how to stop laughing during presentation

PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Present a PowerPoint Without Laughing?

How do I present a PowerPoint or a slide from any other program without laughing? This was one of the challenging questions that someone posted on Quora , and I decided to take up the challenge. Here is my answer based upon what I answered on Quora, but I have expanded this version extensively.

First of all, when you ask how to present PowerPoint without laughing, there may be only a few scenarios in which this question is applicable. I may have not even imagined some of them, and add your own scenarios in the comments: )

Here are some scenarios:

You are presenting within your family at an event such as a wedding or a birthday party. Your slides may contain funny pictures and it may be difficult to speak with a straight face. But you cannot laugh because some content is best presented with a straight face. Also, you may have something even funnier coming up next!
You are not in a family environment. In fact, you are now presenting at a board meeting with high stakes but there’s one slide that has a cartoon or a picture that needs to be presented. Yes, this visual is funny, but you have to ensure that you present it in a way that it does not look too funny. If you laugh, it may appear unprofessional.
You are doing a Pecha Kucha style presentation, and even though you can laugh, laughing takes time! You have only 20 seconds to present each slide.
Your slides are so terrible that you rather laugh than cry. Even then, laughing is not an option.
You are presenting to a multi-lingual audience and something that is funny in your culture is sacred in another culture. Laughing may hurt the sentiments of others, and thus may not be the best option.

So how do you prevent yourself from laughing? I admit it is difficult to not laugh when you find something funny. This is the same as asking you to “not remember a mango,” and you are sure to remember a mango because you were told not to!

Having said so, here are some thoughts that can possibly prevent you from laughing:

Laugh Before You Present

Try and laugh even before you present, preferably with a friend or colleague who can provide you with some support. Then, when you present, you may be able to control your laughter. After all, how many times can you laugh at the same joke?

Think About Others

Think that if you do not laugh, you will be respecting the sentiments of others in the audience. That will help you. Helping others is an emotion that can help you too. Your most important obligation is towards your audience, and not towards yourself.

Think About Yourself

Clearly, there is a compelling need to not laugh, and laughing may prevent the success of your presentation. So you owe it to yourself to not laugh. After all, you do want your presentation to be a success.

Visualize Somber Thoughts

Think about something that’s moderately sad. And think that by not laughing, you are showing your support for a cause.

Believe in Your Message

Your message is important, and laughing may dilute it. Don’t you owe it to your audience to make sure that they don’t get distracted by laughter?

Reduce the Duration of the Funny Part

Time your presentation so that the duration of the funny part is small, and even better, squeeze it between two serious topics. Before the audience can decide whether they should laugh or not, you are already talking about something else.

Avoid Eye Contact During the Funny Part

I never thought I’ll ask anyone to avoid eye contact while presenting, but for the brief period when there’s something funny being shown, avoid eye contact. Even better, identify someone who is serious or someone who doesn’t like you at all, and look at them straight in the eye without a smile–if this person laughs with you, at least you gained something: ) But be sincere.

Postpone Your Laughter

Promise yourself a treat at a restaurant if you do not laugh. Also, you can laugh after the presentation, but you know, it may be difficult to laugh later!

Of course, there’s more to presentations than just preventing laughter. Learn more about these skills on this site!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

Three Ways to Make a Presentation Effective

Filed Under: Thoughts Tagged as: Laughter , Opinion , PowerPoint , Presentation Skills , Slides

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How to Stop Laughing at Inappropriate Times

Last Updated: March 15, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Trudi Griffin, LPC, MS and by wikiHow staff writer, Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA . Trudi Griffin is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Wisconsin specializing in Addictions and Mental Health. She provides therapy to people who struggle with addictions, mental health, and trauma in community health settings and private practice. She received her MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marquette University in 2011. There are 11 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 2,127,129 times.

Although laughing at inappropriate times can be embarrassing, it’s actually a natural reaction for some people when they’re facing a highly stressful situation. This could be because laughter makes you feel better about what’s happening, even if it’s a bad situation. [1] X Research source It could also be a reaction to help you relieve stress and release your own tension. When inappropriate laughter negatively affects your life, start by curbing your urge to laugh. If this doesn’t work, you may need to treat the underlying causes of your laughter. When you can’t stop laughing, you can cope with it instead.

Tips to Stop Laughing in Serious Situations

Pinch yourself in the arm, count backwards from 100, or make a to-do list in your head to distract yourself. Identify what triggers your laughter, then replace it with other behaviors like licking your lips or clicking a pen. If you can't contain your laughter, excuse yourself and move to a private area.

Curbing Your Urge to Laugh

Quick Distractions Pinch yourself. The slight pain will distract you from your urge to laugh. Count backwards from 100. Turning your attention to something banal, like numbers, will calm your emotions. Make a list in your head. Groceries, things to do, vacation destinations, favorite movies—choose a simple topic and go with it. The rote listing will help you feel more in control. Look for a certain color in the room. Choose any color and see how many places you can spot it in the area. This small goal will shift your focus from laughter and your emotions. Sing a song to yourself. It can be as simple as the ABC’s! Thinking of a tune and reciting lyrics is a great way to get your mind off of your emotions and urge to laugh.

Step 2 Identify what makes you laugh inappropriately.

Consider the time, location, occasion, and people who could be causing your laughter. These are called your triggers. Once you know what they are, you can begin to address your habit of laughing. [3] X Research source

Step 3 Choose replacement behaviors for the laughter.

For example, you may laugh nervously during work meetings. If this is the case, click your pen instead of laughing.
If you tend to laugh at serious moments, take a deep breath and then exhale at moments when you’d typically laugh.

Step 4 Create a plan for replacing your laughter.

Tell yourself, “The next time I feel awkward in a work meeting, I will click my pen,” or “When I go to the funeral, I will nod when people share their condolences.”

Dealing with Social Anxiety Make a list of situations that scare you. Think about what makes you nervous about them and what you can do to combat that. Then, be brave and try them out. Take small steps and bring a friend or someone your trust. Write down successful social outings. Focus on what went well, how you overcame your fears, and how great you felt afterwards. Identify the negative thoughts that are holding you back. You might try to predict the future, fear the worst, or worry that other people are judging you. Realize when you don’t have control over something, like the thoughts of others, and make peace with it. Try encouraging thoughts instead. Anytime you start thinking negatively, stop yourself. Take a deep breath and push yourself to think of something encouraging instead, like “I can’t succeed if I don’t try.” See a therapist. If you need help dealing with your social anxiety, make an appointment with a therapist to talk through your difficulties and learn more coping strategies.

Basic Mindfulness Exercises Close your eyes and repeat a mantra. Think about a word or saying that focuses you, such as “calm” or “breathe.” Maintain this for 5 minutes a day, allowing thoughts to come and go without focusing on them or passing judgment. Simply breathe and return to your mantra . Do a body scan. Notice subtle sensations in your body, like itching or tingling. Let them pass without judging or acting on them. Slowly scan each body part from your toes to the top of your head. Acknowledge your emotions. Allow yourself to feel things without judgment. When you notice an emotion, name it, like “sadness” or “discomfort.” Stay relaxed, accept its presence, and let it go.

Coping with Inappropriate Laughter

Step 1 Move to a private location when you start to laugh, if you can.

Go to the restroom if you’re at a funeral or in the office.
Walk away or get back in your car if you’re at an accident scene.
Leave the room if someone’s said something inappropriate.

Step 2 Cover up your laughter with a cough, if you don't have time to leave.

This works well for times you start to involuntarily laugh before you have a chance to stop yourself.
You can also pretend to blow your nose.

Say, “I’m so sorry for laughing at your father’s funeral. I want you to know that I didn’t find anything funny, I just laugh when I feel sad. I hope that I haven’t hurt you.”

Treating Conditions that Cause Inappropriate Laughing

You can find a therapist by searching online.

Step 2 Ask if SSRIs may be a good option for you.

Your doctor will determine if the medication is right for you. SSRIs do not help all patients, and they could interfere with other medications.

Step 3 Participate in cognitive-behavioral...

Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help you learn to recognize when you may laugh and learn to control it. [12] X Trustworthy Source Cleveland Clinic Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals Go to source

Expert Q&A

Reader Videos

Stare at something in the room and focus on your breathing. Don't look at anyone else who is laughing or what made you laugh in the first place because then you will start to laugh again. Thanks Helpful 79 Not Helpful 9
Take long and deep breaths only through your nose. Concentrate on not opening your mouth. Thanks Helpful 52 Not Helpful 12
Try physically pulling the corners of your mouth down into a frown. This can signal to your brain that you are sad. Thanks Helpful 45 Not Helpful 19

Tips from our Readers

When I can't control my laughter, I try to think of something sad or something that makes me angry.
If someone catches you laughing at a random time, make up a funny story to explain yourself.

how to stop laughing during presentation

If you are unable to stop laughing (or crying) uncontrollably at inappropriate times, a neurological disorder, caused by injury or illness in the brain, may be the cause. If this may be the case, you should visit your healthcare provider. Thanks Helpful 57 Not Helpful 13
Do not bite down on your lip, tongue, or cheek, as this can cause injury. Thanks Helpful 68 Not Helpful 19

↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-in-world/201101/why-we-laugh
↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-antidepressant-diet/201709/distracting-yourself-better-mood
↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/emotional-awareness.html
↑ https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/tics.html
↑ https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-management.htm
↑ https://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/social-anxiety-disorder.htm
↑ https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/benefits-of-mindfulness.htm
↑ https://adaa.org/tips
↑ https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/finding-a-therapist-who-can-help-you-heal.htm
↑ https://psychcentral.com/lib/involuntary-emotional-expression-disorder/
↑ https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/21208-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-cbt

About This Article

Medical Disclaimer

The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, examination, diagnosis, or treatment. You should always contact your doctor or other qualified healthcare professional before starting, changing, or stopping any kind of health treatment.

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What Is Nervous Laughter And How To Control It

Have you ever found yourself laughing nervously when a conversation suddenly dropped?

Nervous smiling or giggling is often a way people fill the awkward silence they feel in a social situation.

Or maybe you've struggled to hear what someone was saying to you but felt too timid to admit you didn’t hear what they said, so you just offered a nervous smile and light chuckle.

Psychology researchers have listed humor as one of the most mature defense mechanisms that people use when they are experiencing levels of anxiety that are unhealthy.

If people can laugh at the horrible events that occur in their lives, it suggests that instead of ignoring them, they are preparing to survive them.

There are certain times in life when it is important to present yourself as being dignified and in control, such as during a work presentation or a funeral service.

However, these also happen to be the times when this inappropriate type of laughter is likely to emerge.

Using laughter as a subconscious coping mechanism to deal with stress and anxiety is common, however, laughing in these tense circumstances can have the opposite effect and enhance the awkwardness of the situation.

Psychologist Robert Provine studied over 1,200 episodes of laughter and concluded that 80% of laughter episodes do not come as the result of a joke. Rather they are instances of nervously laughing in response to a situation.

The physical difference between this type of laughter and regular laughter is that it originates in the throat instead of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system.

It is not real laughter in the sense that we typically define it but rather a subconscious response to tension.

What is nervous laughter?

Nervous laughter and social anxiety, 1. being self-aware of your anxiety, 2. behavior replacement, 3. behavior cues, 4. mindset changes, 5. planning ahead, 6. honest communication, 7. breathing techniques, did you enjoy this post spread the love..

This type of laughter is an incongruous display of emotions .

While a good belly laugh resulting from amusement is robust, often immediate, and sometimes uncontrollable, laughing when you're nervous is evoked from embarrassment, discomfort, or confusion.

It is often accompanied by an awkward silence from others as the situation plays out.

This reaction to anxiety is an attempt to move an uncomfortable situation along more quickly by trying to laugh through it.

According to neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran , inappropriate laughter happens because people want to believe that whatever awful thing that is happening right in front of them is not as awful as it looks.

People want to lessen the amount of anxiety they feel so they display an emotion that would usually make them feel happy.

Some psychologists suspect that such displays of laughter could actually play a critical role in regulating people's emotions.

When someone is at risk of becoming overwhelmed with emotion, either positive or negative, showing the opposite emotion may have a counteracting effect and repair emotional balance.

This theory makes sense if you think about someone who is getting married or has just won the lottery. They often start crying and appear to be sad when in reality they are experiencing extreme joy.

People with social anxiety become uncomfortable or fearful in social situations, largely due to the fact that they are concerned about being judged by the people around them.

People suffering from social anxiety feel uncomfortable talking to other people, and if they find themselves the center of a conversation, they often express laughter because of their nerves.

Most people experience social anxiety at some point in their lives, however, social anxiety disorder only impacts a select few.

