How to Be Confident When You Hate Presenting | Episode 6

Ultimize. Before your next presentation, do this: record yourself explaining your main idea out loud for 60 seconds. Then watch it. Not to judge yourself, not to critique every little detail. Just answer one question: would you understand this if you were hearing it for the first time? Because confidence does not come from how you feel. It comes from knowing that what you're saying works. And most engineers never test that. They prepare silently. They think through their material. They review their slides, but they don't actually practice speaking out loud. So when they present, everything feels uncertain, and that uncertainty shows up as a lack of confidence. Now let's be clear about something. You do not need to become a charismatic speaker. You don't have to be Anthony Robbins up on the stage saying, "Aye, say aye," and getting a standing ovation. You don't need any of that. You do need to become someone who loves presenting. You do not— note to editor, redo that— you don't need to become someone who loves presenting, who loves the sound of their own voice. You don't need to change your personality. What you need is a system that works, because when your system works, confidence follows. Most engineers think confidence comes first. They think, if I feel more confident, I would present better. But in reality, it works the other way around. When you present in a way that is clear and effective, you start to feel more confident because you see results. People understand you. They respond to your ideas. They engage with what you're saying. That creates confidence. So instead of trying to feel better, focus on performing better. Now let's talk about what actually causes a lack of confidence. It's usually not fear of speaking, it's uncertainty about the outcome. You're not sure if people will understand you. You're not sure if your message is clear. You're not sure if your slides will work. You're not sure if you'll get the reaction you want. That uncertainty creates tension, and that tension shows up in your delivery. But once again, we solve this with an engineering mindset. You reduce uncertainty through Testing. Before your presentation, you run small tests. You explain your idea out loud. You refine your wording. You simplify your message. You watch yourself and see what works. That gives you data, and that data reduces uncertainty. Now you're not guessing. You're operating based on evidence, and that changes how you feel because now you know this explanation works. That's where confidence comes from. Not from positive thinking, from proven performance. Now let's talk about delivery. Many engineers worry about things like their voice, their body language, their presence, and they try to fix those things directly. But those are usually symptoms, not root causes. If your message is unclear, your delivery will feel uncertain. If your structure is weak, your delivery will feel disorganized. If your slides are overloaded, your delivery will feel disconnected. So instead of focusing on delivery first, fix the system. Make your message clear. Simplify your structure. Reduce unnecessary content. When you do that, your delivery improves naturally because you're no longer trying to manage complexity while speaking. You're communicating something clear. Now let's connect this to testing and evidence. Once again. How do you know if your delivery is effective? You don't rely on how you feel. You look at what happens. Do people understand you? Do they follow your explanation? Do they respond to your ideas? That's your feedback. You also really, really need to use video. This is probably the most unpopular thing I'm going to say in this entire online show. This entire podcast, but I'm going to tell it to you. If you want to be 100% confident in your presentation, you need to practice on video. It's not an option. It's not if you can or if there's time. You need to practice your presentation on video. Record yourself presenting. Watch it. You do want to critique yourself. You want to observe yourself. Are you clear? Are you easy to follow? Are there moments where you lose clarity? That's data, and you use that data to improve. Let me be clear, I'm not asking you to practice once on video. I'm asking you to practice once, watch it, figure out what you like, do it again, do more of what you like, do less of what you don't like, do it again and again and again. There's a magic moment when it comes to presenting your engineering presentation on video. And that magic moment is when you can look at the video of yourself and say, "Wow, that person's really good. That person's interesting. I would watch that person give a presentation." And you're pointing to a video of yourself. At that point, it becomes impossible to be nervous. Keep practicing. Over time, your explanations become smoother, your structure becomes tighter, your delivery becomes more natural. Your confidence increases, not because you forced it, but because you earned it. Now let's address another concern. Many engineers say, I'm just not a natural speaker. Doesn't matter. This is not about being natural. You weren't a natural software coder. You had to learn how to do it, right? It's about being effective. You don't need to be entertaining. You don't need to be dynamic. You need to be clear. You need to be memorable, and clarity is a skill. It can be designed, it can be tested, it can be improved. That puts it completely within your control. Now, let's bring this back to the system. Your presentation has a message, a structure, a delivery. If any part is weak, the result suffers. So instead of trying to be confident, you improve the system. You test your message, and you test it by video recording yourself again and again and again until you can look at the screen and say, 'I like that person. I'd like that person's style. I'd like that person's substance.' You refine your structure. You practice out loud again and again, not in front of a mirror. Where do I want you to practice? In front of a video camera. You can just use your cell phone. And you measure the results. That's how engineers solve problems. That's how you solve this one. So from now on, practice out loud, record on video, not just in your head, observe it, do it again and again until you're happy with every aspect of style and substance. Focus on the clarity, but also focus on your performance. If you're monotone or you're speaking too quickly, you know that's a problem. Keep practicing until you're not monotone, Keep practicing until your speed sounds natural. Use feedback as data, because when you do that, something changes. You stop worrying about how you feel. You start focusing on what actually works. And when you know what works, confidence becomes a natural result. In the next episode, we're going to tackle a critical challenge: how to present to non-technical audiences without losing accuracy or clarity. You know, there's one thing I always find interesting. People will listen to a podcast like this, get ideas, maybe even feel a little motivated, and then just move on with their day. Nothing actually changes. And I get it. Information alone doesn't do it. Repetition does. That's actually why we built Ultimize. So if you're getting any value from this, just go to ultimize.com. That's spelled U-L-T-A-M-I-Z-E.com. There's a free course waiting for you there. You can start with communication skills, but the whole idea is simple. Don't just hear something once, actually build it into your life. Again, it's free. Go to ultimize.com.