Mindfulness Techniques for Delivering Engaging Presentations
Imagine you’re standing on stage in front of 1,000 people. How do you feel? Is your heart racing? Are your palms sweating? Do you stumble over your words, forget your script, and say ‘um’ to fll awkward silences?
Now, imagine that you’re calm and centred instead of feeling panicked. You’re smiling a genuine smile. You feel in tune with your body and know you’ll be able to adapt to any unexpected changes.
What’s the difference between these two scenes? Mindfulness. Taking the time before your presentation to unleash your inner confidence can make all the difference. Today, I’ll uncover how mindfulness techniques can transform presenting from a scary task to a powerful conversation.
My confidence journey
What if I told you that the secret to being a great public speaker isn’t just about what you say but how you say it? I’ve always been passionate about public speaking and performance. But I didn’t always have the confidence in my abilities that I have today. Confidence is a skill I had to develop over time.
As I turned my passions into my own business — Alphazenitude — I continued my education, enrolling on a course at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and attending improvisational stand-up workshops. I even did a stand-up performance in front of 100 people, even though I’d NEVER performed comedy before! It was nerve-wracking but totally exhilarating, and I learnt so much from the experience that I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t challenged my comfort zone.
This is when I developed my unique mindfulness presentation technique called Expressive Meditation. This technique blends drama and mindfulness to improve public speaking skills and confidence. Stay with me as I share the transformative power of mindfulness in public speaking.
How to be mindful when speaking: 10 tools
Having confidence as a public speaker is an art. It’s about genuinely connecting with your audience, asking mindful questions and delivering an authentic message. But, around one in four people experience fear when speaking in public.
Through my journey, I’ve seen firsthand how techniques like deep breathing and exploring movement can keep fear at bay and unlock inner confidence. My technique, Expressive Meditation, uses ten tools to help you overcome this fear. I’m excited to share these and how they translate to real-world benefits with you today.
Improvisation: Improvisation helps you think creatively and become adaptable, which is crucial for delivering engaging presentations. By practising improvisation, you’ll let go of fears of looking silly or feeling judged.
Role-play: By putting yourself in made-up scenarios, you can develop the ability to connect with audiences quickly and become more intuitive. One of my favourite role-playing scenarios is dating because there are many potential paths to explore. Role-playing with yourself in the mirror will help you become more confdent in your delivery.
Stand-up comedy: One of the worst things you can do as a public speaker is take yourself too seriously. Stand-up comedy lets you poke fun at yourself (and others), teaching you how to add humour and lightness to your speeches.
Movement: Body language and posture are integral to assertive communication. Movement helps you become aware of your body and how your posture, positioning and energy impact your delivery. I like shaking my body to stir up stagnant energy and clear the auric feld.
Shouting: Shouting is so therapeutic. Singing, shouting and speaking are all great ways to relieve stress while helping you become more aware of using mindful words and speech patterns.
Meditation: Expressive Meditation is all about increasing awareness of yourself and your surroundings. Mindfulness will help you read your audience more carefully and support assertive listening. You’ll also become more aware of your body language and expressions.
Breathing: Everyone can benefit from practising breathing. It helps release tension, helping you speak more clearly and avoid unnecessary pauses. For me, breathing helps me be more intentional with my speech.
Writing: Writing down your goals helps you manifest them for the future. Writing phrases such as, ‘I am a great Public speaker’ will create a new neural network in your brain, rewiring some connections to shift your mindset.
Touch: Massaging your jaw will help release stress so you can deliver your message clearly. I like massaging my feet before speeches as it stimulates energy and allows me to stand with stability. Plus, if you want to be more expressive and assertive, you need to get comfortable touching your body.
Silence: Silence is a powerful tool. It provides space for audiences to refect on your mindful words. Practice feeling comfortable with silence to feel the true power of this tool. Remember, you’re having a dialogue, not delivering a monologue.
How do mindful speaking and listening help
My techniques are designed to help you cultivate a mindful state before and during presentations, allowing for a deeper connection with your audience. This transforms each speech into a powerful shared experience.
Mindfulness allows you to manage pre-presentation nerves and ensures your message is delivered with clarity and impact. It’s a transformative approach to communication that considers your physical experience, mental state and how you interact with your audience, creating meaningful, resonant experiences that your audiences will remember long after your presentation is complete.
How to be mindful and present in 10 minutes
So, how do you put these lessons and tools into practice to improve your speeches?
All you need is 10 minutes to follow my 10-minute recipe for finding inner confidence before a presentation. Feeling nervous in the morning or before a presentation is natural, but with mindfulness techniques, you can ground yourself, centre your thoughts, boost your confidence, and prepare to deliver a great presentation.
To get started, find a place to sit comfortably and spend one minute on each action.
Breathing: Inhale through your nose and out through your mouth
Meditate: Focus on what you can hear around you
Refexology: Massage your feet, pressing into your soles with your thumb
Quiet: Take another minute to listen to the silence around you
Write: Using a pen and paper, write a message to yourself. This is what I write: ‘I am my own kindness. I am enough. I set boundaries. I give myself privacy. I am smiling in my heart. I trust myself. I love myself.
Reading to a crowd: Pretend you’re reading your text to a crowd. Be theatrical in your delivery.
Reading to yourself: Repeat the step above, but deliver the performance to yourself in a mirror.
Laughter: Read the script aloud while laughing as hard as you can. Pretend the script is bullshit.
Movement: Move your hips. Shake your body. Jump around.
Shout: Make as much noise as possible. I like shouting sounds like ‘Ha’, ‘Hum’ and ‘Ho’.
What’s great about this process is that you can repeat it as much as you want. I like to do it before presentations or when I wake up feeling like I need a recharge!
So, what’s next? If you're ready to transform your public speaking and connect with your audience on a deeper level, Alphazenitude is made for you. I offer public speaking courses, mindfulness guidance and training on techniques so you can go from anxiety to authenticity, one engaging presentation at a time.