When someone with social anxiety can't help but laugh in an awkward situation, it makes them feel even more self-conscious because their awkward laughter is out of context, and they think people will judge them even more for having an inappropriate show of feelings.

This devolves into a continuous cycle by feeding the social anxiety, which in turn feeds the laughter. Having this combination of social behaviors can be very frustrating and embarrassing for those suffering from the cycle.

How to Stop Nervous Laughter

Nervous laughter can happen to anyone, and people are often caught off guard when they find themselves inappropriately laughing at something that no one else finds funny.

However, when it becomes a habit, you can't easily ignore it. This behavior can be off-putting both socially and professionally, and it may leave you feeling unsure of yourself.

This type of nervous laugh is hard to control because it is an automatic reaction that is reinforced over time. It may provide a temporary sense of release from the awkward situation, however, it can cause more anxiety in the long run.

Here are some thoughts on how to stop yourself from laughing when you're nervous:

Before you can learn how to stop laughing at tense situations, you have to recognize that you do it. Many people are not aware they have this nervous habit and only know they need to work on it when it's pointed out to them by a trusted friend.

If you are aware that you have this habit, you can work to replace it with something a bit more empowering. Start small by trying to smile and nod in awkward situations if you feel the urge to laugh.

Or, if you didn't quite catch what someone just said to you and you're typically too shy to ask, try saying something like, “I didn’t hear you. Can you repeat what you said?”

Doing this will help you become aware of the situations in which you use laughter as a coping mechanism.

When you find yourself wanting to respond to something with a nervous laugh and it doesn't seem appropriate, look around for possible habitual cues such as where you are, the emotions you're feeling , the type of people around you, or the circumstances that happened immediately before you felt the urge to laugh.

Over time it will become more clear which habitual cues trigger your awkward laughter. For example, you may find that it always happens when you are around a specific group of people like coworkers or people you don't know very well and are therefore not completely comfortable being around.

When you can see your nervous laughter as the result of an outside factor, you can stop thinking of yourself as being a nervous giggler and shift your mindset to making choices to alter how you see and react to awkward circumstances.

You may need to think of ways to increase your confidence, or you might want to think about changing the way you interact with the people who tend to trigger you.

You may want to consider what it is about other people that trigger you, so you can address a root cause, such as low self-esteem or low confidence.

How to Stop Laughing When You’re Public Speaking

Public speaking is the act of giving general information to a multitude of audiences concerning a specific topic. When talking to the public, you need to be cautious and follow some simple precautions which will help stop you from laughing during your speech, even messing up so much. There are several things you need to consider during the public speaking time so you can avoid laughing unnecessarily. Check out the ideas below and start putting them into practice.

Tips For Proper Public Speaking

2. Have a good sitting or standing posture . Here, you need to avoid any funny poses that can make you laugh again or provoke others to laugh. When you use the best position, your authority and credible facts will give your audience interest in you. Ensure you are proud of your topic and take time to breathe as you relax when needed.

3. You should always notice your entire audience . Ensure your attention isn’t just observing some weird characters but seeing those who aren’t attentive and looking for a way to make them active and engage more (rather than secretly tapping away on their phone). Whenever you speak, be mindful of the reactions of your audience as they respond to you. That will help you get closer to them, and you won’t need to start laughing nervously at them.

4. You should take things at your pace . Avoid unnecessary fast speaking and only speak what is expected of you and when you think you’re supposed to talk. When you talk less to your audience, there’s less opportunity to get things wrong. Less is more is an excellent maxim. Also, keep an eye out for their responses so that everyone can get to grips with your topic and understand what you’re saying.

5. Focus! You should always pay attention to your senses as your mind processes everything that’s happening. Use your senses well when needed, and be a good listener as well. Don’t jump to conclusions by inadvertently laughing out loud. Make sure you are free and able to give time to your thoughts so you can fully know when and how to approach any questions that arise.

6. You should always project your energy outwards – this covers anything from not mumbling to putting some inflection into your speech rather than just reading the PowerPoint out in boring monotone. You should always consider your audience, not yourself. Always try to satisfy the needs of your listeners.

7. Whenever talking, still keep eye contact with the audience (but don’t stare at just one person!). Ensure that they don’t get distracted and neither do you. Focus and whenever you remember a joke which will make you laugh, share with them so they can share it with you. But remember that humour can be very individual so, if in doubt, stay serious. Often a simple smile can be a better way of expressing things.

8. Silence is another weapon for fighting weird behavior in front of your audience. Leave short gaps (not so long that people think you’ve forgotten your words) and your presentation will be clear and well paced as your audience learns more of the information you share with them.

Maintaining excellent skills when presenting is courteous to your audience and that will make them more attentive throughout the presentation. Follow these ideas to help you when you’re public speaking .

22 Ways to Calm Your Nerves Before a Speech or Presentation

by Janice Tomich

Fear of Public Speaking

So, you have a big presentation coming up. Maybe you’ve been invited to pitch an idea to your boss or deliver a presentation to an industry association. Maybe you’re even giving the keynote .

Your first reaction is to jump at the opportunity. Then, as the day gets closer your pre-presentation nerves start getting the better of you.

As your public speaking anxiety ramps up, you can hear the sound of your heart thumping in your ears. Your clothes are sticking to your skin. Nights before the big day you toss and turn in bed.

Thankfully there are lots of ways to manage your presentation jitters.

Notice the emphasis on the word “manage.”

Nervousness isn’t something you can entirely get rid of. But when you increase your skills—by learning these anxiety management techniques—you can begin to quiet the feelings that fuel the unhelpful stories that take up far too much time in your head.

These are some of the tried-and-true tips I give to my public speaking coaching clients, many of whom struggle with nervousness when they have a presentation looming.

Table of Contents

How to Calm Down Before a Speech or Presentation: 22 Techniques

1. understand fight or flight.

Almost everyone feels some degree of nervousness when they need to present. Thanks to our Neanderthal ancestors, the body’s response to your amygdala getting hijacked and going into fight or flight is a deeply embedded, primal reaction.

Public speaking, however, is not the same as being attacked by a sabre toothed tiger.

The best way to manage this innate response is simply to realize that it’s part of your DNA, hardwired into what it means to be human. This awareness will help tamp down your public speaking nerves and put them in context.

2. Nerves and Anxiety Are a Habit

Behaviours follows triggers. For many people, the fear of public speaking fuels overthinking and worrying, which then results in them feeling more anxious. According to Dr. Judd Brewer , this creates an anxiety loop in which we convince ourselves that we are being constructive and solving a problem.

When you feel your heart racing or your monkey brain telling you doomsday stories, notice where it feels tight or uncomfortable in your body. One way to begin managing your anxiety is to notice where in your body you’re feeling it from. As with the fight-or-flight response, simply knowing about the anxiety loop gives you insight can helps it to stop progressing.

Sucheta Misra Associate VP Inclusion & Diversity and Social Impact Leader

3. Take a Deep Breath

Woman doing deep breathing exercises, which is an excellent way to relax before a presentation and calm presentation nerves.

Breathing sounds easy!

Actually it’s not.

When you get anxious you’ll find yourself taking rapid breaths, restricted to the upper half of your chest. Physiologically, shallow breathing fuels nervous reactions. Instead, consciously take a few deep breaths. This will naturally regulate your heightened emotions. Your heart rate and you will instantly feel more relaxed.

If you have a Fitbit, Apple Watch or other device that monitors your heart rate you’ll be amazed to see how quickly your heart rate will drop by simply taking in a series of deep breaths. Try it!

4. Transform Your Nervous Energy Into Excitement

Anxiety and excitement are similar emotions. Both are high states of arousal accompanied by things such as a rapid heart rate, dry mouth, sweaty palms and sometimes a feeling or sensation of being “outside” of your body.

Typically, we view anxiety as negative and excitement as positive. Anxiety is uncomfortable. We’d much rather feel excitement than anxiety.

Because both are heightened states of arousal, however, you can actually trick your brain into feeling excited instead of anxious by using awareness and reframing techniques. Positive thinking and using affirming self-talk can flip the switch from anxiety to excitement.

Try it. The next time you feel anxiety bubbling up, simply say “I feel excited.” Yes, say it out loud!

Using this simple tip, it’s possible to change a negative mindset to a positive one. You’ve set yourself up nicely for your next presentation.

If you’re lost and unsure about how to make your presentation compelling, I can help.

5. Smile, Even if You’re Feeling Anxious

Smiling helps lower your stress level by releasing endorphins, which lowers your heart rate and blood pressure.

Yes, as easy as smiling!

6. Use Relaxation Exercises

Listening to music is a form of relaxation, which can calm pre-presentation anxiety and help you stay grounded.

Meditation is the simple act of being aware of what’s in front of us … no yoga mat or meditation cushion required. Meditation can subdue the nervous tension that comes with delivering presentations.

Recently, a client shared with me his rather surprising meditative process. It’s slightly unusual (and had me laughing).

Before every presentation, he goes to a fast food restaurant and orders a cheeseburger. Then, he consciously watches as he orders his food, receives his order, and then eats it. Apparently this meditative ritual works for him every time.

A more common approach (than the cheeseburger routine) is to simply be observant of your environment while you’re walking, or consciously feel the sensation of water falling on your body when you take your morning shower.

Meditation techniques lower your anxiety because you won’t cycle through all worrying “what if’s”. Instead, simply be present.

7. Burn Off Energy by Doing Some Cardio

Moving your body and getting your heart pumping also releases endorphins which can help quell any pre-presentation anxiety .

I’ve been known to do a few fast-walking laps around a conference centre to reduce the stress I feel before I deliver a speech or presentation.

Going for a quick run or cycle before your event are terrific anxiety-busters too!

8. Use Visualization Techniques

Did you know you can strengthen muscles without even moving them ?

Elite athletes, such as golfers, practice watching (in their mind’s eye) their ball land on the green or in the cup. The visualization exercise builds muscle memory to help hit the ball successfully, so it lands where the golfer intended.

Public speakers can use visualization techniques to manage anxiety, too.

As your presentation day nears, take your mind on a walking tour. Imagine every detail – in your mind’s eye walk onto the stage, deliver your speech, listen to the applause, and then leave the stage. Do the visualization with a positive outlook to set yourself for an anxiety-free delivery.

9. Be Prepared

Preparing in the content of your presentation in the ‘theatre of your mind’ is a trap. Practicing this way lulls you into thinking that all is well as you run through your presentation self correcting.

Only practicing your actual words will prepare you for the live event. You’ll establish exactly what you want to say, and how to say it, which will boost your confidence and soothe any nervousness.

10. Practice, Practice, and Then Practice Some More

I have never had a client tell me they wished they’d practiced less.

My advice for how to practice delivering a speech or presentation is to practice until you are tired of hearing yourself, which typically clocks in at 30 hours of practice for a one-hour presentation .

Pro Tip: Once you have practiced your entire presentation a few times, you only practice the parts which are tripping you up. There’s no value in practicing from start to finish when you’re only challenged by specific sections.

11. Drink Water to Stay Hydrated During Your Presentation

Drinking water and staying hydrated in the days leading up to your presentation can help with anxiety, too, since you'll be able to speak more clearly.

Having a dry mouth can cause you to trip over your words, which will rev up even more nervous tension. Beginning a few days before you’re scheduled to deliver your speech, increase your water intake so your words will flow easily.

Pro Tip: Pop one of these lozenges in your mouth a few minutes before you go on stage. They work wonders to coat your mouth and throat.

12. Prepare an Excellent Opening to Your Presentation

I don’t recommend memorizing your entire presentation or speech. But I do recommend memorizing the open and close.

Anxiety often ramps up in the first 30 seconds of your presentation. By committing to memory the beginning (and the close) you’ll prevent yourself from having a rocky start or lacklustre finish.

13. Employ the Power of the Pause

You likely talk too fast when you’re nervous. With the rapid fire of your words comes an increase in your stress level.

Pauses are a brilliant technique slow down your speech, and avoid talking too quickly.

Look through your presentation and find the most important points you want your audience to take back to the office. Place a pause in the front and back end of these sections.

Not only do pauses help your audience understand the important points, it gives you some breathing room and slows down your rate of speaking.

14. Before You Present, Test the Technology

Man using a virtual reality machine—hopefully the tech you need to navigate for your upcoming presentation won't be this challenging.

There’s nothing like technology not working to rattle your nerves — even for seasoned presenters.

Whether you’re online or in person, make sure you’re comfortable with the technology you’ll be using.

If you’re delivering online ask a friend or colleague to do a technology run-through.

If you’re delivering live on stage most event planners invite their presenters for a pre-presentation tech check.

