Take
Control
How Can I Control My Nerves When Presenting?
Q&As
01
What if I feel super nervous?
If you’re really passionate and interested in what you’re talking about and are going to be doing, there’s just a general level of positive nervousness. I think even the strongest presenters that present all the time are still getting nervous; the thing that they’re able to do is they’re able to manage their nervousness so it doesn’t come across to the listener.
—Jared Dickson, Communications Trainer, Founder and CEO of JD Communication Strategies
There are some people who are just very extroverted and natural in front of big crowds; there’s a few people that I’ve heard don’t get nervous. But many of the speakers I know, no matter how many times they’ve done it or how confident they are as people in their material, still get nervous when they get up there.
—Danielle Barnes, CEO of Women Talk Design
I think it's normal to be a little nervous. It's totally normal; it's actually more a primal brain kind of thing. Our lizard brain is like, "AAAAAH!" That's normal. But the kind of nervousness that stops you in your tracks from even taking opportunities or speaking up in the first place, that's the kind of nervousness you can work through and it won't stop you anymore once you get to the other side.
—Julia Beauchamp, Corporate Trainer at MOXiE Institute
The first time you do that you might feel nervous, you might go red in the face, your voice might tremble a little bit. It happens; we’ve all been there. You get sweaty palms. Practice is the only thing.
—Tom Crabtree, Founder & Creative Director of Manual
02
What if I make mistakes when I am presenting?
Everyone makes mistakes. You will make a hundred mistakes today, if you’re lucky. If you’re not lucky you will make a thousand. You can’t avoid doing something because you think you will make a mistake. Just accept that you’re going to make a mistake and deal with it.
—Mike Monteiro, Design Director and Co-owner of Mule Design Studio
You actually improve when you make mistakes; you cannot grow unless you try and when you make the mistakes you have something to build on, something that you can work from. I’m working with an instructor this semester that tells the students you have to make mistakes; that it’s part of learning and the growth process.
—James O’Hara, Academy of Art University, EAP Liaison Director
I think that you just have to go out and do it, not be afraid. Be fearless; just do it. You might make mistakes every once in a while, but the only way to really learn is just to present more. Don’t hold yourself back and avoid presentations just because you are afraid of making mistakes. That’s how you’re really going to learn. The more presentations you do, the easier it gets.
—Hilarie Fong, Academy of Art University, Undergraduate Curriculum Coordinator
Don’t ever let mistakes hold you back, because mistakes are really good. When you fail you immediately look back and go, “Ok, I’m not going to do that again. I’m going to do it a different way.” So, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. That’s the only way to learn. No one does anything perfectly the first time.
—Tom Crabtree, Founder & Creative Director of Manual
Making mistakes is normal. How you deal with them is the tell of a confident presenter.
—Hunter Wimmer, Associate Director of School of Graphic Design at Academy of Art University
03
Does confidence really matter when I am presenting?
It is important because the designer has to be the most confident out of everyone in those meetings because people don’t know what they’re looking at.
—Donna Roggi, Creative Director at Credit Karma
Confidence is something that only a human being can deliver to another human being. They're not going to be confident in what's on your slides. They're going to be confident in you. What you put up there on your slides might reinforce that confidence that they're feeling, that sense of trust that they are getting from you. It will reinforce it but it's not going to come from there. They need to believe in you.
—Mike Monteiro, Design Director and Co-owner of Mule Design Studio
04
What if I am intimidated by the audience?
In terms of the intimidation, I think that's a confidence thing. It's a building of belief in your value, no matter if you are the youngest person in the room, no matter if you are the only woman or minority in the room. No matter what is going on outside, you have a belief in your own value. That's something to build and cultivate over time.
—Julia Beauchamp, Corporate Trainer at MOXiE Institute
As for intimidation, know that, in that moment, you get to be the expert. Embrace that. Nobody has studied that particular topic or worked harder on a design for that than you. If there’s things that the person you’re presenting to doesn’t like, then, if it’s a teacher or something, they want to help you get better. If it’s a client, then they have something else in mind and it’s not personal.
—Andrea Pimental, Co-Director of School of Advertising and School of Web Design & New Media at
Academy of Art University
Being intimidated by your audience is going to happen but, what you have to keep in mind is using the design you have done they will be able to make a positive impression on potential clients or potential customers.
—Mitchell Mauk, Principal at Mauk Design
05
How can I present well when I am an introvert?
The key is there has to be a shift, almost like a light switch inside of you, from introverted working mode when you are in your creative personal time mode, shift from that into your speaker mode when you choose, make an active choice, to be external.
—Julia Beauchamp, Corporate Trainer at MOXiE Institute
No one is the best presenter so you shouldn’t feel that it’s a skill that you can’t get better at. It’s like a muscle that you have to continue to flex to be in practice and get better with it. Everyone starts somewhere and there’s always room for improvement and growing and figuring that out.
