April 14, 2023
Think about the last presentation or speech you gave.
How did you spend the 10 minutes before the meeting?
Maybe you went through your notes, maybe you rehearsed what you were going to say or maybe you did some final tweaks to your slides. That’s what most of us do.
The problem with that is that you won’t be in the ideal state of mind when the meeting starts. Your mind will be busy worrying instead of being present. By worrying about the meeting, high chances are that you’ll appear a little bit nervous.
Wouldn’t it be much better if you started your meeting at 100% energy and presence?
So, how can you get your body and mind into the right state?
By doing a short 5-10-minute warm-up routine before your meeting.
Here are the 3 exercises that I do before every meeting, presentation, or speech that matters:
The first exercise is to release any tension. Start shaking and moving every single part of your body to loosen yourself. Shake your arms, rotate your shoulders, kick your legs, move your feet—focus on every single limb. If you can let yourself jump around and make weird sounds while shaking, that’s even better. The more physically active you can be, the more you’ll clear your mind and let go of stress.
If anyone sees you, they should think that the devil has taken control of you.
Please note that you want to practice this technique in a spot where you won’t be disturbed. At home, that should be easy. At the office, you’ve got to be a bit more creative. You can either find a meeting room where no one can see you or a restroom that has enough space.
The second exercise is to calm your nerves and ground your breath.
Breathe in through your nose. While breathing in, let your belly expand. Make sure that your chest is NOT expanding, remaining as still as possible.
Then, breathe out slowly through your mouth, “pursing” your lips together as if you were going to whistle (or making the sound of a balloon losing air). While breathing out, let your belly move inwards.
After breathing like that for 5-10 times, you should feel significantly more grounded, present, and relaxed.
The third exercise helps you get into a confident state of mind.
Close your eyes for 2-3 minutes and remember one or two events in your life where you felt really confident or self-assured. Imagine yourself in that situation and relive the event in as much detail as possible:
Go deep in the emotions here. The more you can feel the emotion from the moment, the more confident you’ll feel. By picturing it in as much detail as you can, you’ll feel very confident and ready to “crush” your upcoming meeting.
Why bonus? Because you can’t do vocal exercises everywhere. For these ones, you need a place where you don’t disturb anyone, e.g. at home, in your car, or some park.
Vocal exercises help you warm up your vocal cords, give your voice more resonance and help you articulate better.
Here are a few types of vocal exercises you can do:
That’s it. This is my warm-up routine. Just taking 5 minutes before your meeting, presentation, or speech to do this warm-up routine will have a major impact on your state of mind, energy, and presence.
Curious about more exercises to become a more confident speaker?
Then check out my article on Constructive Embarrassment. There, you’ll learn the techniques to become mega comfortable on any stage.
Are you ready to transform your storytelling skills?
Discover how your storytelling skills score and uncover useful insights to help you become a charismatic storyteller:
