Take
Control
How Can I Control My Nerves When Presenting?
Because...
Get Motivated
01
Good Presentations—
Why Are They So Important?
Making
an impact
on your perspective.
02
People can
see the value of your ideas.
You look at people who run IBM, the executives, and those people are presenting all the time. If you’re someone who is interested in being a manager, or at least having more of a presence and an impact, not just on the company you work for, but on design in general… I work in data and AI. If I want to make an impact on AI, which is huge, you have to start talking about it; talk about how you fit in to that and what is your perspective.
—Alex Morris, UX Designer for Data&AI at IBM
03
Presentations are essential to start your career.
04
Everyone needs
public speaking skills sooner or later.
In fact, it’s essential to even /start/ your career as your first interview will be a presentation… and if you don’t present (interview) well, it’s unlikely that you’ll get a job that will build a career. I mean, you don’t have to be salesman-level, but you need to be able to confidently present your work and explain the concepts and choices that went into the creation of all of your work. Bonus points if you can also articulate what didn’t work and how you overcame obstacles.
—Hunter Wimmer, Designer, Maker, Associate Director of School of
Graphic Design at Academy of Art University
If you’re not presenting certainty—“I know this is the idea for you.” That’s the biggest thing in general that I see; this shrinking down and playing small thing. That can show... It comes through with everything. It comes through with the word choices you make; do you use a lot of fillers—ums, uhs, maybe, perhaps, please, thank you. All these things that soften what you are saying versus just saying what you mean. Things like not holding eye contact; you’re eyes are going everywhere else. Going too fast to get it over with. These are ways to deflect attention and play small.
—Julia Beauchamp, Corporate Trainer at MOXiE Institute
05
That’s how
you increase your
career value.
Especially in the tech world, I see a lot of people who are very successful without having those skills. They have a great idea, they’ve raised some funding or whatever, so they are not focusing on it then, suddenly, they reach a point where it is really important. Maybe they’re trying to get that next round of funding or maybe they’re getting a lot of opportunities to speak about their product or service. There comes a tipping point where everyone needs public speaking skills but they’ve gotten by for a long time without it. So, there’s this hurdle where people are like, “Maybe I don’t need it.” But they ultimately do, then it’s really tricky. Some people come to me pretty late in their career. I worked with some people who are very accomplished, they’re in their 40s or 50s and now it’s a huge problem for them.
—Allison Goldberg, Performer, Writer, Host, Co-Creative Director
of GoldJam Creative
06
If you can’t present your work, you cannot earn a living.
If you can get up there in front of a client, talk about your work and convince them that this work solves their problems, you get a check! Then you can pay the people who did the work; especially if you are getting paid according to milestones. If you’re putting work in front of people and you can’t sell it, you can’t convince them it’s right, then you don’t meet that milestone. You’re back in a week trying to do the same thing again, but that’s a week you went without getting paid. It’s about livelihood, it’s about being able to earn a living. If you can’t present your work, you cannot earn a living.
—Mike Monteiro, Design Director and Co-owner of Mule Design Studio
People, in general, any time you’re opening your mouth you’re presenting yourself, you’re selling yourself. Even if you’re a designer or you’re in technology or whatever you are doing you’re selling yourself. So, I think, people realize that one of the best ways that you can increase your career value is by presenting yourself more effectively. Oftentimes, designers will be in that world and will realize, “Wow, this is something that can really benefit me moving forward.”
—Jared Dickson, Communications Trainer, Founder and CEO of
JD Communication Strategies