Be your true self during the presentation

Imagine you are invited in a presentation or you registered. You go there and sit on a chair. You are trying so hard to be your true self during a presentation or an interview.

The speaker comes on the stage and starts talking. It may take a few minutes for him to chill out but you see it’s not happening even after a long time. You understand he’s not comfortable with you and the audience. You can’t identify with him.

when you don’t find your true self in presentation, you got nervous and uncomfortable.

Be yourself

One of the reasons that prevents the audience from connecting with the speaker is that he’s not himself. He tries to impersonate and play as someone else. Even if he works so hard to be the best but the result is not desirable.
If you want to be a professional speaker, you have to learn to be yourself — your true self.

How to be our true self in a presentation?

It may be the commonest tip before interviews, presentations, and seminars: “be yourself.” But we don’t even know what does it mean, let alone acting like it!
In this article, there is a new framing to understand your true self and the solutions to discovering it.

What do you want from the presentation?

First, you have to feel comfortable. You can’t deceive yourself, can you? So you have to pay attention during the presentation. Do you feel relaxed and comfortable? When you are not comfortable yourself, the audience won’t be able to feel calm too.

To whom you are presenting?

you are your true self when you are talking to your friends.

It’s natural that you feel better when you speak with your friends, family, and relatives because you are not afraid of being judged and criticized.
You may not do the same things during speaking with your friends. Sometimes you talk officially, sometimes you are normal. Sometimes you are serious, and sometimes you may tell a joke. You’re comfortable with them; this is what we call stable!
You can start being comfortable and your true self by trying it in front of your friends and family. Speak a few times in front of them and ask them to criticize you. See if they felt they are comfortable with you or not.

Presenting in front of strangers is hard, how should I do it?

you think people judge you in presentation so you can’t be your true self and you start acting.

The reason we don’t feel comfortable in front of strangers is that we don’t feel “safe.” There are two solutions for that:
1- Simple method (creativity in a presentation)
2- Complicated method (finding the radical solution)

Creativity in presentation

The simple way is to think that people and the strangers won’t judge you because they understand that public speaking is stressful and hard. They all know this fact. So if you think they judge you all the time, they certainly do. You have to get rid of this kind of thought and negative energy.

Finding the radical solution

It’s not easy to find the radical solution to that. It takes time, and we mostly try to avoid it.
Most of the time, the radical cause of not feeling comfortable in public speaking is running from it and the fact that we don’t search for its solution.

You don’t have to run from your fear of public speaking. try to be your true self during a presentation.

The best solution is accepting it, confronting it and moving on. When you feel unsafe, let your feelings show up. Don’t let them hide. Imagine you are in front of your family, think you know them for years, and you are so close that you want to tell them your diaries.
I know, it can be hard but it works, and it’s worth it. Believe me; you feel you have been freed from a cage.

How to discover your true self during the presentation?

Three scenarios may happen during the presentation. They are the same situation in which you won’t feel comfortable, and you lost yourself.

1- When you are nervous.

When does it happen?
When you want to seem over self-confident, and you are very shy!
What to do?
Accept that you are nervous. Do some practices to be calm and accept them instead of rejecting them. For example, drink water and so on.
you can read more in “cause of fear of public speaking” and “why am i so scared of public speaking?” and “how to stop being shy and quiet?“.

by introducing a reference book, you can attract the audience. be your true self.

I have several tips you may find interesting. When you don’t know your audience, it’s best if you have enough knowledge. When you think the audience knows too much, you can use your extra knowledge to keep them satisfied and interested.
Another tip is to have sources. If someone has a lot of information about the topic you are presenting, you can tell him that he can use this book to be more professional than he already is. This way that kind of audience with advanced knowledge can enjoy your presentation too.
Third, you have to ask some proper and right questions. You will know what to say and how to say it if you ask the audience’s idea.
Fourth is to have a fluid powerpoint. You can design your slides (in any software) with pictures and a few topics. Depends on what your audience wants, you can make different slides.
Finally, you have to see at what level they are. For example, if I have a presentation about selling, I ask some people to come up on the stage and ask them a few questions to know their levels. This way we won’t be afraid that they might have a higher level compared to us.

2- When you are in an official position

When does it happen?
At the moment you want to be a true gentleman!

What to do?
It’s simple. You can tell a joke or an interesting diary. For example, when you bumbled in one of your important presentations!
Next way is to use words and phrases you use every day.

3- When you want to impress the audience

When does it happen?
When you are willing to impress the audience all of a sudden with a quick move.

you can’t impress the audience with one special move or sentence. you have to be your true self.

What to do?
No! this is not the way. You have to impress them slowly. You can’t nail them with one sentence. Be your true self. Compare yourself with yourself only. This way you will succeed.

Conclusion (Your true self)

To sum up, we can understand how important it is to be our true selves. It means to be in the most comfortable position although it’s natural to be stressful a little bit when you have public speaking, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. But you have to know that it’s the easiest way to be your true self and act like you saw the audience a week ago on a trip and you laughed and enjoyed your time. A piece of cake!
Doing so makes you feel free.