Take advantage of the time to test the technology so you can deliver without having to worry about which button to click or where to stand.

15. Arrive Early, Before You’re Scheduled to Present

Whether online or in person, arrive 20 to 30 minutes before you’re scheduled to present.

Give yourself lots of time to settle in and feel comfortable in your surroundings. Arriving early will give you the opportunity to check out where everything is situated, which will stop any last minute scrambling that could leave you unsettled.

16. Walk Around. Own Your Space.

When you walk into a space cold — not having been on-site before — it’s challenging to know how much space you can take advantage of.

Take the time to walk around the presentation space (This applies to both live events and online ones.)

There is comfort in knowing how much “real estate” you have to move through. Feel your feet on the floor.

17. Attend Your Colleagues’ Presentations

Likewise, take the time to get comfortable in the event itself. Stop in and listen to your colleagues’ presentations, and encourage them to attend yours.

Building a sense of camaraderie helps you feel supported by your peers, which helps release the nervous energy soothe your pre-presentation jitters.

18. Meet Your Audience Before Your Presentation

Two men speaking at a conference. Meeting other conference participants and attending your colleagues' presentations can help make your own presentation less nerve-wracking. It's a great way to calm your nerves before a presentation.

When I deliver a presentation I arrive well in advance of when I’m scheduled to deliver so I can meet the people who will be attending my talk.

It’s a good investment. Meeting your audience beforehand “warms” the room (makes you and them feel more comfortable). This allows you to better connect with your audience.

19. Connect Through Good Eye Contact

During your presentation, connect with the audience using effective eye contact. Make this an easy win by following tip #19 and reading my article with five tips for making eye contact .

20. Use Powerful Body Language

Try slumping over. How do you feel? Low on energy?

Now stand tall with your shoulders back and your head held high. How do you feel now? I suspect you feel high energy/confident.

Your posture affects how you feel. The small shift from slumped to taking up lots of space makes a big difference to your level of confidence .

21. Avoid Alcohol & Caffeine in the Lead-Up to the Event

We all know the effects of excessive alcohol and caffeine. One will leave you too relaxed, and the other too jittery.

Save the drinks until after your presentation, and limit yourself to one cup of coffee or tea before you present to deliver your speech as the best version of yourself.

22. Sleep Well the Night Before

A day or two before you are scheduled to deliver your speech plan to have your slides completed and confident you know your content inside out.

Don’t spend the night before adjusting slides and practicing. Trying to create a perfect presentation at the last minute will only ramp up your anxiety.

Schedule lots of time to prepare in the weeks leading up to the event, so can feel refreshed to meet your audience.

If you’re struggling with presentation nerves choose a few of the techniques which resonated with you. Give them a try. It’s though practice and increasing your public speaking skills that you’ll get a handle on your nerves.

Watching my clients build their communication & public speaking confidence is my sweet spot. Reach out to discover how we might work together so you can manage any presentation anxiety you might be experiencing.

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Why Do Women Shy Away from Public Speaking Engagements?

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Lack of public speaking confidence, whether with peers or strangers, is considered a social anxiety disorder. More people don’t want to be front and centre than do. Across the spectrum, glossophobia (fear of public speaking) touches

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7 Ways to Use Humor in Your Presentation

The recent surge in video conferencing brought on by the COVID pandemic has provided a wealth of comedic material for social media – from bosses transforming themselves into potatoes to Saturday Night Live’s take on the ubiquitous Zoom call , and many fails and awkward moments in between.

my boss turned herself into a potato on our Microsoft teams meeting and can’t figure out how to turn the setting off, so she was just stuck like this the entire meeting pic.twitter.com/uHLgJUOsXk — Rachele with 1 L & 2 E’s but pronounced Rachel (@PettyClegg) March 30, 2020

And the memes and tweets keep coming as the video conferencing fatigue deepens. We now even have a new emoji sticker about making video calls in your underwear.

Humor, of course, is a great elixir to take the edge off during times of trouble or uncertainty. But it can be a high-risk, high-reward tool that needs to be deployed with care.

Here are seven ways to wield it.

1. Remember: You Are Not Doing Stand-up

Funny dinner guests and the co-worker who keeps fellow office mates laughing do not earn their humorous reputations by firing off dozens of one-liners or riffing on a particular subject the way top stand-up comics do. Rather, they spot the humor that exists in everyday situations and convey that through funny conversational observations.

It’s a formula that works well for most presentations – think humor, not jokes. Your audience is not expecting an open-mic night, but certainly will appreciate a speaker who can successfully deliver funny asides, amusing stories, wry comments, irresistible ironies, and memorable quips.

However, being funny simply for the sake of being funny doesn’t help you. As a presenter, the humor you use should serve your message – providing context and depth to your main points. It also is an effective tool to incorporate into your opening or close . You just don’t want your audience remembering your jokes at the expense of your key message.

Overall, the humor you use in your presentation should serve to enhance and illustrate the points you are trying to make. When used well, humor also can help you to poke fun at human foibles without sounding critical, encourage your audience to question long-standing assumptions without threatening their beliefs, and offer fresh insights into old ideas.

In his TED talk, The Happy Secret to Better Work , psychologist and bestselling author Shawn Achor successfully employed humor throughout his talk, including his opening. He enlisted a funny anecdote (it runs from about 0:10 to 3:05) to capture his audience’s attention and bring them to the very heart of his talk. During his opening, he employs a story that many of us can relate to. He offers funny asides. And, his humorous story effectively illustrates the main theme of his speech. Here it is:

2. Don’t knock your credibility

Self-effacing humor is one thing. In fact, in one study , business leaders who poked fun at themselves were seen as more trustworthy and caring by their employees. But it’s a fine line between laughing at your own expense and putting a ding in your expertise. Stay away from humor that questions your credibility or downplays the topic of your talk. You also don’t want to bring attention to your weaknesses ( “I’ve never done a virtual presentation before, so good luck to us all!” ).

3. Keep it appropriate

In real life, the jokes cast by fictitious Dunder Mifflin regional manager Michael Scott, played by Steve Carrell in the television show “The Office,” would have been a nightmare for any real-life human resources specialist. Don’t be Michael Scott. Overall, it’s best to steer clear of edgy, off-color, political, or profane humor.

If you are not a full-time comic, you might be stressed about finding inspiration for your humorous asides and anecdotes. Don’t worry, there is appropriate material all around you. The best material comes from everyday, real-life experiences you and the audience can relate to. Perhaps you had a funny exchange with a client, or your kid offered up a funny or ironic observation without realizing it. Maybe you want to recall an innocent blunder on your first day on the job, which wasn’t funny then but is hilarious now. Or, you saw a sign with a funny or contradictory saying. Think about material that doesn’t make you cringe.

If you need inspiration, comedian Brian Regan has built a nearly 25-year career on funny, wry observations about life that don’t require a parental advisory.

4. Avoid sarcasm

Sarcastic people can indeed be funny, but it’s all in the context . Inherently, sarcasm can be difficult to interpret, given you are saying one thing but actually meaning the opposite. It’s like an inside joke. It might go over well if everyone is in on it. If not, it could lead to conflict or hurt feelings.

5. Be confident

You won’t have to worry about hecklers, but your audience will sense if you are hesitant about delivering your punch line. If you are funny, play to your strengths. Deliver your funny anecdote with a confidence and ease that suggests you are having as much fun telling it as you hope your audience is having by hearing it.

If you are hesitant about sharing your own personal stories or are struggling to come up with material, you can always borrow material and pass it along – whether that’s a funny story you heard, a witty cartoon, or a famous humorous line. That fact that you know it is funny makes you humorous even if you are not the creator.

In his TED Talk Do schools kill creativity? which has been seen by more than 66 million people, Ken Robinson , an educator and bestselling author, offers a great example of how to borrow and deliver a great story. It starts around the 3:20 mark:

6. Not all humor has to be said

Unless you are talking about a super-serious subject, you can probably slip a funny slide into your deck. Perhaps you plant a quote from an unlikely source. Or, you show a prediction that has since been proven to be wildly off. The idea is to offer something unexpected. That’s what jogs your audience out of its doldrums.

7. Embrace the Silence

The success of any funny comment during an in-person presentation is gauged by the laughter you get from your audience. I’d hazard a guess that even the canniest and most confident comic might be thrown by telling a joke to a crowd on mute. If you plan on being humorous during an online presentation, and your audience can’t be seen or heard, make sure that you won’t be thrown by this lack of laughter. Deliver the punch line and move on. It keeps it from getting awkward.

In other words, deliver the humor as if you are not expecting a laugh. If there is a laugh, treat it as a delightful surprise. If there’s not, it doesn’t matter because the line you delivered carried a message that made it through anyway. It’s only when you pause, as if you’re expecting a laugh, and you don’t get one that it becomes problematic. That said, if you are doing an in-person talk (or you can hear your online audience), and you get those laughs, let them breathe. If you rumble into your next points, the audience may not hear you. Or, they may feel as if they should abruptly stop their laughter which defeats the purpose of using humor!

Ready for Success

Perhaps you are naturally funny but a little rehearsal couldn’t hurt. Test out your funny comments on a few friends or trusted colleagues. You’ll be happy to find out before you tell it if it lands as you intended. Even Jerry Seinfeld tests out his material.

And if you are offering a virtual presentation, make sure you have a firm grip on the technology and know how to use it . You don’t want to be the potato.

Brian Regan
Jerry Seinfeld
Ken Robinson
presentation skills training
Shawn Achor
using humor in your presentation
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How to not be nervous for a presentation — 13 tips that work (really!)

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Why do I get nervous before presenting?

How not to be nervous when presenting, 5 techniques to control your nerves, quotes for inspiration, speak with confidence.

If you feel nervous or scared about talking to someone new, giving a speech, or being on stage, rest assured: you’re not alone.

Experiencing symptoms of performance anxiety like an increased heart rate, trembling hands, or excessive sweating is perfectly normal. In fact, people often fear public speaking . But the more you’re immersed in these types of situations, the more comfortable you’ll become .

We’ll explore how to not be nervous for a presentation and offer inspirational quotes to help you step out of your comfort zone.

Man Speaking Through A Microphone In Dark Conference Hall-1

Based on data from the National Social Anxiety Center, fear of public speaking is the most common phobia . The official term for this fear is glossophobia, colloquially termed stage fright.

Stage fright typically arises from the perception that when you're in front of a group of people, they'll judge you. The brain’s frontal lobe aids in memory, and when we’re stressed, increased stress hormones temporarily shut that region down . This is what causes us to freeze up and stop talking.

There’s nothing wrong with being nervous. We all have different social comfort zones, communication styles, and presentation skills. But we can expand and improve our skills if we’re cognitively flexible .

Cognitive flexibility plays a big role in our behavior and attitudes and impacts our performance. You can use your fears as a catalyst for growth and learning — including giving a great presentation.

The following techniques will help you shift your thinking from reactive to proactive to combat nerves throughout the presentation experience:

Before the presentation:

Student girl preparing for presentation writing notes in her computer at home-how-to-not-be-nervous-for-a-presentation

1. Know your topic

Don’t wing it when it comes to presenting any topic. The better you understand your subject matter, the more confident you’ll feel. You can answer questions right away and won’t have to rely on your notes.

If there are a few points or any information you think might arise during the presentation or Q&A, research it and become comfortable speaking to the subject.

Here are a few ways to study:

Break down concepts onto notecards
Practice answering questions (especially the hard ones you hope no one asks)
Explain complex information to peers and colleagues

2. Be organized

Take time to thoroughly plan each aspect of the presentation. Often, that means designing PowerPoint slides or other visual aids like videos. Clarify with the organizer what format and technology you’ll be using.

If it’ll be virtual, get your background and room organized, too. This ensures the presentation will go smoothly, in turn reducing stress. Consider the following preparations:

Invite your support network to the event
Arrive early to set up tech and get comfortable in the space
Practice timing your presentation with the time tracker you’ll use day-of
Bring a water bottle and a snack
Contact your manager or venue staff to discuss any accessibility or tech concerns

3. Practice, practice, practice

Whether you’re rehearsing in front of a mirror, family member, or pet, you can never practice enough. Ask for feedback about your body language , eye contact , and how loudly you project your voice.

If you’ll be giving the presentation on a video conference, record it on the platform to see how you look and sound.

4. Visualize your success

Thinking through possible outcomes is a great way to prepare — but it can also backfire on you. If you obsess over negative what-ifs, this failing mentality might become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The more often you fill your mind with positive thoughts and visualize your success, the more automatic they’ll be. Positive self-talk can make a big difference to your confidence. Run through the presentation — successfully — in your head.

