Turning nerves into excitement

By Alastair Greener, presenter of Present Yourself in a Minute · Updated 5 November 2026

Nerves before a talk, a pitch or a take are normal. The useful thing to know is that the body does not separate nerves from excitement. Your heart speeds up, your breathing gets shallow and your stomach tightens in both cases. You cannot switch the sensation off, so the practical job is to decide what it means and what to do with it.

Name the feeling

Nervousness is a feeling about what might go wrong. Excitement is a feeling about what is about to happen. When your pulse picks up, tell yourself you are excited to share something you know. It sounds too simple, but it moves your attention from the threat to the task.

Prepare until the content is familiar

Most nerves come from not knowing what comes next. Preparation removes that uncertainty. Know your structure, your timing and the order of your points, then practise out loud from start to finish. Preparation does more for a presenter than any trick on the day, and a presenter who knows the material can give the audience their attention instead of searching for the next line.

Practise with your slides and any movement you plan to make, in real time. Rehearsing silently in your head does not show you where the gaps are.

Rehearse in the real space

If you can, stand where you will speak. Check the lighting, the distance to the audience or the camera, and where the microphone sits. A room you have already stood in feels less strange on the day. If you cannot get into the room, rehearse with the same equipment in a space that is similar.

Go in thinking about the audience

Before you go on, think about who is in the room and why they came. The talk is for them. The question is not whether every sentence is perfect. It is whether the person at the back leaves knowing one useful thing they did not know before.

Choose one sentence and one picture

Pick one sentence to say to yourself on the way to the front. Keep it plain and true, such as "I know this material, and they want to hear it." Then picture the first minute going well: the first line landing, people settling, the close arriving on time. Picturing a good start gives your mind a task other than the worst case.

Mistakes to avoid

• Trying to make the nerves go away completely. They will not, and fighting them adds to them.
• Learning a full script word for word. Keep to keywords so you can speak to people rather than recite at them.
• Changing the content on the morning of the talk. Late changes bring back the uncertainty you were trying to remove.
• Reading one unimpressed face in the audience as a verdict on the whole talk.

If the nerves are mostly about being on camera, start with the three-minute breathing routine. Media training at the barn is a way to practise interviews on camera before the real thing.

Related guides

• Calm your nerves in three minutes: the 3-4-5 breath
• How not to look nervous: habits to drop
• All guides and tools

The picture at the top of this page is an illustration, not a photograph of a client or a real job.