From announcing research results at conferences, to pitching for investment and showcasing project plans to bosses or clients, most careers involve giving presentations. Presentations can also be integral to job interviews, may count towards your degree grade and are the backbone of many science outreach activities. So whether you enjoy the experience or it fills you with dread, it is crucial to learn how to deliver the very best presentations you can in important, and often nerve- wracking, situations.

Sportspeople, too, need to perform at their best when it counts – no matter how they are feeling, who they are competing against or what internal and external pressures they are facing. Indeed, an entire discipline – sports psychology – has been developed to help sportspeople deal with these stresses, and workers in many professions have adapted aspects of these techniques to enhance their own performance. Might sports psychologists have something to offer to physics students, who need to deliver effective presentations both now and in their future careers?

The right way to practise

“Practice” is one of the most common pieces of advice given to people preparing presentations. However, there is much more you can do to prepare than simply running through the material over and over?again.

Richard Keegan, a sports psychologist at Australia’s University of Canberra, suggests that students should “build up, like an athlete would, from small manageable challenges to full rehearsals”. He recommends rehearsing a presentation first in private, then in front of friends or relatives, and finally asking a peer group to provide a more critical audience. Try to keep any criticism or mistakes – whether in rehearsal or the final presentation – in perspective, Keegan stresses. After all, he adds, errors are “not going to result in your friends and family no longer loving you”.

While practising, Keegan also suggests that students should think through worst-case scenarios and come up with a plan to deal with them. Kevin Sheridan, a postdoc at the University of Sussex and one of three UK physicists who agreed to try out the tips presented in this article, found that this advice helped him handle being interrupted with questions while delivering a presentation to his research group. “Because I had mentally rehearsed these sorts of situations, I was able to explain what I was trying to say without panic or fear,” says Sheridan.

Sports psychologist Dave Smith, a senior lecturer in exercise and sport science at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), recommends that students try to think positively, both while practising and during the actual presentation. “Sports psychologists try to train golfers and snooker players to think positively after they mess up a shot,” he explains. “If the player chastises themselves, they are likely to miss the next shot, too.” If something goes wrong during a presentation, he adds, it is important to avoid panicking “because if you do, your chances of being able to sort the situation out become much less”.

I think, therefore I can

Smith also advocates building confidence by imagining forthcoming presentations using an adapted form of the PETTLEP system (see box). This system was developed by some of his colleagues at MMU to provide sportspeople with a structured way of using their imagination to motivate them, improve performance, and increase their confidence. “There is a lot of evidence that some of the same neural pathways in the brain that are used when you do something are also activated when you imagine doing it. So it can help prime you for that activity,” says Smith.

Natalie Whitehead, a second-year physics undergraduate at the University of Exeter, found that visualizing herself speaking in the venue helped her present her first outreach talk, which she gave to 15- and 16-year-old pupils in a local school. “It gives you a feeling for how it might turn out, so you’re more prepared and more confident,” she says. When she worked in an engineering consultancy before her degree, Whitehead adds, she would have found this and other advice in this article invaluable. “You didn’t have much guidance,” she explains. “You were just sent into client meetings and had to present your results.”

However, Pete Vukusic, a physicist at Exeter who gave the Institute of Physics’ Schools Lecture Tour in 2007, is more sceptical. Vukusic also played basketball at international level for the England under-15, under-17 and under-19 squads, and while he agrees that visualization is “essential for sport”, in his view it is not necessarily helpful for giving academic presentations because the venue, audience responsiveness and equipment functionality are often?unknown.

One way around this barrier is to visit a venue in advance or find pictures of it. That is part of the approach advocated by Dave Collins, who leads the Institute of Coaching and Performance at the University of Central Lancashire and is a former performance director of UK Athletics. Collins advises planning travel to the venue well ahead of time, and even trying out the journey from hotel to venue if you are staying nearby. He also recommends printing back-up copies of presentation slides on acetate overheads and saving slides on a memory stick to allow for equipment failures.

Combating nerves

On the day of the talk, Collins suggests that speakers try to distract themselves by doing “something unrelated” an hour and a half before the presentation starts. Then, at least 20 minutes before speaking, he recommends setting up and checking your slides. When it is finally your turn to talk, he says, “think about the first few words or lines you are going to say. This should kick-start you into your talk”. Accepting that you may get nervous can also help you deliver a good presentation. According to Collins, “the key is to say ‘Okay, I’m put out by this, but it’s no worry because I know I’ve done everything I possibly can to perform at my best’.”

Charlotte Brand, a final-year student at Exeter who regularly gives outreach talks, likes this approach. “It’s really helpful to have someone say it’s okay to be nervous,” she says. “I think a lot of people find it very hard to accept they are going to be nervous, and that makes them more nervous and stressed.”

But what if nerves do strike during your presentation? “A classic trick is to imagine the anxiety is a liquid that can drain out from your body through taps in your fingers and toes. Or think about a calming, happy place like a beach,” advises Keegan. “If you find your heart is racing while you speak, just pause for a moment and take a deep breath while you look at a slide or take a sip of water.”

Another way to build confidence and effectiveness, Keegan believes, is to make sure you get a good start by summarizing your presentation in a couple of sentences at the beginning. “Make it so clear you could ‘sell it’ to someone you meet in an elevator,” he urges. The rest of the talk’s structure is also important. Collins suggests removing any topics that are so complex you will not have time to explain them properly, and making sure the information flows in a logical fashion.

Ed Copeland, a University of Nottingham physicist who regularly gives outreach talks in schools and to the general public, agrees that delivering “a take-home message” is important. Sheridan, however, found that while this advice greatly improved an outreach talk he gave for school pupils, it did not work so well in a research presentation. “Colleagues want an argument built up block by block with rigour,” he explains.

However well you mentally and physically prepare, no presentation ever goes perfectly. So Collins emphasizes the importance of making notes on what went well, and what aspects you can learn from and work on for next time. And for anyone who feels they are just no good at public speaking, Smith has one final piece of advice: persevere. “Practising in front of smaller audiences, and imagery, will help you improve your ability to give presentations,” he says.