During the presentation:

Businesswoman speaking from a podium to an audience in a conference-how-to-not-be-nervous-for-a-presentation

5. Focus on your material, not the audience

Your audience is there for your presentation — not to assess you. They’ll be looking at your colorful slides and listening to what you’re saying. Don’t let your mind fill with insecurities .

6 . Don't fear silence

If your mind suddenly goes blank, that’s okay. It may seem like an eternity to you as you try to figure out what to say next, but it’s only a few seconds at most.

Pausing isn’t a bad thing, anyway. You can use dramatic breaks advantageously to draw attention before the most important bits.

7 . Speak slowly

Presentation anxiety often causes nervous energy, so we speak faster than normal. This might make you fumble your words or forget important details.

Slow down. Audience members will be thankful since they can understand you , and drawing out your speech will give you time to calm down, ground yourself , and stay organized.

8 . Take deep breaths and drink water

Breathing delivers oxygen to your brain, allowing you to think more clearly. Drinking water ups your energy, and also gives you a moment to pause.

Smiling is a simple yet effective way to soothe your nerves. Doing so releases endorphins, helping you physically feel more confident. And a friendly face will make the audience more open to what you’re saying.

10 . Remember the three "audience truths"

These include: 1) for the duration of the presentation, the audience believes you’re the expert, 2) they’re on your side, and 3) they don’t know when you make a mistake.

After the presentation:

Businessman giving a talk to a group at a convention center lunch-how-to-not-be-nervous-for-a-presentation

11. Recognize your success

Giving a presentation is something worth being proud of — celebrate it! In addition to family, friends, and coworkers, you deserve a high five from yourself, too.

1 2. Collect feedback

Feedback is a wonderful gift if you use it as a tool to help you do even better next time. Ask some of your audience members what they liked and what they didn’t. Remember, you can learn a lot from your mistakes .

1 3. Don't beat yourself up

You did the best you could, and that’s all anyone — including you — can ask for.

Nervousness is perfectly normal, but sometimes our symptoms hold us back from doing — and enjoying — scarier tasks. Here are five tips for overcoming nerves:

1. Practice impression management

Impression management requires projecting an image that contradicts how you actually feel. It’s essentially a “fake it ‘til you make it” strategy. Let’s say you’re about to make a corporate-wide presentation and feel worried you’ll forget important information. You’ll counteract this worry by imagining yourself remembering every detail and delivering it entertainingly.

Learn from this practice by noting the information chosen in your hypothetical and how you expressed it effectively.

2. Talk to someone

Emotions are contagious. We absorb others’ positive vibes . Chatting with people who are excited about and confident in our presentation abilities rubs off on us.

Before a presentation, call a cheerleader in your life — someone who’s on your side and understands your nerves. Be specific, discussing which parts of presenting are nerve-wracking and what you need from them.

3. Do breathing exercises

Mindful breathing is when you pay attention to the sensation of inhaling and exhaling while controlling and deepening breath length. Breathwork has several health benefits, including reducing stress and anxiety and improving memory, attention, and focus.

Before the presentation, find a quiet and solitary space. Breathe deeply for at least a minute, focusing on sensation and depth. This practice brings you into your body and out of your mind (away from nerve-wracking thoughts).

4. Practice reframing

Reframing is a technique used in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) to improve negative automatic thought patterns over time. One such pattern is viewing certain emotions as bad, and others as good. Nervousness feels the same in the body as excitement. Instead of panicking even more when realizing you’re nervous, reframe your impression of nerves as excitement for what you’re about to do.

This excitement will propel you forward with confidence and pride for stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something scary.

Here are seven inspirational quotes to help you feel confident and excited when doing something you’re nervous about:

“You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart.” John Ford

“ When speaking in public, your message — no matter how important — will not be effective or memorable if you don't have a clear structure. ” Patricia Fripp

“The most precious things in speech are the pauses.” Sir Ralph Richardson

“The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid.” Lady Bird Johnson

“It’s what you practice in private that you will be rewarded for in public.” Tony Robbins

“The worst speech you’ll ever give will be far better than the one you never give.” Fred Miller

Like any other skill, learning how to not be nervous for a presentation takes time and practice. Acknowledging this hurdle is the first step to making a change in the right direction. Facing your fears will empower you to take on scarier — and more fulfilling — goals and enjoy the experience along the way. You don’t have to start with a TED Talk. Tackle small challenges like presenting an idea to your manager or practicing a short speech with a friend. We won’t sugarcoat it — it’s hard to change our minds and habits. But if you’re willing to put in the effort, you’ll be rewarded with increased confidence and new experiences.

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Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

30 presentation feedback examples

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How To Stop Laughing In Serious Situations: 12 Things That Work

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how to stop laughing at inappropriate times

Have you ever attended the funeral of a close family member and been plagued with an attack of giggles?

Perhaps it was while someone was talking about how much that family member meant to them. In the middle of sniffles and the surreptitious wiping of tears, you were struggling against the inappropriate urge to burst into laughter.

Maybe your uncomfortable fit of laughter occurred at work during a board meeting to discuss how the company is not reaching the financial targets set. Definitely not a topic that should amuse anyone.

Whatever happened, you had an overwhelming urge to burst into laughter. What made the situation worse was your awareness that laughter in that situation was highly improper. But that only made it more difficult to stop.

That can be an extremely embarrassing predicament to be in, especially with people looking at you like you’re some kind of insensitive and disrespectful monster.

If you have been in this situation before, the shame of uncontrollable laughter can be enough to cause social anxiety. Who wants to be in a situation where you are going to offend people you respect or love?

Luckily, you are not the only person to struggle with laughter in serious situations. It happens to many people and for different reasons.

Let’s look at what causes this uncontrollable laughter and what to do when it happens.

Speak to an accredited and experienced therapist to help you stop laughing at inappropriate times. You may want to try speaking to one via BetterHelp.com for quality care at its most convenient.

Why Do You Laugh In Serious Situations?

There are many reasons our emotions betray us by causing us to burst into laughter in highly stressful or sensitive situations. Knowing what causes these embarrassing giggle fits can help take away the sting of guilt that comes with it and lead us towards coping skills or treatment to lessen future occurrences.

1. Natural reaction.

For some people, laughter is a natural reaction when faced with a highly stressful situation. When they face high levels of anxiety, confusion, stress, and discomfort, at that moment, their body triggers laughter as a defense mechanism to downregulate the emotion.

Some research has even found that nervous laughter may be a defense mechanism against emotions that may make us feel weak or vulnerable.

Laughter erupts from people who struggle with this condition to signal to the rest of the body that they are not in danger and that everything is ok. It helps them relieve stress, release tension, and calm the rest of the body down.

2. Social anxiety.

People who suffer with social anxiety will struggle in situations where they are not familiar with the people or surroundings. They are fearful of or anxious about social situations because of a fear of negative judgment, embarrassment, or rejection.

This can lead to inappropriate behavior in these situations, such as spontaneous laughter.

Social Anxiety Disorder is one of the most common mental health disorders, with fifteen million American adults suffering from it, according to Mental Health America .

People living with this disorder often experience the following:

physical symptoms, such as blushing, sweating, trembling, nausea, increased heart rate, and the mind “going blank”
feelings of panic or panic attacks
fear of experiencing anxiety or of seeming anxious in front of others
an intense fear of judgment from others
feelings of fear or dread in situations with other people, especially strangers
feeling very self-conscious, embarrassed, or awkward in front of others
having difficulty speaking
avoiding situations that might trigger anxiety
a rigid body posture and a soft voice during social interactions
difficulty making or maintaining eye contact
sensitivity to criticism, low self-esteem, and negative self-talk

While many people may have experienced one or several of the signs above, those with this disorder describe the anxiety they have as being overpowering and out of their control.

3. Neurological disorders.

Neurological disorders can also produce the urge to laugh in improper situations.

People who have suffered a stroke which affected the frontal lobes of the brain can have issues with uncontrollable laughter. When the frontal lobe of the brain is damaged, communication between it and the cerebellum is affected, which leads to improper laughter.

4. Tourette Syndrome or OCD.

If the inappropriate laughter occurs after a specific phrase or sentence, this could be a sign of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or Tourette Syndrome, specifically Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS), as a type of vocal tic.

OCD is comorbid with Tourette Syndrome, which means that many people who have OCD eventually develop tics. According to the International OCD Foundation , nearly 60% of Tourette Syndrome sufferers have been reported to have OCD symptoms, 50% of children with OCD are reported to have had tics, and 15% met the criteria for Tourette Syndrome.

5. Psychiatric disorders.

Certain psychiatric disorders can cause uncontrollable laughter. In particular, psychiatric disorders that have hypomania – a lesser state of mania – as a symptom.

People with this symptom will be extremely happy most of the time, while also being very loud, hyperactive, energetic, and engaging in attention-seeking behavior.

An example of a psychiatric disorder that causes laughter at inappropriate times is schizophrenia. This happens because people with schizophrenia have difficulty regulating their emotions. They even experience hallucinations that are funny or induce anxious laughter. When they are having a manic episode, they can be very excited or feel powerful. Because they perceive the world differently than others do, they may be amused or excited by things/situations that do not provoke the same reaction in most people.

6. Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA)

Usually, people with Pseudobulbar Affect (PBA) have an underlying neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to control and express emotion.

The pseudobulbar affect is a condition that’s characterized by episodes of sudden uncontrollable and inappropriate laughing or crying. It commonly occurs in people who have neurological conditions or injuries, such as:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Traumatic brain injury
Alzheimer’s disease
Parkinson’s disease

Pseudobulbar affect is often undiagnosed or mistaken for mood disorders. However, once it is diagnosed, it can be properly managed with medication.

7. Illnesses

Different medical conditions can cause uncontrollable laughter. These illnesses include:

Hyperthyroidism – Occurs when the thyroid gland makes too much of one or both thyroid hormones called T4 and T3.
Graves Disease – This happens when the immune system makes too many antibodies that attach to thyroid cells. Having too much of the thyroid hormone can affect the nervous system. One symptom of this is nervous laughter, even when nothing is happening that is funny.
Kuru (TSEs) – This is a rare condition known as a prion disease. It occurs when an abnormal protein called a prion infects the brain. This can stop the brain from functioning properly. It also damages the part of the brain called the cerebellum, which is where many emotional processes are located.

How To Stop Laughing In Serious Situations

With all the possible medical, psychiatric, and neurological disorders that could potentially cause people to break out in uncontrollable laughter at inappropriate times, it’s a wonder it doesn’t happen more often. But one thing is certain, you are not the only person who suffers from an inability to stop laughing at unsuitable times.

If you want to take back control of your emotions and feel less anxious in social situations that normally trigger a laughing attack, check out the following 12 coping skills that can help you control your laughter.

1. Get a medical checkup.

The first step is to get a comprehensive medical checkup to make sure you are physically and mentally fit. With so many causes of uncontrollable laughter, it’s better to ensure it is not the result of physical or mental impairment.

Many of the ailments mentioned above are easily treatable once diagnosed. So book a medical appointment as soon as you can to make sure you are mentally and physically healthy.

There is no need to continue suffering embarrassment in social situations when a treatable medical condition is the cause.

2. Identify your triggers.

What usually makes you laugh inappropriately? Do you burst into giggles when you’re nervous? Or is it when you’re feeling uncomfortable? Is it when you or people around you are feeling painful emotions that you get the uncontrollable urge to laugh? Take time out to identify what makes you laugh in improper situations.

Whatever the reason may be for bursting out into fits of uncontrollable laughter, write it down. Also, note the time, location, occasion, and even people present while you’re laughing. Anything that occurs repeatedly could be one of your triggers.

Once you’re able to identify your triggers, you can put together a plan to mitigate them once they show up. For example, if you notice you’re prone to laughing uncontrollably when you’re tired and under pressure, take steps to get extra rest and engage in stress-relieving self-care before a big presentation, meeting, or social event.

If you don’t know what triggers your laughing spells, you won’t know when they’re coming, nor will you be able to block them.

3. Distract yourself from the urge to laugh.

Perhaps you’re already at an emotional event, like someone’s funeral, and can feel the laughter bubbling up inside you. Quickly distract yourself from the giggles by doing any of the following:

Pinch yourself – the slight pain will distract you from the urge to laugh
Count backwards from 100 or say the alphabet backwards
Make a list in your head, such as a grocery list or to-do list
Look for a certain color in the room and count the number of objects in the room with that color
Sing a song to yourself – it can be something simple like the ABCs

If you find yourself wanting to laugh during an office meeting, try clicking a pen or twirling it around your fingers. You could even try nodding along to what is being said or repeating what is being said in your head.

Take your mind off the situation or whatever it is you find so amusing and replace it with behavior that you can do inconspicuously.

4. Learn to cope with Social Anxiety Disorder.

If you have been diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder, work with a licensed therapist to learn coping skills that will help you better manage social situations. Treatment options for this disorder include:

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy – This method will help you learn how to control anxiety using relaxation and breathing techniques. You’ll also learn how to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
Exposure Therapy – Exposure therapy was developed to help people confront their fears. With this form of therapy, a safe environment is created in which individuals are “exposed” to the things they fear and subsequently avoid. This method eventually helps to reduce fear and decrease avoidance.
Group Therapy – This method helps you learn social skills and techniques you can use to interact with people while in social settings. Therapy sessions are conducted in group sessions, which help you feel less alone as you interact with people who have the same fears as you do.

Your doctor may even suggest some medications to you if they find that will be a better approach to treat this disorder. Ask your healthcare provider about the benefits and risks involved in the different treatment options and choose the best option for you.

5. Move to a private location when you start to laugh.

If you feel the giggles coming on, quickly excuse yourself to go to the bathroom or wherever. Just leave the room as soon as possible so you don’t descend into laughter in front of everyone. Once there, laugh (quietly, of course) to your heart’s content.

Get it all out of your system.

This method works best when you know your triggers and are able to recognize the signs of laughter bubbling up inside you. The earlier you notice the signs, the sooner you can make a quick getaway to save yourself from embarrassment.

6. Cover up your laughter with a cough.

Sometimes the laughter sneaks up on you. One minute you’re fine, the next you’re struggling to keep your face straight.

In situations like this, cover up your laughter with a cough. Not only will this mask your amusement, but it will also take your mind off what is causing you to laugh so you can give a convincing performance. Bend over, cover your face, and pat your chest, all while trying to get your “cough” under control.

You should note that the cough gives you only a few seconds to get yourself together. So you need to be sure that will be enough time for you to get things under control. Thankfully, though, you can easily upgrade to a coughing fit, which will give you the opportunity to leave the room so you can gather yourself in private.

7. Write it down.

If you have an upcoming situation that you know will trigger you, take along a small notepad and pen with you. When you feel as if you’re about to laugh, act like you’re taking notes and write some affirmations on the notepad like “I am in control of my laughter and will release it later in private.” Write it over and over until you feel in control of your emotions.

Or if you prefer, you could actually take notes of what is being said. Not only will this save you from embarrassment, but you’ll also appear to be actively listening to what is being said.

8. Deep breathing exercises.

One of the best things about deep breathing exercises is that no one needs to know that you’re doing them. It helps center you, control your emotions, and relax anxiety that overstimulates your nervous system and brain.

Below is a breathing exercise from WebMD that you can try while seated:

With this exercise, you match how long you breathe in with how long you breathe out. Over time, you can increase how long you’re able to breathe in and out at a time.

Sit comfortably on the floor or in a chair.
Breathe in through your nose. As you do it, count to five.
Breathe out through your nose to the count of five.
Repeat several times.

Once you feel comfortable with breaths that last five counts, increase how long you breathe in and breathe out. You can work up to breaths that last up to 10 counts.

9. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) operates on the theory that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion), and how we act (behavior) are all interrelated. It seeks to help people understand how their thoughts affect their feelings and actions.

CBT teaches people to pay attention to their thoughts and notice when they make negative interpretations of their negative behavioral patterns, which reinforce the distorted thinking pattern.

A licensed therapist can use CBT to teach you how to track negative thoughts and disrupt nervous laughter with a conscious response.

10. Quiet meditation.

Quiet meditation, also known as Vipassana, is used to calm the mind and enhance concentration. When you practice quiet meditation, you turn inward where you are forced to confront uncomfortable thoughts and feelings.

Doing this for a prolonged period or repeatedly helps you to better process and manage your negative thoughts. It also teaches you how to stop reacting to negative situations or in negative circumstances.

The goal of silent meditation is for you to gain insight into the true nature of reality. In silence, you can examine your perception of situations or circumstances. The name “Vipassana” means to see things how they truly are and to not let talking, noise, or other forms of communication distract you from that or get in the way.

To practice silent meditation, you need to focus your attention on your breath. Every time your mind shifts its focus away from your breath or you get lost in thought, simply and gently bring your attention back to your breath.

Repeat this again and again until your session is over.

With Yoga, you’re not just training your body to handle life’s challenges as you move through the poses, but you’re also using the power of your breath and your mind to ground yourself. As a result, yoga poses can help relax both your mind and your body.

Practicing yoga for as little as five minutes can show you how calming and relaxing it is as you sync your movement and breath. When you deepen the stretch, you have to focus on your breath in order to hold it in proper form.

With regular practice of yoga, you’ll notice that it:

Improves your mood
Helps your mind relax
Improves your focus
Helps you get better quality sleep
Reinforces better breathing techniques

A major benefit of practicing yoga and meditation is that they make you more aware of your body and how it feels. So if you have difficulty noticing your triggers, these two methods will help you better tune in to your body and your emotions.

12. Apologize for your laughter.

If you were unable to contain your laughter and let it slip out during an improper time, apologize to the host of the social gathering or meeting.

Shortly after the incident, explain to them your difficulties with handling stressful or emotionally charged situations. Tell them you’re sorry if your reaction hurt or offended them.

If you are upfront about your difficulties, most people will understand.

If you’ve been struggling with laughing in serious situations, you’ve probably suffered a lot of guilt and embarrassment from it. You are not the only person to suffer this challenge. It’s not because you are insensitive and do not understand human emotions.

If the laughter is not because of a medical condition, it is likely the result of your body kicking into defense mode to protect you from hurt and pain. Laughter is our weapon against suffering and despair. Even when we don’t want to, our bodies switch into defensive mode to protect us against a perceived attack.

While it may be annoying to experience in the moment, it is actually pretty amazing when you think about how our bodies look after us, even when we don’t realize that we need it.

Still not sure why you laugh in serious situations or how to stop? Talking to someone can really help you to handle whatever life throws at you. It’s a great way to get your thoughts and your worries out of your head so you can work through them.

Speak to a therapist about it. Why? Because they are trained to help people in situations like yours. They can help you to explore why you struggle to control your laughter, what’s behind that urge, and address those things with the aim of curbing your inappropriate laughter.

BetterHelp.com is a website where you can connect with a therapist via phone, video, or instant message.

While you may try to work through this yourself, it may be a bigger issue than self-help can address. And if it is affecting your mental well-being, relationships, or life in general, it is a significant thing that needs to be resolved.

Too many people try to muddle through and do their best to overcome issues that they never really get to grips with. If it’s at all possible in your circumstances, therapy is 100% the best way forward.

Here’s that link again if you’d like to learn more about the service BetterHelp.com provide and the process of getting started.

You’ve already taken the first step just by searching for and reading this article. The worst thing you can do right now is nothing. The best thing is to speak to a therapist. The next best thing is to implement everything you’ve learned in this article by yourself. The choice is yours.

Managing Presentation Nerves

How to calm your stage fright.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Your stomach is queasy, your palms are sweaty, and your mind has gone blank about your opening lines. What will you be like when you've been introduced and the room goes quiet?

Are you doomed to presentation panic or paralysis, or can you overcome that debilitating nervousness and deliver a speech that wows the audience? (Or at least leaves them feeling satisfied?)

If you're like most people, then public speaking or presenting is one of your major fears (it's known as "glossophobia"). Yet these skills are often called upon. It might not be to an audience of hundreds, but giving presentations to staff or even team members is a common enough occurrence. You owe it to yourself to develop some strategies and techniques to manage your nerves so that you can concentrate on delivering an effective and engaging presentation.

A positive mindset is vital to delivering a good presentation.

How Nervous Do You Feel Before a Speech?

Notice that we didn't say to get rid of your nervousness. This is because presenting is not a natural activity, and even the most practiced presenters get a bit nervous. The point is this: your nervous energy can be used to your advantage.

When you're in a heightened state from the adrenaline that's being pumped into your body, you can use that energy to communicate enthusiastically, convincingly and passionately. The key is to decrease your level of nervousness so that you can use your energy on these positive activities, not on trying to control your nerves.

So, to harness your nervousness and bring it under control, there are six key tips to remember. These tips are all designed to help you focus on your audience and their needs rather than on yourself and how you are feeling. They all stem from one truism:

The more uncertain you are, the more nervous you will be.

The more you can control the uncertainty, the less nervousness you'll experience, and the more residual energy you'll have to devote to the presentation itself.

Six Steps to Conquering Your Presentation Nerves

1. know your audience.

Consult your audience before your presentation. The more confident you are that you're presenting them with useful and interesting material, the less nervous you'll be overall. You really don't want your presentation to be a surprise. If it is, you lose complete control over the audience's reaction, and that's a large factor in nervousness. So:

Define your target audience.
Ask people who are representative of the audience what they expect from the presentation.
Run your agenda by a few people to see if they think something is missing or is overkill.
Consider contacting participants by email beforehand and asking them a few questions about what they expect.
Greet audience members at the door and do a quick survey of why they're there and what they expect.

2. Know Your Material

Nothing is worse for nerves than trying to give a presentation on a topic that you're not well prepared for. This doesn't mean you have to be an expert beforehand, but you'd better know it backward on presentation day. And making sure that you've understood your audience and their needs properly will help you to ensure that your material is on target to meet their needs.

Another important point to remember is that you can't possibly cover everything you know in your presentation. That would likely be long and boring. So select the most pertinent points, and supplement them with other material if time allows.

To make your material interesting and memorable, include occasional questions to encourage audience participation. This enhances the learning experience and gives you a break from presenting. It also allows you to deliver your information in a more conversational manner which is often more believable.

3. Structure Your Presentation

A common technique for trying to calm nervousness is memorizing what you intend to say. But all this does is make your delivery sound like it's coming from a robot. If you miss a word or draw a blank, your whole presentation is thrown off, and then your nervousness compounds itself with every remaining second. It's far better to structure your presentation so that you give yourself clues to what's coming next.

Here are some tips for doing that:

Have a set of key phrases listed on a cue card.
Refer to these phrases to trigger your mind as to what's coming up next.
If you're using slides, use these key phrases in your transitions.

This approach helps you to control your own uncertainty about whether you'll remember your presentation – both what you want to say and the order in which you want to say it.

A simple, widely used and highly effective structure is to tell the audience what you're going to say, then say it, and then recap what you've said. Our article on How to Structure a Presentation covers this in detail.

4. Practice, Practice, Practice

Although you should avoid memorizing your presentation, you do want to be very comfortable with your delivery. Familiarity brings confidence, and practice helps you to deliver the words naturally. This means that they will be coming more from your heart and mind, rather than from a piece of paper.

Here's what to do when you're rehearsing:

Learn the organization and order of your presentation.
If you do feel the need to memorize, limit it to your opening. This will help you get off to a smooth start.
Try filming yourself. You'll discover what you look and sound like to others, and then you can make a plan to change the things that need changing.
Prepare for large speaking events by practicing with a smaller audience first; for example, by inviting colleagues to listen to a "dry run" during their lunch hour.

5. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

Once you know what you're going to say, you need to prepare yourself for the actual delivery.

Decide what you're going to wear – make it comfortable and appropriate.
Arrive early and get your equipment set up.
Anticipate problems and have backups and contingencies in place in case something doesn't work, you forget something, etc.
If possible, give everything one last run-through in the real environment.
Prepare responses to anticipated questions. Try to think like that one person in the front row who always tries to trip the presenter up.

6. Calm Yourself From the Inside

Nervousness causes physiological reactions which are mostly attributed to the increase in adrenaline in your system. You can counteract these effects with a few simple techniques:

Practice deep breathing. Adrenaline causes you to breathe shallowly. By breathing deeply your brain will get the oxygen it needs, and the slower pace will trick your body into believing that you're calmer. It also helps with voice quivers, which can occur when your breathing is irregular.
Drink water. Adrenaline can cause a dry mouth, which in turn leads to getting tongue-tied. Have a glass of water handy. Take sips occasionally, especially when you want to emphasize a point.
Smile. This is a natural relaxant that sends positive chemicals through your body.
Use visualization techniques . Imagine that you're delivering your presentation to an audience that's interested, enthused, smiling, and reacting positively. Cement this positive image in your mind, and recall it right before you're ready to go on.
Press and massage your forehead to energize the front of the brain and speech center.
Just before you start talking, pause, make eye contact, and smile. This last moment of peace is very relaxing and gives you time to adjust to being the center of attention.
Speak more slowly than you would in a conversation , and leave longer pauses between sentences. This slower pace will calm you down, and it will also make you easier to hear, especially at the back of a large room.
Move around during your presentation. This will expend some of your nervous energy.
Stop thinking about yourself . Remember that the audience is there to get some information – and it's your job to put it across to them.

