Live Q&A: Improving your presentation skills | Guardian Careers

You shuffle your cue cards and clear your throat. Your legs begin to tremble, there’s not enough water in the world to stop your mouth drying out and on top of this someone has told you to imagine your audience naked. You’re suffering from glossophobia, the fear of public speaking. Not what you need when you’re about to give a presentation.

The humorous Book of Lists puts speaking in public at the top of its list of fears, beating even death. So, it’s no wonder that giving presentations at work can be so terrifying. Not only are you trying to impress your boss, but you might also find yourself juggling flip-charts, pie charts and PowerPoint slides that took you hours to create. It really shouldn’t be this hard.

If you need help brushing up your presenting skills join our live Q&A. Our experts will be handing out tips on how to cope with public speaking at work, creating visual presentations which will capture people’s imagination or just making a good first impression.

Our panel includes:

Nick R Thomas, a radio comedy writer, speech-writer and after dinner speaker. His presentation skills training clients have included the Home Office, ICL- Fujitsu, charities, adult learning providers, councils, businesses and private individuals. He also writes a blog featuring tips for speakers

Laura Hooke, a career consultant at City University London, with over 20 years of experience in advice work, much of it with university students and graduates. Laura regularly delivers workshops on interviewing and selection processes, including making presentations.

Annabel Harper, a former journalist and broadcaster at ITN, Channel Four News and the BBC. She is now an executive leadership coach, trainer and facilitator, has an MA in Coaching and Mentoring Practice and is accredited by the Association for Coaching. She also co-hosts the media skills training workshop “Presenting with Confidence” which provides practical hints, tips and techniques to manage public speaking and media interviews.

Chris Perkins, a regional director at Fairplace, a career management firm. He pitches for business, presents seminars and advises individual clients on personal impact and self-marketing. He is a strong advocate of naturalness in presenting, believing that your personality should come through. He also passionately believes that most people misunderstand how powerful Powerpoint can be. When bullet points and tables are replaced with imagery and clutter-free graphics, you can create great slides that become an engaging part of your presentation.

Alison Lester, a director of AJ Lester Communication Training, and specialist in presentation and other business communication skills. Her experience as a presenter began when she spent her university summers as a tour guide in Washington D.C., and developed further when she stepped onstage as a stand-up and improvisational comedian in Tokyo and Singapore. She is the author of Present for Success: A Powerful Approach to Building Confidence, Developing Impact and Transforming your Presentations.

Stewart Pearce, Master of Voice at Shakespeare’s Globe for ten years, and also works as the Presentation Guru who coached the team for the London 2012 Olympic bid. Stewart has coached household names such as Vanessa Redgrave, Simon Callow, Jack Davenport, Mark Rylance, Anita Roddick and Diana, Princess of Wales just to name a few. Currently he works in the corporate market teaching presentation skills such as authentic communication through the magnetic voice, and inspirational presence & gravitas through persuasive presentation. Stewart is the author of ‘The Alchemy of Voice’.

Nick Fitzherbert. Nick spent 20 years in PR consultancy, as well as running his own top-100 firm SFB for seven years. Nick’s presentation and creative skills have been honed more recently through his experiences as a member of The Magic Circle. Nick provides training in creative thinking and presentation skills for marketing and sales teams, PR companies and industry bodies including the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations. He has appeared on BBC2’s Working Lunch and in the pages of publications such as Management Today, The Guardian and Business Life.

Simon North, the co-founder of Position Ignition. Simon is an expert in the career and transition field, including CV writing help, improving presentation skills, and confidence development. He has worked with companies such as Rolls Royce, IBM, Shell, PwC and KPMG. He started Position Ignition in 2009.

Jonty Pearce, the editor of Presentation Magazine, a popular internet based presentation resource. After a long corporate career in the telecommunications sector, Jonty started publishing in 2003 and over the past 7 years has built up a dedicated readership.

Andrew Bradbury, an author and trainer. He has designed and delivered numerous training courses, in both technical and “soft” skills, including ‘train the trainer’. His book “Successful Presentation Skills”, first published in 1995, has been translated into more than 15 languages, and was re-issued in a fourth, expanded edition earlier this year.