One night when I was in Grad School I was nervously going over material for my first presentation to my body language professor. He was the expert in my chosen field and I kept imagining myself messing up, forgetting what I wanted to say and not being able to answer any of the professors' questions. My boyfriend, Michael, came in my office. He realized I was a nervous wreck, he said, “Patti, you know in college I sold books door to door in the summer and I was the top salesmen for the company. When I started, I imagined I was going to fail. I rehearsed my failure that I wouldn’t know what to say or not be able to answer questions, but I learned from my boss to visualize my success. Michael sat me down and had me visualize my presentation. I rehearsed my successful speech from start to finish, what I would do nonverbally, how I would stand, how brilliant I would sound, how the audience would smile and nod their heads, how brilliant I would be, how the professor would praise me and the audience would give a round of applause. From that day on, I have visualized my success the night before every single speech or TV interview. It makes an enormous difference in my confidence level. When I am traveling and giving a speech, I like to see the banquet room the night before so I can see myself and the audience in the actual room. When I am going on TV, I watch the show or ask the producer about the set where I will be sitting.
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.