To take this to the next level, listen to our " Performing Under Pressure " Expert Interview with Dr Don Greene. This gives you many more tips and techniques for managing performance stress.

When it comes to presenting, nerves are inevitable. Letting them get the better of you is not. You need to develop a strategy for taking the focus off your nervousness and putting that energy to positive use.

By controlling as much of the uncertainty as you can, you'll increase your confidence in your ability to deliver an excellent presentation. This confidence then counteracts your nerves, and you create a positive cycle for yourself.

For your next presentation, be knowledgeable, be well-practiced and prepared, and try out some physical relaxation techniques. Amaze yourself and impress your audience with your calm and cool delivery of a great presentation.

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Member Podcast

How to Stop Yourself From Inappropriately Laughing in Any Situation

It's not the first time in my life that inappropriately timed laughter has overtaken me—and I'd bet that I'm not alone. You've for sure been in a serious situation but suddenly and nearly uncontrollably broken out into giggles, right? Let's call it funeral laughter, if you will. But just because it might be common doesn't make being in the midst of an ill-timed giggle fit any less awful.

"There is no 'good' way to make an excuse, nor is there a tried-and-true protocol for handling an awkward laugh," says etiquette expert Diane Gottsman . She suggests chatting with the person whose thoughts your laughs interrupted after the incident to share that your episode wasn't personal. "Explain why you were laughing, and let them know it was certainly not intentional."

Of course, the best case scenario is to stop the laugh attack in its tracks, and to help that happen, there are some strategies you can invoke.

1. Be a mindful master of your laughter

Gottsman says "taking several deep breathes" and "focusing on an object across the room" are both helpful methods. I prefer the exclusive Mary Grace Method, which has an above-average success rate: When I find myself near consumed by a giggle fit, I compulsively start gasping for air and try to focus on the most bland, sexless thing in the room. ("Wow, those white minimalist dining chairs are really an IKEA nightmare." This simple, meditative practice is usually enough to bring me back to Earth and the present moment.

2. Call upon an all-knowing friend to ground you

And if that doesn't work, you could always have someone hold you down to keep you from laughing. No, not in a literal sense; rather, Gottsman says it’s helpful to have a trusted friend "anchor" you with a hand on your arm or leg to calm you down.

“You need someone who is aware of your discomfort and ready to assist, sitting next to you,” Gottsman says. So this won’t necessarily work if you’re flying solo at a wedding and are internally screaming at the vows Unremarkable Steve wrote for your best hometown friend. But, if you’re with a pal who can read your vibes? It's great (and kudos to Jessie for kindly restraining me and my giggle fit during the fire drill).

4. Make a mental note to just laugh later

Another strategy? Delaying the gratification of laughter. For example, let's say you’re trapped in a should’ve-been-an-email meeting, and your work wife whispers something funny to you. Do you A. burst into hysterics and have to explain yourself to a joyless company exec, or B. fantasize about laughing later until the desire passes?

Well, when you’re trapped in a situation like this, a random laugh would be a real grade-school look, so clinical psychologist Nancy Irwin , PsyD, suggests making a mental “To be continued” note on your glee. So, go with option B.

“If it is impossible to extricate yourself from the room at the time of your laughing attack, close your eyes and picture yourself going to a comedy club or bending over, laughing with a friend after the meeting,” Dr. Irwin says. “You ‘put a bookmark’ in that need and allow yourself to indulge in it later.”

5. Write it all down

This is to another way to “bookmark” your laugher, and it’s particularly useful for during a work meeting. Essentially, it's why I bring my notebook with me everywhere I go—because, really, I never know when I'm going to be overcome with inappropriate laughter. With your pen and paper at the ready, Dr. Irwin recommends you act as though you’re taking notes and “write out that you are in control now and appropriate in this setting, and will enjoy the laughter later, even more.” And then, hopefully, that release will keep you from laughing then and allow you to do so later.

6. Leave, and then laugh away

As it turns out, laughter is some pretty solid healthy medicine , and indulging in that LOL life may just set you free by getting the giggles out of your system. “Sometimes we only want to laugh when we know we should not be doing so,” Dr. Irwin says. “It can be a juvenile or rebellious urge, and you feel empowered ‘breaking the rules,’ if you will. The antidote? Give yourself permission to laugh all you want. When given permission, the urge dissipates very quickly, typically.”

The only caveat? Gottsman and Dr. Irwin agree that you should try to GTFO of there (my words, not theirs). “You can excuse yourself and go to the ladies room, or a garage, and laugh your head off,” Dr. Irwin says.

Otherwise, take a moment and breathe in deep with me. Deep, penetrating breaths.

For some good news, those gut-busting laughs can give you a big, big mood boost. And even if it feels awkward, fake-laughing can make you super popular.

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17 Tips and Tricks to Stop Shaking and Ease your Anxiety During a Speech

Hrideep barot.

Public Speaking

Just seconds before you are about to go on stage to give a speech or presentation, your legs or hands start to tremble or you might feel jittery running up your legs, making your whole body feel numb, and your heart starts pounding so fast you feel that might pass out.

Does this feeling sound familiar?

Don’t worry you are not at all alone. This is something almost everyone experiences at least once before giving a speech in front of an audience. If someone tells you otherwise, they are probably, definitely lying!

But WHY does it happen?

When we physically start trembling, it is our body’s natural way of responding to a situation that our mind perceives to be scary and dangerous. There is an instant adrenaline rush due to which our heart rate fastens and our mind starts preparing us for the “fight-or-flight” situation, i.e, your mind starts preparing you to decide whether you want to stay and fight the situation or you want to flee or run away from the situation.

And as public speaking is one of those situations that we tend to perceive as a threat, it results in anxiety that causes not just our body to tremble and shake but even our voice.

Thus, the shaking and trembling of our body and voice during a speech is nothing but an exhibition of our anxiety and with some time, effort and practice you can overcome it!

Physical and verbal trembling during a speech is something that can come to us involuntarily and at that moment we might blank out completely and become so vulnerable that our mind is not able to process and think of anything. At that moment it’s easy for us to start feeling powerless and like we’ve lost the game.

So, how do we overcome it?

It’s all about balancing and combining our physiology and psychology, i.e., we need to physically as well as mentally prepare ourselves in order to overcome the tremble and anxiety during the speech.

While there are some things you can do to get quick results, there are some things you have to practice in order to address this issue in the long run, which we will talk about later.

But first, let’s look at some of the simple and basic tips and tricks that you can use during or a few minutes before your speech.

Tips and Tricks to Stop shaking Before and During a Speech

Visualize yourself.

A few minutes before going onto the stage, start creating a mental image of yourself, going in front of the audience with confidence, picturizing everyone applauding and cheering, you being sure of the subject matter you’ve prepared for and you’re enjoying talking about it.

It is one of the ways to convince your mind that you won’t be getting nervous while speaking.

This is something you could also practice over the period, about 10-15 days before D-Day. You can visualize yourself on the stage being confident. If you can go and check out the venue in advance, you can visualize yourself in the same place you are going to be delivering your speech.

To get a better idea about what I am talking about, check out the youtube video linked below.

Clench your legs or hands

If you are giving a speech behind a podium, where only your upper body is visible to the audience, you can use this trick. While speaking, if your hands or legs start trembling, you could tighten or cross your legs.

You might have noticed that whenever we are tense or nervous, our muscles tighten and we start clenching our hands. It’s one of the ways our body releases tension. This will help you feel a little bit relaxed temporarily throughout your speech.

But what if there is no podium and there is no way you can cross your legs or clench your feet? – You can try to walk on the stage but not so much that your audience might get distracted from all the moving instead of listening to what you are saying. You can try moving whenever you start feeling that you might be forgetting or getting anxious.

Brief introduction

Instead of beginning your speech with your topic directly about your topic, you can start your speech with a brief introduction of yourself. This will help grab your audience’s attention and make them feel comfortable.

You can start with a small greeting, following up with your name, qualification, and what you are going to be talking about.

For example, “Hello, good morning everyone, My name is XYZ, and I am pursuing my master’s in psychology, and today I will be talking about the Effects of social media on mental health.” then all you have to do is start talking about what you have prepared.

Before going on to the stage if you start getting anxious, this small introduction will help you get briefly acquainted with the whole setting. Check out this article if you wish to know more about introductory opening lines- How To Introduce A Speaker In Any Setting (And Amaze Your Audience)

And if you have the liberty you can also begin your speech with a small anecdote or even use humor.

Using defense mechanisms right

Smiling and laughing are a couple of ways we try to defend ourselves emotionally and mentally when we are nervous or anxious. Sometimes, it may be awkward to laugh or smile in an inappropriate situation that makes us uncomfortable.

But when you are on stage, this works!

And this is one of the tips that I received from a friend of mine,

He says it somehow helps him to redirect his nervous energy into a smile .

When we physically smile our brain produces chemicals like dopamine and serotonin which are responsible for making us feel happy and less stressed. This works, because in a way by doing this we are trying to convince our body that it’s okay, that the situation is not threatening and we are smiling it away.

And of course, smiling is a great way to connect with your audience as well.

Use simple vocabulary

If you think you might get anxious while talking in front of an audience, avoid using difficult words in your speech. Fancy vocabulary will make you sound like an intellectual and add credibility to your speech but if your mind suddenly goes blank and you start trembling, at that moment you might have a difficult time recalling those heavy words you prepared.

So, unless it comes naturally to you, try using simple vocabulary. You just need to ensure that your audience understands what you have to say.

Move before your speech

You can also warm up your body by dancing, exercising, or just moving around a few minutes before the speech. One of the tricks I use is that, if I feel anxious before a presentation, I just take a little walk or move my legs up and down.

You can even dance or exercise on the day of your speech. These physical movements help us reduce overall anxiety and get us pumped. It helps in improving our overall mood which eventually reduces nervousness.

There are various drawbacks when it comes to using cue cards during a speech, your audience might get the impression that you are not prepared or it can be very distracting. It might also hinder your connection with the audience.

But, even with all these drawbacks of using cue cards, it is useful to keep the cards ready for reference, especially when you think you might not be completely prepared for the speech or are worried that your anxiety might take over.

If in any case, your mind blanks out or starts getting nervous, you can just look into the cards and continue to talk. Having cue cards ready might also take off the pressure of memorizing everything because you will know that even if you forget anything you can just refer to the cards.

Breathe, but how does it help?

We might have heard of this tip to calm our anxiety many times before right?

But why and how does this help us with our public speaking?

Deep breathing physically helps our body to calm down when we are anxious or stressed. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for our ‘fight or flight response that was mentioned earlier, breathing helps us to manage and calm that sympathetic nervous system eventually reducing the feeling of anxiety

There are breathing exercises you can use just a few minutes before your speech that will help you control your anxious thoughts.

Just take a deep breath, hold it in for 4-5 seconds, release it, and continue doing this for 5 minutes. That’s it! That’s all you need to do to physically relax your body. While doing this breathing exercise try not to think about your speech. Just let it go.

a woman performing breathing exercises before speech

Few other things you can keep in mind before giving your speech

Get a good night’s sleep.

Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California conducted a study to see the association between sleep and anxiety. According to that research, insufficient sleep affects our emotional regulation and increases anxiety by 30%.

Hydrate yourself before going onto the stage

Not being hydrated enough can lead to dizziness and confusion. Also, make sure you’ve eaten enough.

Eye contact

Do not directly maintain eye contact with the audience. It might not be the case with everyone but it is possible that locking eyes with someone in the audience can further add to our anxiety. Instead, you can just move your eyes around the room or focus on something else like a chair or desk.

Body language

If your body language is powerful and confident, it signals your brain that everything is okay and you got this.

To get a better understanding of how our body language on stage influences our speech, check out this article that we’ve written- 5 Body Language Tips To Command The Stage

BUT what if, despite doing all this, you are still not able to shake off the feeling of nervousness?

I remember 2 months back when I had to give a small presentation in front of my professor and my classmates, even though I had prepared and knew exactly what I had to talk about still, my legs couldn’t stop shaking throughout the presentation. It was not because of my lack of preparation or my not being confidence about the material.

I realized that this fear was something that I had internalized deep into my mind and that no matter how many breathing exercises or preparations I did, I was not able to manage my anxiety.

While there are short-term things that you can do to help you with your anxiety on stage, there are things that you can do that will help you overcome the anxiety of public speaking internally and help understand the root cause of the nervousness and physical trembling while speaking.

These are some of the tips that I personally use whenever I know I might have to speak in front of an audience.

