I have a presentation for a school project in 3 weeks and just the thought of it is giving me an insane amount of anxiety and distress.
I specifically chose my degree (engineering) because i assumed there would be little to no presentations at all. This is already my 2nd presentation so far and the first one went horribly. My heart rate spiked up to 170bpm my voice was shaky, i started sweating, I was struggling to breathe mid presentation. Every time I think about it I get embarrassed, and it happened a year ago.
I can already tell this one will be the same if not worse but this presentation is suppose to be 15 minutes long. Anxiety is higher than wiz khalifa just thinking about it and I still have 3 weeks
does anyone have any advice to push through this presentation without having a panic attack
5 comments
It won’t always make being up there a whole lot easier, but I’ve got two things
1. Ask yourself if you’d talk to everyone in your class individually. Sure you might not make small talk to them or be their friend, but I’m betting you’d be comfortable giving your presentation to everyone 1 on 1 for the most part (I knew I could at least)
2. Imagine being in the audience. You might at most be invested in their project, but at the end of the day, do you really care? I bet a lot of people are stressing about their project too much to care entirely about yours. Even more so if they have a peer review assignment to do on your project. Then they’re just looking for details to write down quickly so they can be done with it and check out.
If you’re in grad school, maybe the investment in your project is a little higher, but then I assume the audience would be smaller too.
A lot of my job is public speaking and it is never easy. I would say get people you can practice your speech on. The more times you do it with different people the better and it won’t be such a shock to your system if you have gotten out some of that anxiety with other people first. It helps when it is not the first time you have given it with people listening. The only way you get better and more calm is with practice. You have 3 weeks to practice!
In the short term, an option is to discuss beta-blockers (propranolol) with your doctor. They can be used to block the symptoms of anxiety and get you through this speech.
In the longer term, do you have access to a counselor or therapist? There are some effective approaches to managing public speaking anxiety and it sounds like it’s something you could benefit from.
First, engineers have to present information ALL. THE. TIME!! There is almost no workplace that exists as a professional where you will not have to present in front of a team or other audience.
Second, as hard as it is your anxiety is probably grounded in “looking stupid” in front of people. This is never the case. As someone who presents information to company CEO’s, very senior govt officials and politicians, I am always the expert in the room on what I present on. That’s the mentality I take into every situation because THEY ask ME to present what I do. You must too.
Fourth, present in the room as though no one is actually there. Present to an empty room a few times to get used to it prior to the day. This takes years to master, but it works for me.
Finally, get used to it or go work on a farm/in a warehouse. Because you will be expected to do this the rest of your professional life.
Some things I’ve done: practice the presentation alone or in front of some friends a few times. Imagine yourself giving the presentation and the presentation going well in your head. Don’t be afraid to take some pauses during the presentation to just take a few breaths in and out, drink some water, etc.
Another thing is most people are worried about their own presentation and are probably not judging you or even paying attention. We had to present multiple times in my masters and looking back I remember no one’s.