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Dread presenting at work? Read these tips before your next meeting - Published Dani Payne was so anxious about public speaking, she had a doctor's note to excuse her from presenting at school and university. Now aged 28 with a job in politics at a cross-party think tank, she's spoken in parliament, sits on discussion panels and presents social media videos. "Most days I do some form of public speaking," she says. "I wouldn't have believed that at 15." Want to get better, or simply get started? Here are five ways to help you nail your presentation or speech. Woman's Hour Speaking in Public: Why it feels so hard to do and how to do it anyway. Listen now. 1. Start with your passion Payne, from Exeter, says she stopped any form of public speaking after developing a severe anxiety disorder and experiencing panic attacks. But looking back, she says avoiding it didn't help her build "coping skills or resilience you need later in life". "The more you avoid what you're anxious about, the more you're anxious about it." In her second year of university she was invited to give a talk on a subject she was passionate about and realised: "I was losing out on opportunities that I felt really strongly about." She presented research she had carried out for her dissertation on sexual misconduct in academic fieldwork settings and that was the start of her getting over her fear. "Picking something you genuinely feel passionately about will always make it easier to speak about in front of other people," she says. Her advice is to pick a topic you feel strongly about and look for or create opportunities to speak about it. 2. Practice in virtual reality Daisy Schofield, a 32-year-old documentary producer and journalist, had her first panic attack at university during a presentation, she tells Woman's Hour. She managed to avoid public speaking until she got her first job and had to present company statistics on Teams every Monday. To build her confidence, Schofield practises by using an app on her phone to create a fake audience in a virtual reality headset she bought online for £10. "It makes practising feel much more engaging and like the real thing, compared to practising at home on your own, which feels a bit awkward and boring." Prof Nazanin Derakhshan, a neuroscientist at Birkbeck, University of London, suggests focusing on six breaths per minute before presenting. You can do this by breathing in for five seconds and out for five seconds. "It can improve the brain-heart communication and the more in harmony they are, the better we feel about ourselves." 3. Choose one word Viv Groskop, a stand-up comedian, writer and public speaking coach advises picking a word that encapsulates what you want your speech to convey. "It could be something like clarity. No one can ever say that you got that wrong if you were clear. "So choose something that you can think to yourself afterwards, 'did I set out to be clear? Was I clear? Yes. It's a win.' And every time you choose a different word." Groskop also advises putting a post-it note on your laptop camera and reminding yourself to look there and not at people on the screen. "You can hide self-view, resist the temptation to look at it, because it will mean you're looking down, not at people." 4. Get comfy Groskop does things that relax her ahead of stand up gigs. This could be getting a good night sleep, staying hydrated or having time off your phone. "Always wear something that you can forget about. If you love having your hair done, get your hair done. "Wear makeup or don't wear makeup, whatever makes you feel comfortable so that you won't be thinking about your appearance." Derakhshan advises not to focus in on people's faces when presenting, as we can misinterpret their reactions. "Accept that their facial expression may mean anything, and distract yourself internally from interpreting these facial expressions." 5. Expect mistakes Payne says it's important to remember being good at public speaking does not come "naturally to someone". "You wouldn't pick up a guitar, and be surprised that you couldn't play a song when you've never picked up a guitar before - public speaking is the exact same thing." She says to become good at public speaking you need to be bad at it first. "Particularly if you're early in your career, the people around you are not going to expect you to immediately be a master public speaker the first time you do it." Groksop says people who are good at public speaking have just been doing it more. "Many people are spending up to eight hours a day on Teams or Zoom, and if you think about a television newsreader, they've been trained for that." Derakhshan says being vulnerable is a "big asset" when public speaking. "We all make mistakes, we all forget things. It's not the end of the world. If you can go back and make a humour of it the audience are quite forgiving and accepting." Additional Reporting by Simon Richardson. Related topics Other stories you may enjoy - Published28 September - Published22 September - Published14 September
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