You can’t give an effective presentation–or do much of anything at work, for that matter–without looking and sounding credible. And fortunately, there are many ways for presenters to appear confident and sound like they know their stuff.
Unfortunately, there are also many ways to do the opposite. And that can be as simple as saying the wrong thing. Here are three common phrases that can sap your credibility if you don’t make an effort to avoid them.
Related: This Three-Word Phrase is Subtly Undermining Your Authority
1. “Hahaha, I’m So Nervous!”
We’ve all heard this and maybe said it ourselves, the idea being to kick off with some self-deprecation in an honest attempt to build empathy. Your audience may laugh a little, but the actual outcome? You’ve just told your audience to lower their expectations for the rest of your presentation. Who wants to watch a nervous presenter? They want to hear from a professional.
When I teach presentation skills to MBA students, they often say after a presentation that they felt nervous. But their classmates invariably tell them that they didn’t look nervous. Feeling nervous and showing nervousness are very different things. Maybe you look nervous to 30% of the audience. But after you’ve told them how anxious you feel, 100% of the audience will think that you look it.
The simplest solution? Just don’t say it. The better solution? Actually feel confident about your content by putting effort into it. Create something you know will resonate, then rehearse it well. The better you feel about your presentation, the less nervous you’ll feel delivering it. When in doubt, start your presentation by telling a story–it’s not only a compelling way to draw your listeners in, but to relax you as well.
There are other habits you can cultivate to curb pre-presentation jitters. Drink water to avoid a dry throat. As you get going, chat with the audience to build rapport, and channel any lingering nervous energy into passion. But the fact is that feeling nervous is normal, so at a minimum, try not to draw attention to it.