Anxiety and uncertainty in communication situations

• If getting prepared feels daunting and difficult to approach
  • See our guide to process-oriented preparation at Presentation skills.
  • Try the following exercise: Breaking Down Tasks into Subtasks (requires signing in with your JYU username):
  • Consider what an adequate level of preparation in each situation is.
• If you tend to procrastinate during preparation, see the guide here: 
   Ways to stop procrastinating 5/5 (sign in with your JYU username).
• If you spend a lot of time polishing your talk or writing it out word for word for reading or memorising your presentation, try instead to use key words written on cards, a mobile device or slides. 
   
• Here are examples of how you can prepare for your presentation or speech:
  • Do vocal exercises or something physical in the morning if you have a speech or presentation to give during the day.
  • Dress comfortably, but in a way that suits the role of the presenter in the situation.
  • Take a short walk before your presentation or walk up and down the stairs.
  • Spend a quiet moment somewhere you like before your speech.

Make useful notes and try visualising the situation ahead of time
Go through the flow of your presentation in your mind. Then, on a piece of paper or a device, write down key words that will help you remember how the presentation progresses. Also check whether the presentation is progressing logically. Then, move on to practising speaking aloud and timing your presentation. 

Practise speaking aloud with a timer 
Practise your speech out loud and time it. You will get an idea of how long you spend on each section, how you move from one topic to another, how you use your notes and how you are able to put your ideas into words. If possible, get to know the presentation space and equipment well in advance. 

Make use of video
Record a video of your presentation and see how it went. Pay particular attention to what went well, where you succeeded and why. Pick at least three things from the video that went well. Look at yourself as if it were your best friend to whom you are giving encouraging feedback.  Then, see how you can make the presentation even easier to understand. 

Although it may initially feel uncomfortable and even impossible to watch your own presentation, for many people seeing the video can be a meaningful learning experience:

• It gives you the opportunity to see your own presentation from the outside. You may notice things that work well that you can’t see when you’re giving the presentation.
• It can break the chain of thought where anxiety is associated with an unsuccessful performance.
• It can mitigate the most self-critical beliefs about the weaknesses in your presentations.
• It can reveal the way in which you observe and judge yourself, whether it is constructive and accepting or judgmental. 

“Now I know exactly how I look and sound when I present, what my strengths are and what I could develop in the future ... Watching the videos has also helped me with other fears related to social situations.” 

“What helps me the most in the presentation situation now is the understanding that public speaking is about interacting with the audience.” 

Give yourself time 
Feel free to take your time at the beginning and during your presentation or speech. The anxiety can make even a short pause during a speech feel long, but the audience seldom experiences the pause as a long one. From their point of view, it may even be a necessary pause to process what they have just heard. 

“The audience is in no hurry to go anywhere when I have the floor ... I can put my ideas into words more clearly when I give myself time.”

Ask yourself:

• Am I able to see all the time? 
  Performance anxiety may make your field of vision narrower.  Try to make your field of vision wider, so that you can see the faces of your listeners. You may see smiling or otherwise encouraging faces among the audience.
• Are you breathing normally? 
  If you find yourself holding your breath, be happy that you noticed it and then let yourself breathe normally.
• Am I letting myself move? 
  If you find yourself frozen in place, take a few steps while you think about what to say next. You can give structure to what you’re saying by moving to a different location when you change the topic.
• Am I moving around restlessly?

If you find yourself moving restlessly, hold onto something firmly with your hands, such as notes, the edge of your desk or the remote control of the projector.

If your thoughts get distracted

• Pause for a moment, take your time to look at your notes and gather your thoughts: Ask yourself what you have already said and what you should say next. 
• Depending on the situation, it may be a good idea to say out loud that you have lost your train of thought. 
• You can ask your listeners a question, pause after the discussion, gather your thoughts and continue where you left off. 

Breathe a sigh of relief and be proud of yourself – you did it! Be sure to recover from the stressful situation in a way that suits you. Examples of ways to recover may include:

• Talking to a friend
• Going for a walk or engaging in other physical activity
• Rewarding yourself

Take time to process feedback

• It can be difficult to process feedback immediately after a stressful situation. Revisit a video of your presentation or the feedback you received after some time has passed and the anxious feeling has subsided. Evaluate the feedback you receive and take it into account so that you can make changes, for example to make your presentation more understandable, more structured, more insightful or better reasoned. Ideally, watching and listening to yourself on video will increase your self-esteem and develop your communication confidence.

Tips for watching a video recording of your presentation

• Be kind to yourself and try to view your actions as if you were watching a friend.
• We often look for mistakes and negative aspects in our actions that we anticipate finding. As a result, we tend to overlook positive things.
• If you start to concentrate on negative aspects, it might be a good idea to watch the recording at least twice. Acknowledge the existence of the things you consider negative and then try to view the recording through a different lens, looking for positives.
• If you are not used to seeing yourself on video, you may think you look and sound strange, which can be difficult to associate with the image you have of yourself. Seeing and hearing yourself on video feels strange because you usually see yourself in a mirror and your own voice sounds different to your ears than it does to others. The audience sees you and hears your voice as you see and hear yourself in the video.
• In a video, more than in a face-to-face setting, attention is drawn to gestures, facial expressions and movements that are unlikely to be noticed by those present, but which are highlighted on the small screen. 

“Watching the videos was perhaps the best and most helpful thing about the whole course ... I was baffled by the fact that the presentation looked almost natural from the outside.”