And yes, It is not something that can be achieved in a day or two, overcoming the anxiety of public speaking will take some time but it will help you get rid of it internally which will be helpful in the long run.

Long-term Tips and Tricks to Stop Shaking During a Speech

Prepare your subconscious .

Our subconscious mind is the storehouse of every experience, every memory, every feeling, and every skill, it includes everything that we might have seen or done in our life from the

the moment we are born.

Even though we cannot see or physically witness our subconscious mind, it pretty much runs our life, emotions, and whatever we do. Our subconscious mind communicates with the conscious mind based on the information that it receives from our senses and emotions. That is how our negative or positive self-talk and emotions towards something or some situation directly affect how we perceive them.

When it comes to public speaking, we have internalized that fear into our subconscious so much over the years that even if we do small and simple practices like breathing and exercising it does not really help and we still end up shivering and feeling nervous whenever we have to speak in front of an audience because we keep on telling ourselves so many negative stories- “They might think I am an idiot”, “I don’t think I am prepared enough”, “I will be so embarrassed if I mess up my speech” etc.

Again, the best part is that we can overcome these internalized fears.

There are a few daily practices that we can do to gradually deal with our anxiety about public speaking.

Affirmation

Through daily positive affirmations, we consciously try to give a message to our subconscious minds. It challenges and changes our negative thought processes into more positive ones.

All you have to do is listen to any audio which includes all the affirmative sentences related to public speaking while you sleep. There are various audio available on the internet and on youtube, one of the youtube audios is linked here . You can also write down these sentences and then read them aloud a few times.

These are my favorite tricks that I use to overcome any kind of anxiety I face, be it nervousness related to exams, socializing, and of course public speaking.

You can especially practice this a few days before you know you have to speak in front of an audience and it REALLY helps!

Identify the cause of your fears

It is important to Identify why you feel scared and what is causing it.

Is it a particular experience? What is it that you internalized throughout your life?

For example, when I was in 8th grade I had to give a small speech in front of my classmates and teacher. I think I was not able to frame my sentence properly or I fumbled while talking, my friends and teacher started laughing and making fun of me. Since that experience I have internalized the fear of going through it again and whenever I had to talk in front of an audience, no matter how much I had prepared, out of fear of getting laughed at again I used to experience severe anxiety resulting in trembling, shivering and blanking out.

When we recognize where our fear is coming from, we can challenge and work on them.

Back to the example, now that I knew where my fears were coming from I was able to reason with myself, maybe it was just that one time or that every time I have to give a speech, it’s not necessary that I will have the same kind of audience.

Changing perspective

-Before you prepare for your speech and go onto the stage, it is important to keep in mind that even if you feel anxious and your legs and voice starts to tremble, there is nothing wrong with that!!

Keep some faith in your audience and know that even they understand how terrifying it can be to speak on stage. Public speaking is something everyone gets anxious about. Even the most experienced speakers get nervous before talking in front of an audience.

If you blank out while speaking, what’s the worst that could happen anyway? We need to realize that most of our audience will be empathetic if we fumble.

Stop being so hard on yourself because the pressure of what ‘might’ happen makes us feel anxious.

-Don’t think of your speech as a one-way conversation, instead think about it in a way that you are having back and forth with your audience, this will make you feel less nervous because you will know they are not just there to listen to you but also interact with you.

For example, you can ask questions to your audience, try to have a small conversation with them, or pose a rhetorical question. In this way, you know you are engaging with them in some or the other way.

Knowing your content

This is the most important point to keep in mind, and I can’t stress it enough.

If you are thoroughly prepared for your speech, even if you start shaking or get nervous you will be able to deliver at least something to your audience.

Focus on serving your audience

Whenever we are speaking in front of an audience or giving a presentation, we tend to make the whole thing about ourselves, and by doing that we make a big deal of the whole experience that pressurizes us and we end up shaking and getting anxious.

But it is never about us, we need to focus on the audience and how we are serving them, and how we can deliver what we know in such a way that might help them.

Because we put pressure on ourselves, we start thinking and worrying about how we will do, and eventually, anxiety kicks in.

Shot of a young woman delivering a presentation with confidence

Along with the tips and tricks mentioned above, there are a few other practices you can inculcate in your routine. We’ve written an article on – Simple Yet Effective DAILY Public Speaking Exercises . Check it out to know what other activities and exercises you can do to improve your public speaking and ease your anxiety.

To Summarise,

If you have prepared the best you could have and you know what you are going to talk about, It is okay if you even end up shaking and fumbling during a speech.

Speaking in front of an audience is not easy but it is also not impossible, with practice and experience you CAN overcome the anxiety of public speaking.

You just need to put yourself out there and practice and practice.

One way is to accept that this might happen again and again and that it is okay.

If anyone in the world can do it, then why can’t you?

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Billal Rahman | Friday 10 May 2024 16:22 BST

Israeli delegation seen laughing during UN vote on Palestine membership

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What to Do When You’re Losing Your Audience During a Presentation

Dorie Clark

Four tips for when the phones come out.

Effective speakers have to ensure that audiences are actually listening to their remarks. If you notice people starting to drift off, try four techniques: 1) Move around the room. You don’t want to overdo this maneuver, but used judiciously, it keeps audience members guessing where you’ll go next, which means their eyes are trained on you. 2) Speed up or slow down the pace of your remarks. When you deliberately change speed, people take note. 3) Lower your voice. So often, the impulse when people aren’t paying attention is to go louder, faster, and noisier. Go for the unexpected and get quiet. 4) Introduce a story or analogy. If your presentation has gotten too technical, citing a real-world parallel can help make your point in a way everyone can understand.

You can tell when an audience has stopped listening to you during a presentation. Phones come out, and attendees surreptitiously text underneath the table. Instead of leaning forward and nodding along with your points, they begin slouching or tapping their feet. The more brazen may even start whispering to one another.

Dorie Clark is a marketing strategist and keynote speaker who teaches at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. Her latest book is The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World (HBR Press, 2021) and you can receive her free Long Game strategic thinking self-assessment .

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Trump trial recap: Judge tells prosecutors to ask Michael Cohen to stop commenting on Trump

Judge Juan Merchan told prosecutors to ask Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen to stop commenting publicly on Trump or the former president's criminal hush money trial on Friday afternoon. Trump's lawyers argued that it was unfair to Trump that he is under a gag order not to talk about the participation of potential witnesses such as Cohen, but Cohen is free to talk about him.

Earlier in the day, Merchan ruled in favor of the defense team when he barred the prosecution from showing jurors a video of Trump boasting in 1999 about his knowledge about campaign finance laws. Prosecutors wanted to use the video to demonstrate that Trump knew Cohen's hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels was an illegal contribution to his 2016 campaign, but Merchan agreed with Trump's lawyer that the video was too old.

On Friday, jurors were shown a series of 2016 text messages between Daniels' former manager, Gina Rodriguez, and ex-editor of the National Enquirer, Dylan Howard . The messages included Rodriguez telling Howard that Daniels was Trump's mistress and Howard responding that he bet she was.

Keep up with USA TODAY's live updates from inside and outside the Manhattan courtroom:

Trump: lack of gag order on Michael Cohen a ‘disgrace’

Former President Donald Trump complained after leaving the courtroom for the week that Judge Juan Merchan hadn’t put a gag order on his former lawyer, Michael Cohen , who is expected to be a key witness next week.

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Cohen has been harshly critical of Trump since being imprisoned for lying on his behalf and for paying $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels to remain quiet before the 2016 election. She testified about allegedly having sex with Trump while he was married in 2006.

Trump has bristled about Cohen and Daniels insulting him through social media while he was unable to respond. Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, asked Merchan to gag Cohen.

“There is no gag order to Michael Cohen,” Trump said. “Everybody can say whatever they want, they can say whatever they want, but I’m not allowed to say anything about anybody. It’s a disgrace.”

– Bart Jansen

Michael Cohen to be asked to stop talking about Trump case

Just before the early end of proceedings today, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked Judge Juan Merchan to issue a gag order against former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen , who is expected to testify next week. Blanche argued Merchan has the ability to do that for witnesses as well as for a criminal defendant.

Blanche said the order should instruct Cohen not to talk about Trump or the case until the case is over. He argued it's unfair that Cohen can attack Trump and Trump, because of the gag order he is under, isn't allowed to respond.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said his team has repeatedly told all witnesses, not just Cohen, to refrain from making public statements. Because they aren't under a gag order, the prosecution has "no remedy" if the witnesses keep talking anyway, Steinglass said. "We have already asked. We have no power to order," Steinglass added.

"I would direct the People to communicate to Mr. Cohen that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements about this case" or about Mr. Trump, Merchan told the prosecution team. He said to tell Cohen that message "comes from the bench" and that the prosecution is "communicating that on behalf of the bench."

– Aysha Bagchi

Judge wants prosecutors to try to call Allen Weisselberg to testify

Prosecutor Christopher Conroy said the prosecution is willing – if the defense agreed to it – to simply tell jurors former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg is in jail for perjury . That would be "one way to solve the problem," Conroy added.

Judge Juan Merchan smirked at that. The defense didn't indicate it would agree.

Merchan didn't issue a ruling on whether prosecutors may introduce the agreement involving Weisselberg into evidence. But he said it would be helpful to his decision and "a factor" if he could see that some efforts were made to compel Weisselberg to testify.

Merchan worried that there was a desire to "jump the gun" by explaining why Weisselberg is not at the trial without trying to get him here. He suggested prosecutors could put Weisselberg on the stand outside of the jury's presence to establish whether his testimony is or isn't available.

"Let me think about it," Merchan also said.

Prosecution and Trump team fight over Weisselberg evidence

The prosecution and defense have been arguing over whether the judge should allow jurors to learn about an agreement involving Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg . Weisselberg is currently serving a five-month jail term for committing perjury in Trump's New York civil fraud case.

The agreement wasn't shown to the audience in the courtroom, but prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said the agreement seems to put Weisselberg at risk of losing $750,000 in severance pay if he speaks to the prosecution.

Prosecutors want to introduce the agreement to explain why Weisselberg isn't testifying in this trial.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove argued the agreement isn't relevant and creates undue prejudice for Trump. He said if either the prosecution or the defense called Weisselberg as a witness, Weisselberg "would likely invoke." That may have been a reference to invoking the constitutional right against self-incrimination.

When will Trump trial end?

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said the prosecution expects to call potentially two witnesses, and that it's "entirely possible" the prosecution will rest its case by the end of next week.

Merchan has already announced there won't be proceedings on Friday, May 17, to allow Trump to attend his youngest son Barron Trump's high school graduation.

It's the defense's choice whether to put on its own defense once the prosecution rests. There will still be closing arguments in the case and jury deliberations before a verdict.

Before the trial started, a court media advisory estimated the trial would last between six and eight weeks.

Judge invites lawyers to make jury instruction requests

Jurors have been dismissed for the day, but Judge Juan Merchan is continuing to discuss issues with the jurors. Merchan said he will hold a conference with the lawyers later to go over the instructions he will ultimately give to the jurors before they begin their deliberations. But Merchan invited the lawyers to start bringing to his attention any requests for special instructions.

Jarmel-Schneider's testimony ends

Paralegal Jarmel-Schneider's testimony has concluded. Trump lawyer Emil Bove's cross-examination went into some records being excluded in the prosecution's presentation of evidence to jurors.

Jurors and audience laugh at paralegal enjoying 'tedious work'

Trump lawyer Emil Bove has begun cross-examining Jarmel-Schneider. He asked the paralegal if his preparation of summary documents for jurors was "tedious work"? Jarmel-Schneider said it "could be," but "honestly, I kind of enjoyed it." Many people chuckled or laughed in the courtroom, including several jurors.

Chart shows invoices, vouchers, and checks for each count in Trump indictment

Jarmel-Schneider testified about a chart that has been shown to show jurors. It contains the invoices, vouchers, and checks that the prosecution says are linked to each count in the 34-count indictment against Trump.

There are 11 invoices associated with the 34 counts as well as one voucher for every month in 2017, Jarmel-Schneider. There are also checks associated with 11 of the counts in the indictment, he said.

Prosecution providing summaries of phone calls to jurors

Jarmel-Schneider described summaries that have been prepared for jurors of calls between many people associated with this case, as well as calls involving the Trump Organization. Here's the full list of those involved in the calls:

Michael Cohen
Keith Davidson
Dylan Howard
David Pecker
Keith Schiller
Allen Weisselberg
Gina Rodriguez
Trump Organization
Donald Trump

Witness Jaden Jarmel-Schneider prepared documents on phone calls

The prosecution has called Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, another paralegal in its office. Jarmel-Schneider said he prepared documents designed to give the jury a sense of how the prosecution figured out which phone numbers are associated with which people when it comes to call records in the case.

