6_KeyA

Dear Mrs. Kim,

Since the final presentation is two weeks away, I have begun to consider the certain challenges I face when presenting. Some of the challenges I face when presenting include being nervous, not having good posture, stuttering, forgetting what to say, not knowing where to look, my hands shaking, and my mouth getting dry. When I first get up to present in front of a group of people my first challenge is that I become really nervous. I try to calm myself by taking deep breaths, but I still feel very nervous. I only began to calm down until a while after the presentation is over. Also during presentations I do not know how keep good posture for the entire presentation. My arms tend to cross which makes me look like I’m angry. When I am talking my hands tend to move a lot which ends up distracting the audience away from the power point. Since I tend to be nervous for presentations, my voice begins to stutter and I become “tongue tied”. This makes my voice sound very uneasy and it becomes very obvious to the audience that I am nervous. The nervousness causes me to forget what I am supposed to say. Since I forget what I am supposed to say, I tend to read my notes or turn around to read the power point instead because I do not want to just stand in silence. When I am presenting and I do remember what I am supposed to say, I am unsure of where I am supposed to look. My eyes tend to look at the floor or directly to my notes so I do not have to see the people staring up at me. During all the nervousness and the inability to speak or know where to look, my hands begin to shake. It becomes very obvious to the audience that I am nervous because they can see my notes shaking in my hands. The last major challenge for me during presentations is I get dry mouth, and it makes it hard for me to speak. I usually do not bring a bottle of water with me because drinking water would not only distract the audience, but also stall the presentation. As you can see I face many challenges when I make presentations in front of an audience. There are several tips I can do to improve, deal, and eventually overcome these presentation challenges.

The first thing I will do to overcome these challenges is come to class prepared. If my group makes sure to practice and prepare for this presentation, the presentation will be able to run smoothly with barely any flaws. If I remember to take deep breaths, then being prepared will help keep my nervousness down. By bringing down my nervousness, I will be less likely to stutter, forget what to say, have shaking hands, and to get dry mouth. By helping all these things with preparation I will be less likely to mess up during the presentation. Another thing I will do to help with my challenges is look right above the audience heads. While doing this, the audience will think I am looking at them in the eyes when I am only looking over their heads. To improve my posture, I will remember to keep standing up straight and keep my hands at my sides. Occasionally I can use my hands during the presentation but not too much because that will distract the audience. The main thing I need to remember is to speak calmly and concisely and to make sure that I prepare before the presentation. If I follow these tips then it will help me improve my presentation skills and I will be less likely to run into challenges while presenting.

Sincerely,

Amanda Key