused by reducing interruptions and the stress theymay cuase. My best tip is for you to prepare your introduction and conclusion after you have completely prepared you main points.

Most resources will suggest that you limit your main points. I agree. Members of the audience will not enjoy your presentation nor will they get much from it if they feel overwhelmed. Most poeple lead busy lives and you are competing for their attention. Keep your main points limited to what is essential. "Nice to know" information will take up too much time and overlaod your audience. When it comes to relating to your audience, think: "Less is more." Three to five main points will keep both you and your audience focused. And if you are going to save taking questions for the end, they should actually be your last main point. Questions belong in the guts of your presentation, not in the conclusion.

Your conclusion is a re-cap of everything you have done. Repeat your main points. "So, what we talked about today is; 1.___, 2. ___, 3. ___, ..." Then, repeat how your information benefits the audience. Specifically state what you want the audience to do with this information. You might say, "We want you to use this information as you work with our customers." Most guidlines for presentation will tell you to start by getting the audience's attention. I also add - close the way you started. One of the most effective examples I have ever seen of coordinating the beginning and end of a presentation was at a sales training. The presenter had a basketball when he waled into the room (attention getting in itself!). He simply placed the basketball on a nearby table and said, "I'm going to show you how being successful in sales is as easy as playing a game of pick-up basketball, andjust as much fun." At the end, he threw the basketball out to the audience and said, "The ball's in your court." Wow! that was great.

A few other tips I recommend for presenting are:

1. Go early and greet members of your audinece as they come in. The audience likes it, it makes you feel connected and it's a better way to spend your time compared to letting your anxiety build up.

2. Limit the audio-visual support. You re the presenter, the machine isn't.

3. Be interactive witht he audience; just sitting is very difficult for audience members.

4. Do not read to people. Adults are annoyed and turned off if you read to them.

5. Be yourself! We connect person-to-person. Personable is much preferred to perfect.

6. Start and end on time.

We each have a busy life and a schedule. No one will be angry if you end a little early, but if you stay late you may be interrupting other commitments that your audience has.

Use these tips and you are sure to be successful from the audience's point of view, and you will feel in control. By reducing your anxiety, you will enjoy presenting so much that you'll volunteer to do it!