60% of business owners and chief executives get stage fright when giving a presentation: Survey

If the thought of getting up in front of a group of people to deliver a presentation scares you, rest assured you’re not alone.

A recent survey conducted on behalf of cloud-based presentation provider Prezi found 61.4% of Australian business owners and chief executives have at least one fear when giving a presentation.

Of the business owners and chief executives in the survey group of 1000 Australians, 23.9% said they were scared of embarrassing themselves when giving a presentation, while 28.4% said they feared boring their audience.

One in five business owners and chief executives (22.7%) said they worried they would not be able to get their message across in the presentation and the same percentage of respondents were also worried about being asked a question they didn’t know the answer to.

Relying on technology to work smoothly throughout a presentation was also nominated as a concern for 20.5% of the business owners and chief executives surveyed.

For many of the business owners and chief executives surveyed, these fears also manifest themselves in physical symptoms.

Almost 20% of the group said their mouth gets dry during a presentation, while around 18% said their heart begins to race. Around 10% of respondents said they begin to sweat on stage, while others reported their minds going blank, their hands shaking, their voice becoming weak or finding themselves pacing back and forth or shuffling from side to side.

But despite the worries—and over 86% of business owners and chief executives saying they believe presentation skills are important for career progress and success—the survey found 30% of business owners and chief executives do not practice their presentation skills at all.

Of the people that do practice their presenting skills, over 35% do so in their head and around 14% do so with friends and families.

Drew Banks, head of international at Prezi, told SmartCompany practice is key to overcoming presentation fears.

“Spend time practising, even if it is just in your head,” Banks says.

“Get out of your head if you can and speak in front of friends and families.”

But as business owners and chief executives are often strapped for time, Banks suggests standing in front of a mirror and delivering your presentation to yourself.

“It has helped me tremendously,” he says.

Not only will you be able to work out if the sentence you thought sounded great in your head sounds just as good out loud, Banks says watching yourself will also give insight into how you move on stage and how much – or how little – you move your hands.

“The biggest challenge is often keeping still,” he says.

“People have this nervous energy and they shuffle back and forth … if you are going to move around, be direct.”

Banks’ other top tip is to spend time creating a narrative to present to your audience.

“Audiences love stories but they don’t love streams of facts,” Banks says.

“People are often too reliant on slides full of bullet points and at the end of the presentation, don’t have a strong narrative.”

Creating a narrative also makes it easier to remember the subject matter you are presenting and to carry on if there is an interruption, says Banks.

“If you have a story in your head, you are going to be far more comfortable if the presentation gets broken up,” he says.

“The mark of a great speaker is their ability to really pivot when something happens or a side-ball question comes along.”

And when it comes to overcoming any technical mishaps, Banks recommends running through your presentation in the room where you will be presenting, and with the equipment you will be using, ahead of time. And make sure you download a copy of any presentations you have created online.

“Be in control of all the variables you can have control over,” he says.

Watch Australian singer Megan Washington’s inspirational TED Talks presentation about her fear of public speaking