More Answers... (11/2/25) Newsletter: Presentation Anxiety?

Hi Everyone, 

Here's your Sunday Evening "More Answers..." to help you head into the work week-- remember, you can see previous newsletters at https://www.askchrista.com/blog/, and all topics are related to the many advising and messaging exchanges I've had each week!

Tonight’s topic? Presentation Anxiety: how to identify it, pre-manage it, and reduce it.

Presenting is Performing (even when it's not)

If your pulse starts racing at the thought of presenting in front of peers-- and starts POUNDING at the thought of presenting in front of leaders-- you're not alone. Research suggests that presentation is similar to performance anxiety and affects most professionals at some point, even those who appear confident.

(but do we REALLY need research to know that's real???)

While your presentation isn’t fictional like most performances are (or at least, let’s hope your content isn't fictional!), it is a kind of performance. You are providing or delivering content in a way that's designed to capture intellect and imagination, inform and engage, and leave a lasting (and hopefully positive, thoughtful) impression.

If you're aiming for an impactful presentation that inspires a call to action, as every presentation should do (otherwise, it could've been an email), you’re not just transferring information. You're truly attempting to inspire, motivate, and change those in the room.

What IS "Performance Anxiety?"

For those of you who know me well, you know I love starting with definitions.  

Any anxiety occurs when we perceive danger ahead of an action or inaction (my abbreviated definition). That absolutely means psychological danger, which is the hardest one to manager, and presenting can elicit fear of being ridiculed at work, interrupted and challenged on something in a disrespectful way, or any other scenario that is awkward to manager or difficult to predict. 

The range is wide, from you simply "sweating it" no matter who's in the room all the way to truly bad behavior from those in the room (and it can be brutal in toxic environments).

We can draw parallels with presentation anxiety and performance anxiety: research shows that performance anxiety stems from perceived social evaluation — the fear of being judged (American Psychological Association [APA], 2023). When presenting in a work situation, your brain does the same thing.

And when we think of it that way, we can see there are A LOT of resources to help us out.

Learn to Steady Those Nerves!!

There’s no way to eliminate performance anxiety entirely, and that's a good thing. Some level of anxiety gives you an edge. It's about managing and channeling the anxiety to boost your success.

Here are three methods that research (and my real-life experience presenting to A LOT of folks) agree on:

1) Prepare Like It’s a Rehearsal, Not an Exam

Preparation is the golden rule for calming nerves. The more familiar you are with your material and the more you know where you get stuck, the more brain-space you have to stay in the moment instead of panicking throughout a presentation. Here are two tips I use frequently, also backed by research:

• Rehearse out loud. Really. Say it outloud. Your brain processes spoken recall differently (Blum, 2023), and your confidence goes up, too. AND, you will find out which flow, words, and pace will work best for you. 

• Dress rehearse for real. If possible, do a mock run-through with a trusted colleague, mentor, or sponsor. Ask that the first (or second or third) be blank run-throughs so you can get your "heebie-jeebies" out. Then, if you are ready, ask for feedback with kindness and realism, but make it specific about things you can easily adjust as a starting point: pace of your speaking, enunciation of words, naturalness of flow... then things like volume, cadence (what went up, or was there too much "up speak?"what went down and whether you trailed off). 

• Focus mock run-throughs on the presentation, not the content. Ask your audience to refrain from feedback about content; that's a different kind of feedback and receiving that at the same time will likely overwhelm you (plus, you need those who understand the content to work with you on that-- you should be past the stage of knowing whether your content is good; you are now focused on the presentation part). When focused on performance anxiety (or presentation anxiety), focus first on the actual mechanics of presenting!

2) Anchor Yourself with Friendly Faces

When you can, invite a friend or two to attend. Having familiar, encouraging faces in the room can steady your focus. This “ally effect” helps shift your attention from judgment to connection, allowing oxytocin (the trust hormone) to soften the adrenaline spike (Porges, 2017). Several doctoral candidates do this during their defense.

3) Practice Grounding, Not Just Confidence

Confidence is an outcome; grounding is a tool. Before your meeting, take one minute to do slow, paced breathing (inhale 4 seconds, exhale 6). Research shows that controlled breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system — the body’s natural calm switch (Saoji et al., 2019).

These techniques together lower physiological arousal, help your mind anchor to the present, and let you perform with clarity and composure. 

Manage Presentation Anxiety between Presentations 

Performance anxiety isn’t a one-time event; it’s a pattern we can retrain over time. Between presentations, practice these habits to reduce the baseline tension, but also to help with ongoing anxiety specific to presenting:

• Normalize small doses of visibility. Speak up briefly in low-stakes meetings to desensitize your fear response. It's a common "desensitization" technique.

• Reflect on wins. After each presentation, write down what went well. Over time, this builds a cognitive track record of competence that your anxious brain can’t refute.

• Engage in consistent relaxation routines. Mindfulness, light exercise, and regular rest improve your body’s resilience to future stress.

Performance confidence is cumulative — you don’t become unshakable, you build it.

BOOSTER FOR YOUR WEEK!!!  (There are resources!!!) 

There are SO MANY RESOURCES that can and will help you with Presentation Anxiety. I have provided a lot here, but seek out more-- and enjoy this week's media from Ted-ED, "The science of stage fright (and how to overcome it)."

Enjoy!

And remember, if you have a business challenge or workplace issue... Ask Christa! 

REFERENCES

American Psychological Association. (2023). Anxiety and performance. https://www.apa.org/topics/anxiety/performance

Blum, D. (2023, June 15). Why rehearsal makes presentations better: The neuroscience of practice. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/06/why-rehearsal-makes-presentations-better

Porges, S. W. (2017). The pocket guide to the polyvagal theory: The transformative power of feeling safe. W. W. Norton & Company.

Saoji, A. A., Raghavendra, B. R., & Manjunath, N. K. (2019). Effects of yogic breath regulation: A narrative review of scientific evidence. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, 10(1), 50–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaim.2017.07.008

NOTE:  Below is a list of the books referenced above. You can ask your local library to borrow them from their network, or if you care to purchase, please consider using Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores:

The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-pocket-guide-to-the-polyvag...

Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges: https://bookshop.org/p/books/presence-bringing-your-boldest-...