You have written your presentation and started to rehearse it in front of a sympathetic audience who can give you reliable feedback. At this stage you will be finding your own unique style of relating to an audience and presenting information.

Be as natural as possible and certainly do not try to copy someone else, or you will come across as false and your audience may also start to doubt the accuracy of the content.

Many people find at this stage that they unconsciously adopt a repetitive pattern of behaviour while speaking to an audience! A common characteristic of the inexperienced presenter is the use of crutch words such as you know, actually and basically. You may not normally use them to excess but nerves can produce all kinds of unexpected tics!

Or the behaviour may be physical, such as hand rubbing, pacing about or fiddling with hair. The Reluctant Nudist is uncomfortable about being the centre of attention and will cover himself up as much as possible, crossing arms, legs and displaying other defensive body language.

Have you ever spotted a Teapot? They stand with one hand on a hip while the other arm waves around or rests along the top of the flip chart. The Change Jangler is one of the most annoying they dig deep into their pockets while rifling noisily through the contents.

You may well have spotted other bizarre, totally unconscious behaviour from presenters. Make sure you get some objective, honest feedback at the rehearsal stage - better to be told by a friend now than after the event! Practice will help you to become aware of any irritating habits and to correct them, so allow yourself time to rehearse, review and rehearse again.

Andy Britnell

Andy Britnell has worked as a professional musician, a cheesemonger and in hotels, including Claridges and the Savoy in London. He spent 15 years with BT, latterly designing and delivering international management, sales and graduate development programmes. He now lives in Cornwall, UK, where as well as enjoying the surf and the coastal footpath, he runs a training and coaching practice specialising in sales, customer service and personal development training for the private and public sectors. He is an accredited coach and trainer of the Insights Discovery System which is a model based on the pioneering personality profiling work of Carl Jung. Using colour as a common language for better understanding of self and others, it helps people operate and communicate more effectively. Andy gains great satisfaction from helping his clients to grow and learn, and from the rapid progress they make in their business and personal lives. He works constantly on his own development and practises Ki Aikido, the ancient Japanese art of working with energy.