Since our company discovered PowerPoint, years ago, all our presentations have to be on TV.
But most of the time you can blend into the side while everyone stares at the screen.
As everyone says, know what you are talking about and practice.
Good Luck!!!

PowerPoint sucks. I hate that my company still uses it. It’s awful.

Just wanted to Thank you all for the support. I really appreciate the advice. I have presented to small audiences before and can fully utilize a PowerPoint and am pretty good at it.

I am just very uncomfortable in front of 40 or more people. Plus the “authority” that will be in the room..eek!

I really believe it is a mind block on my end, I know what I am talking about and feel I am respected within the organization, which I believe enhances my stress.

Thank you all again for the support. I love the THF.

Have a great evening.

We went big on marketing.

It's said that public speaking is one of the biggest fears anyone has.
Plenty of resources online to help you deal with the moment and improve your skills.

It will go just fine.

I've done some large group speaking ( I like it...) and highly recommend Doc's comment. Lots of deep breath's to start and settle down and then consciously speak in a normal rhythm. It's common to be nervous which makes you talk fast, which makes you grab smaller breaths, which keeps you on the edge. It's not a race.

BREATHE! and rehearse/know your material. You wouldn't have been asked to deliver if they didn't have confidence in you/like what you are doing.

Good luck!
Charlie

I have spoken in front of over 700 before, no qualms whatsoever...BUT, make me mingle with 10 people I don't know, yeah, I don't like that at all. I'm good at one on one situations, but otherwise my anxiety goes haywire.

Yes. I have presented at conferences and to clients and internally. At conferences it is who-knows-who - but for the most part peers. Presenting to clients and internal it is peers, also, but for the most part to executives. To me it's easy but I learned at an early age as I was in Toastmasters in middle school and in high school I was teaching adult continuing education classes.

How many of you had debate in Highschool? My daughter did. She's chairing the national legal writing conference next week.

Watch until the end...

Yep, stab I'd rather be stabbed in the ears with sticks instead of listening to someone read a PP preso verbatim.

There are three up's in public speaking.

1. Get up.

2. Speak up.

3. Shut up..

I would rather go to the dentist than speak to a large audience.

I’m an introvert no doubt but push my self to become an extrovert at work. I have to present a few times per month to an audience ranging from 10-100 mostly by phone but also by telepresence or video Skype. The best I can tell you is to rehearse rehearse rehearse. Make a few notes, simple lines with good spacing. Usually the first 5 is a blur but once you get into your groove, create some back and forth conversation, things begin to flow smoothly. Best of luck.. been there, hate it, still get sick to my stomach, but when it’s over, I realize it wasn’t all that bad mainly because of good preparation.

America's Most Common Fears

1. Public Speaking (Glossophobia) A severe fear of public speaking. ...
2. Heights (Acrophobia) Extreme or irrational fear of heights. ...
3. Bugs & Insects (Entomophobia) ...
4. Drowning (Aquaphobia) ...
5. Blood/Needles (Trypanophobia) ...
6. Enclosed in Small Spaces/No Escape (Claustrophobia) ...
7. Flying (Aviophobia) ...
8. Strangers (Xenophobia)

yep, I know where you are coming from ... years ago, I had to do a presentation to a bunch of corporate managers and military customers on a product I helped design. I was scared to death but knew my stuff from the technical aspects. I rehearsed over and over and had it down to about a 25 minute presentation (they allowed 30). When it was my turn, I was petrified but got up and started. Once done, the weight of the world came off my shoulders, and I asked if anyone had any questions. Nope, they were all amazed and impressed. I left the large conference room with a few other higher up managers that I knew quite well. I asked them how they thought it went. They both chuckled and said it went great but they didn't know I could talk so fast ... that's when I realized I was done and out the door in about 12 minutes.

the morale here is know your stuff, but slow down and take a breath from time to time to let your mouth catch up with your brain in the adrenaline rush.

over time, I have gotten a little bit better, but still don't care much for speaking to larger audiences.

Relax and be glad you have this opportunity to show your skill. You would not have been as to present if someone did not think you could do it.
As mentioned know your material...you will go over it many times more than you probably need to. Nothing wrong with a joke or something to get a laugh in order to make the audience relax. You can do it!

Good advice above.

Slow down.
Don’t “uhhh” and “ahhh”.
Slow down.
Breathe.
Relax.
Don’t use useless superfluous introductory phrases like “I’m going to tell you....”, etc. Just tell them.
Slow down.


You will do great.

this plus I added a couple of don't say ...

If I know about what im talking about yes.

Im am a short sweet and too the point person.

Some good advice I got long ago:

See it for what it is really about, and that is your information, not you. Don't think about yourself, just your material, focus on the details that you obviously know and let that be what you make sure you cover. Thinking about the details of your material will put your mind on that, and off of yourself.

Most people will stop paying attention after the first minute anyway. ( who of us listens very attentively to a speaker without thinking about women, hunting, fishing or trucks)

No one is looking for you to make a great "performance" so don't try to. It's just a conversation where you do most, if not all of the talking.

I like the joke, short story, or whatever type intro myself. I give the IT portion of new employee orientation to groups of 10 - 30 total strangers every month, and I always start off by asking for a show of hands for everyone who has seen The Matrix, then follow up by asking who believes we're actually living in a computer construct like The Matrix? Of course I never get any hands for that second part, but it gives me a nice smooth segue into the relatively boring subject matter of computers that I'm about to cover.