—Fay Chang, Associate Creative Director at Credit Karma
You don’t have to be that outgoing person all the time. I don’t think every designer needs to be that. I don’t think every designer needs to be the best at speaking either. All they need to do is really prepare; the designers need to just keep going through the motions. The more you practice and the more you do it the better you’ll be. That’s really it. Not only in design but also in speaking.
—Kyle McDowell, Design Director at Fantasy
06
Will people look down on me if I give a bad presentation?
Don’t be concerned with how people are gonna perceive you. Don’t be afraid, just go out and do it, and you’ll probably do much better than you think.
—Christine George, Artist, Designer, Photographer
It’s just you have to learn how to get a little bit comfortable with the idea that it might not go well. That’s fine. I’ve seen plenty of presentations not go well and that’s totally a part of human nature; no one is like, “Ugh, wow that’s a bad person.” Everyone is learning so I think it’s just being comfortable with the idea of failure and humility.
—Donna Roggi, Creative Director at Credit Karma
I feel that quite often what you realize after you give something your best shot in front of an audience, you think you are doing a lot worse than they think you are doing. The audience is always more generous. People want you to do well. They’re rooting for you to do well when you are presenting.
—Tom Crabtree, Founder & Creative Director of Manual
07
What if I am too sacred to present?
The more you present, the more comfortable you’ll be with it. You have to jump off the cliff; you have to make a leap of faith and just start doing it. Pretty soon it won’t be so scary.
—DC Scarpelli, Associate Director of School of Web Design & New Media at Academy of Art University
If you’re uncomfortable that’s a good thing because you’re growing.
—Alex Morris, UX Designer for Data & AI at IBM
You just have to trust that you can put yourself through it and survive and you will.
—Susannah Hainley, Art Director, Designer, Educator
08
Why are people scared about presentations in general?
People are very comfortable chatting one on one, but when they get in front of a group of people, especially if they are standing up and especially if there is something at stake, their true genuine personalities can get fogged by... get sort of compromised by things that they do that they wouldn't do just chatting. They get quiet, they don't make eye contact, they use filler words or vocal pauses, like but, you know, so, like. They go up at the end of sentences, which makes it sound like they are asking a question, instead of making declarative statements. I mean, there are all these little things that people do because they think they are moving into presentation mode, which they think is different than talking. Presenting is no different than talking, it's just a little bit bigger, because you have to fill a space and you have to make a persuasive argument. So, it can't be casual, but it also doesn't have to be stuffy and serious and professional and boring. It's a tricky balance.
—Darell Hayden, Communication Coaching for Creative Services, Founder of Speaking Of Creative
It's a stressful situation. You're presenting work to people. There's usually one of you and there's a lot more of them. That's a lot of eyeballs staring in your direction and you're the only person staring back. Do you know what the lizard brain is? The part of the brain that tells you when you might have to run or fight or pull your hand off the stove before you get burned. It's the part of your brain that doesn't think; it reacts. In a situation where there's multiple people staring at you and you are the only one staring back, that part of your brain reads that as a dangerous situation because those numbers aren't good. Are those people going to chase you? Do you have to run from them? Are you going to have to fight all those people? It doesn't know. What it does know is that one of those things might happen. It's job is to fill you with adrenaline in case you have to fight or run. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it's just a presentation, so you don't need that adrenaline. But your body gives it to you anyway. You are standing up there, your body is filled with adrenaline, it has nothing to do with all that adrenaline, so now you decided why don't I just turn this into anxiety and freak out.
—Mike Monteiro, Design Director and Co-owner of Mule Design Studio
09
What if I can’t get out of my comfort zone?
You’re going to be ok on the other side. You can fail, you can fall on your face, you can get up. You’re probably still going to get a round of applause and you’re going to learn from the experience. So, you just get out of your comfort zone and take yourself to that edge a little bit more because on the other side it’s ok.
—Jared Dickson, Communications Trainer, Founder and CEO of JD Communication Strategies
You could stay a designer and not present, but to really expand your career and grow you have to push yourself outside your comfort zone. Know that a lot of designers are in the same boat; a lot of designers don’t want to talk, don’t want to present their own work. But it is really important to help others learn about what you are doing, help yourself understand really what you have to say and what your opinion is; it’s going to lead towards growth. Just knowing that it’s going to benefit you to do these things is definitely a reason to push yourself to do it.
—Alex Morris, UX Designer for Data & AI at IBM
10
Should I rely on my visuals when I am presenting?
It’s not enough just to rely on your visuals. They can be stunning, but you also have to have some sort of verbal component to tie everything together.
—Kim Burke, Art Support, Short-Story Writer
If you’re already working on your visual communication skills, why not work on other aspects of your communication skills? Like the verbal communication skills in addition to the visual. You are going to need them both to do anything.
