Let’s think back to the basketball player analogy.<\/p>\n

Mindless rehearsal would be like standing in exactly the same spot on the basketball court and practising exactly the same shot hundreds of times. You might get good at that one shot, but what are the chances you will find yourself in exactly that spot during a real game? If you have to shoot from even 30cm away from it, you’ll probably miss.<\/p>\n

Pro basketball players practise from all over the court. They shake it up. They will take a few shots from one space then run to another part of the court and try from there. When their concentration breaks \u2014 i.e. when their practice becomes mindless \u2014 they will take a break, drink some water, and start again when they have “come back into the room”.<\/p>\n

How does that apply to presentations?<\/p>\n

Your rehearsals should be a little bit different every time. Like the basketball players, you should shake it up. Explain your point using slightly different words, throw in a new anecdote, move to another part of the stage.<\/p>\n

If you run through part of the presentation and it starts to feel dull and boring, chances are you have switched to mindless rehearsal mode. Stop, drink some water, and start again when you have reconnected with your body.<\/p>\n

How Mindful Rehearsal Overcomes Fear<\/h2>\n

The opposite of mindless rehearsal is mindful rehearsal.<\/p>\n

A basketball player is confident when she has practised until she knows that she can make a good shot in any situation. If she has only practised from one spot in the court, chances are she’ll be worried that she might not make it. If she has only rehearsed one or two times, she’ll almost certainly be worried. When she has practised enough, on the other hand, she will feel confident that she is ready.<\/p>\n

When you have rehearsed your presentation enough that you are confident you know it inside out, you will naturally find you are less afraid of speaking in front of an audience.<\/p>\n

Of course, the fear of public speaking never goes away completely. But, if you rehearse until you are confident you can present the material aloud, in various different ways, you are well on your way to success!<\/p>\n

Do you get nervous before you stand up to speak? Let us know in the comments below.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How much do you really need to practise your presentation to overcome fear? It’s just like playing basketball! Wait\u2026 what?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[47,5,15],"tags":[50,16,22,21,23,20,19,18,7,17],"yoast_head":"\n