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Comment by ryanwaggoner | Hacker News Reader

You have two weeks. Rehearse the shit out of your talk. Run through it several times every day. Do it until you're completely sick and tired of hearing yourself, and then run through it some more. Get friends and family to watch. Videotape yourself. But go through it as much as possible. That's the most reliable way to beat the nervousness and deliver a kick-ass talk. I know Steve Jobs makes it seem like it's something you have or you don't, but I've read he spends like 20 - 30 hours prepping and rehearsing for his keynote talks. There's a word for this: sprezzatura. Good luck!

http://lifehacker.com/5449141/deliver-polished-presentations...

http://sivers.org/sprezzatura

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I'd never heard of sprezzatura. What a great word! Reminded me instantly of one of Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power: "Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless"

All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more.

No surprise that it's mentioned in the book: http://books.google.com/books?id=afCxg5sogvAC&lpg=PT316&...

I'm going to second videotaping yourself. I found that running through a speech then watching the recording helped enormously. It let me see the 'this part doesn't work, this part does' big picture, which helps you improve with each rehearsal.

Another good move is to present to yourself in front of a mirror and you should always do it out loud. Just going through your presentation in your head doesn't really help / add as much value as doing it right.

The only trouble with the mirror is you can't re-watch later and go "That is the most boring presentation I have ever seen" to learn what to improve.

That's true, but you are also probably not taping yourself each time.

With a short talk and most laptops having a built-in camera, it's pretty trivial to record every practice and watch it back before trying again.

I'm also an inexperienced public speaker, and have decided to improve as much as I can. A few weeks ago I gave a talk at a conference in front of about 350 people, following this advice exactly. I still have a long way to go but the talk went well, and a lot of people came up to me afterwards and congratulated me. During the talk I was a little nervous, but not as bad as I would have thought.

So first and foremost, follow this advice - it's 100% correct!

Very good advise!

I was in a similar situation and format, and rehearsed my presentation 100++ times. Worked out well.

In the minutes before the presentation: Breathe. Exhaling longer than inhaling will calm your nervous system substantially within a minute or two.

^^ This. Also, while you're presenting, try to remember that you're the expert. Practicing in front of people will give you an idea of what kind of questions you might get so be prepared with a coupe extra slides to answer any frequency ones.

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