—Colin Sebestyen, Educator, Lead Motion Graphics at Lucid Motors
11
What should I do if I don’t like to be the center of attention?
Why not change the paradigm—which is that a speech always has to be one person speaking—and change it to why not get the audience more involved. They’ll wake up because suddenly they have to do something and they’re not going to just sit and listen.
—Scot Crisp, Education Consultant, TESOL Instructor
Get used to. You know what's worse than being the center of attention is being the person that nobody listens to. Do you want to be the person with all the good ideas but those good ideas never get used? The alternative to that is every once in a while you have to be the center of attention.
—Mike Monteiro, Design Director and Co-owner of Mule Design Studio
12
What if my mind goes blank?
Rehearsal. You can’t wing it. You need to know what you’re going to say so that if your mind goes blank you have words in front of you that you have prepared on a card or something. Then you’re not just standing there, like we say, like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car, saying, “Oh, I don’t know what to do.” You know what to do; you’re the expert at that moment.
—Scot Crisp, Education Consultant, TESOL Instructor
13
I am just a newbie in the design world, do people really care about what I am presenting?
The world needs your voice. Your voice as a young designer is just as valid. You have something to offer; so, be strong and confident. Stay humble; learn to listen, too, but the world needs you.
—Monica Berini, Academy of Art University, Graduate Major-Specific Curriculum Coordinator
Reminding yourself that you have value in that and that you are there for a reason is really important.
—Danielle Barnes, CEO of Women Talk Design
14
What if I don’t have time to practice it?
There’s also so many ways people don’t seize opportunities. For instance, if you have the opportunity to make a presentation in class or when you get into the workplace, even something as simple as offering to lead that conference call, those are all opportunities you can seize to improve your skills. People want to be good at public speaking without ever speaking. You know what I mean? I’m not going to learn guitar without ever playing a chord. Nowadays it’s so easy to just text, email, or hide behind a screen.
—Allison Goldberg, Performer, Writer, Host, Co-Creative Director of GoldJam Creative
15
What if I just don’t like to present?
A lot of this is just there are experiences in life we don’t enjoy but we have to do them anyway. Some of it is like I don’t want to pretend that it’s easy and you’re just going to love public speaking. You might always hate public speaking, but I also hate traffic. There are some things that you’re going to hate and will always hate; you just have to get through them and really focus on connecting with our audience, focus on what I was saying earlier, metaphors and analogies, focusing on memorable and creative moments. It might be that your fear and nerves never go away, but you find what you’re really strong at within public speaking. There are some public speakers that admit being terrified, but they’re great public speakers.
—Allison Goldberg, Performer, Writer, Host, Co-Creative Director of GoldJam Creative
16
Is it abnormal if I feel nervous every single time?
You get super nervous every time, because you want it to go well. You want people to be engaged; you want people to like what you are saying, what you are doing, your design. I think being prepared helps that a lot. If you go home and you talk to a wall as you doing this, you start to feel more confident and going into the presentation you know what you’re going to say.
—Kyle McDowell, Design Director at Fantasy
17
How can I be more confident when I present?
The more I practice and the more confident I am and familiar with the material, then even if I have to go rogue and off and answer questions, because I know it pretty well I am able to do that. If I don’t prepare then I’m definitely more nervous; I’m always thinking what is the next thing I’m supposed to say. If I’m super practiced and I’m prepared, then it just comes naturally. Or more naturally.
—Fay Chang, Associate Creative Director at Credit Karma
I would say that design has the ability to change the world. Design is really powerful. You look around and everything you see has been designed to some extent; that's amazing. If you think about that fact and then you are presenting in front of someone, you are presenting something very powerful and that only you can do as a designer. Especially presenting to non-designers. So, I think, feeling empowered and feeling confident that you have this amazing ability to design is awesome. Use that to your advantage.
—Courtney Sabo, Co-Founder of PadPiper
18
I messed it up even though I did the same presentation, what’s wrong with me?
It’s just something that you have to practice, presentation skills. If you ever have the opportunity to present something twice, your second one will always be better. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, the second one will always be better. The third one will probably be worse and then the fourth one will probably be the same as the third and then it will start to get better again.
—Hamilton Cline, Professor of School of Web Design & New Media at Academy of Art University
19
How can I make the audience excited about my presentation?
If you’re excited about something, I’m going to be excited about it.
—DC Scarpelli, Associate Director of School of Web Design & New Media at Academy of Art University
20
What if I am not sure what kind of value I can deliver through my work?
What I learned is everyone has a unique point of view; everyone’s voice is unique and adds value to the team as a whole. So, people shouldn’t underestimate their value or their worth as a designer. They should just share what they have done and their thoughts and their process, regardless of the outcome. If you put in time and effort in something it’s worth sharing because you take time to think about something and came up with a solution. Just in that effort itself, it’s worth sharing.
—Shihwen Wang, UX Lead at Huge