Jurors see texts between Stormy Daniels' manager and National Enquirer editor

Jurors were shown a series of 2016 text messages between Stormy Daniels' former manager, Gina Rodriguez, and ex-editor of the National Enquirer, Dylan Howard .

The messages included Rodriguez telling Howard that Stormy Daniels was Trump's mistress and Howard responding that he bet she was.

Rodriguez also said to Howard that Daniels didn't want to go on the record with her story – meaning put her name behind the story – but would tell the story through a separate source.

Rodriguez said Daniels had sex with Trump and wanted $100,000. Rodriguez said Trump had promised Daniels a condo and a spot on The Apprentice, but never did anything for her. She said Daniels met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament.

Jurors see Trump tweets on 'fine person' Michael Cohen

Longstreet testified about a series of tweets Trump posted on April 21, 2018 about his former lawyer, Michael Cohen . Trump said The New York Times and its reporter, Maggie Haberman, were "going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will 'flip.'"Trump described Cohen as "a fine person with a wonderful family," and someone "who I have always liked & respected.

"Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble even if ... it means lying or making up stories. Sorry I don't see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!" Trump also posted.

Georgia Longstreet, Manhattan DA paralegal, testifying

Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, has taken the stand for the second time in this trial. She testified earlier about several Trump social media posts .

Judge sides with Trump on excluding 1999 campaign finance comments

After a short morning break, Judge Merchan said he's siding with the defense team over whether the prosecution can show jurors a video of Trump commenting in 1999 on his knowledge about campaign finance laws. Merchan expressed concerns about how old the comments are, saying they ask a jury to draw an inference about Trump's knowledge many years later, and "that's a lot of speculation."

Trump wants his old comments on campaign finance laws kept out of trial

Just before a short morning break was taken, Trump lawyer Emil Bove asked Judge Merchan about excluding from evidence a 1999 video of Trump commenting on campaign finance laws.

“I think nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do because I’m the biggest contributor,” Trump said at the time.

Bove argued that, whatever Trump said in 1999 about his knowledge of campaign finance laws doesn't prove something relevant about his knowledge in 2017, because there were extensive changes to those laws in the interim.

Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold responded that the corporate contribution ban, which she said is the relevant legal provision when it comes to the video, has been part of campaign finance law since 1907. She added that's close to 100 years before Trump's "admission in that video."

Merchan said he will rule later.

Allen Weisselberg phone records introduced

The prosecution got phone records introduced into the evidence through their latest witness, Verizon employee Jennie Tomalin. The records state that they are associated with Allen Weisselberg , the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. Weisselberg is currently incarcerated for committing perjury during Trump's New York civil fraud trial.

The prosecution and defense only had brief questions for Tomalin, focused on how to read the records. She has now left the witness stand.

Who is Jennie Tomalin?

Jennie Tomalin has been called to the witness stand. She is a Verizon employee who also appears to have been brought to testify so the prosecution can introduce phone records into evidence.

Rick Scott defends Donald Trump outside the courtroom

Rick Scott , a Republican senator up for reelection in Florida, attended the trial Thursday. While Trump remains under a gag order, his allies in the GOP do not face the same restrictions. Scott stood by Trump as he addressed reporters outside Manhattan criminal court, suggesting the lead prosecutor has political motivations.

“I’m here because I’ve known Donald Trump a long time. I knew him before I was governor. I consider him a friend. And what he is going through is just despicable,” Scott said.

– Rachel Barber

Dixon confirms phone records don't show who did the talking, if call was pocket dial

Asked by Trump lawyer Emil Bove if the AT&T records show who was speaking during a phone call, Dixon confirmed they don't. Dixon also agreed they don't show if a call was an unintended "pocket dial."

Bove ended his cross-examination soon after that, and the prosecution had no further questions for Dixon.

Stormy Daniels knocks Trump on X, saying real men take a stand in court

Porn star Stormy Daniels, who gave riveting testimony this week about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump in his hush money trial, fired back at the former president on X, formerly Twitter, after his legal team’s request for a mistrial based on her testimony was denied twice.

“Real men respond to testimony by being sworn in and taking the stand in court. Oh…wait. Nevermind,” Daniels wrote on X.

The tweet also comes after Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked Judge Juan Merchan to modify Trump’s gag order so he could respond to Daniels’ testimony. Merchan also denied that request.

Trump has previously attacked Daniels, calling her “horseface” and a “ sleaze bag.”

– Sudiksha Kochi

Trump lawyer Emil Bove questioning AT&T witness

Trump lawyer Emil Bove is now asking Dixon questions on cross-examination.

AT&T witness helps prosecutors introduce phone records

The prosecution quickly ended its questions for Dixon, which appear geared toward getting evidence of phone records admitted. The phone records involve former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who the prosecution indicated in opening statements will be testifying in the trial.

Who is Daniel Dixon?

A new witness, Daniel Dixon, has been called to the witness stand. He is a lead compliance analyst who helps with complying with legal demands at AT&T.

Westerhout talked with Trump's lawyer Wednesday night

Trump lawyer Susan Necheles ended her cross-examination and prosecutor Rebecca Mangold noted Necheles hadn't asked Westerhout if she had spoken with Necheles before. Mangold then posed that question to Westerhout, who said she spoke with Necheles once before, on Wednesday night.

That question may have been designed to plant the idea in the jury's mind that Westerhout is friendly with the defense team, including in the run-up to her testimony, even though she is a witness called by the prosecution.

When Mangold finished her brief follow-up questions for Westerhout, Necheles asked Westerhout whether she had met with the prosecution previously. Westerhout said she has met with the prosecution three times, has met with them for hours, and the most recent meeting was Wednesday morning.

Westerhout statement about Stormy Daniels and Trump's concern for family stricken from court record

Westerhout testified that her memory of Trump's reaction to a story that Stormy Daniels got a hush money deal concerning him is "that he was very upset by it." Westerhout added: "He knew it would be hurtful to his family."

However, Westerhout also said: "I don't believe he specifically said that, but I could just tell the whole situation was very unpleasant." Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold then objected to Westerhout's testimony, likely based on her not having a proper foundation to say Trump was upset because he knew the story was hurtful to his family. Judge Merchan sustained the objection and struck Westerhout's answer from the court record.

Westerhout says long-time Trump Organization assistant careful with Trump's money

Trump lawyer Susan Necheles asked Westerhout whether it was true that Rhona Graff , Trump's long-time assistant at the Trump Organization, was "very careful about not wanting to spend the president's money without his approval." Westerhout agreed that was true, and that Trump would often times approve expenses for Graff simply by writing "Pay."

Westerhout's lawyer showed her materials this morning that Trump lawyer is asking about

Trump lawyer Susan Necheles is asking Westerhout about some materials that haven't been shown to the jury. Prosecutor Rebecca Mangold interjected to ask about Westerhout's familiarity with them. Westerhout said she was familiar and, on further questioning, explained that her lawyer showed them to her this morning. Yesterday, Westerhout said she has counsel who is representing her for free in this trial.

It's unclear why Westerhout's lawyer reviewed materials with her this morning that Trump's defense is now asking her about.

Following Westerhout's statement about the review this morning, Mangold objected to Trump's team introducing the evidence. After a private conversation between the lawyers and Judge Merchan at the bench, Merchan said he was denying Trump's motion to introduce the evidence.

Questioning has now moved on.

Lawyers in lengthy private conversation with judge

Trump lawyer Susan Necheles has begun cross-examining Madeleine Westerhout again today, but the lawyers just had a lengthy private conversation with the judge at his bench.

The conversation followed prosecutor Rebecca Mangold making an objection, after Necheles and Westerhout were talking about Trump sending a photo to Allen Weisselberg of Trump boarding Air Force One for the first time. Weisselberg is the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, and is currently incarcerated for committing perjury in Trump's New York civil fraud trial that began in the fall.

The Air Force One photo was discussed yesterday when the prosecution was asking questions.

Trump ignores questions about whether he will testify

Former President Donald Trump ignored shouted questions from reporters outside the courtroom about whether he would testify at his New York hush money trial.

But he promoted a Saturday political rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, where he said he would be able to campaign for president despite the “horrible gag order” that prevents him from commenting on witnesses or jurors participating in the case.

Merchan rejects Trump subpoena request for former prosecutor as ‘fishing expedition’

Judge Juan Merchan rejected a request from Trump’s defense team to subpoena Mark Pomerantz , a former prosecutor who criticized District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s handling of the investigation, calling it an illegitimate “fishing expedition.”

Pomerantz complained that Bragg was reluctant to pursue charges, although a grand jury eventually indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

Trump has argued that other investigators, including Bragg’s predecessor as district attorney and the Justice Department, declined to press charges after reviewing the same evidence.

Merchan ruled that Trump’s request was too broad and sought evidence that he’s not allowed to have about how prosecutors prepared their case.

“Defendant's Second and Third Requests are far too broad and amount to an improper fishing expedition into general discovery,” Merchan ruled.

Will Karen McDougal testify?

The prosecution said Thursday that Karen McDougal won't testify. McDougal is a former Playboy model who was paid $150,000 from the parent company of the National Enquirer, in a deal to stay quiet ahead of the 2016 election about an alleged Trump affair.

Americans views on sex work could affect Stormy Daniels’ credibility

American society’s strong puritanical roots have long kept sex and sex work taboo subjects, despite a widespread use of pornography. However, experts say Americans’ perceptions are beginning to change, which could make a difference in how credible they view Stormy Daniels.

The percentage of Americans who found pornography morally acceptable jumped from 36% in 2017 to 43% in 2018, according to a Gallup poll . That number remained relatively flat at 41% in 2022.

The New York Times reported that Trump’s lawyer Susan Necheles referenced Daniels’ occupation to challenge her credibility. “You have a lot of experience in making phony stories about sex appear to be real,” Necheles said.

“That’s not how I would put it,” Daniels replied. “The sex in the films is very much real, just like what happened to me in that room.”

– Charles Trepany and Rachel Barber

Who is Susan Necheles?

Susan Necheles is a seasoned New York criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor. She cross-examined Stormy Daniels earlier this week, and she is also due to continue cross-examining former White House aide Madeleine Westerhout later today.

Is Trump on trial today?

Yes. Proceedings in Trump's trial are scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. EDT. Madeleine Westerhout, a former White House aide, is slated to re-take the witness stand for more cross-examination by Trump lawyer Susan Necheles.

What is Stormy Daniels' real name? Stephanie Clifford.

Stormy Daniels' real name is Stephanie Clifford. When she introduced herself in court earlier this week, as all witnesses do when they take the stand, she called herself Stormy Daniels. On questioning by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger, she acknowledged that her real name is Stephanie Clifford, but said she prefers to go by Stormy Daniels at the proceedings.

Why does Stormy Daniels owe Trump money?

A California judge ordered Stormy Daniels to pay Trump's legal fees after she filed a defamation lawsuit against him. She testified that her former lawyer, Michael Avenatti, wanted to file the lawsuit. He is now in prison for embezzlement and other crimes.

The defamation claim Daniels made wasn't based on her and Trump's dispute over whether they had sex in 2006. It had to do with a Trump tweet about a sketch of a different man who Daniels said threatened her in a parking lot in 2011 to keep quiet about Trump.

Trump has sued Daniels in Florida to get the money, but she still hasn't paid, she testified.

Who is Madeleine Westerhout?

Madeleine Westerhout served as an assistant to Donald Trump during the beginning of his presidency before becoming director of Oval Office operations.

Westerhout broke down crying on the witness stand Thursday as she described being fired from her last role in the White House. Westerhout got in trouble for making off-the-record comments to reporters about Trump's children that the then-president described as "hurtful."

The prosecution had Westerhout show jurors where she used to work on a map of the White House – she sat in a room adjacent to the Oval Office. She testified Thursday that she was involved in the process of receiving checks from the Trump Organization that required Trump's signature. Some of the allegedly falsified records in Trump's hush money case are checks prosecutors say Trump signed as he paid his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, while he allegedly misdescribed what the checks were for.

Stormy Daniels’ depiction in courtroom sketches captures attention

Stormy Daniels' testimony in Donald Trump’s hush money trial Tuesday included plenty of details but it was the court artist's sketch of the former adult film star that captured the internet's attention.

Many agreed that she looked older in the drawing than she actually looked, while others poked fun at Daniels outright.

There seemed to be a difference between the way the sketch artist thought Daniels looked and how everyone else saw her, a difference noted by several people across multiple posts on X, formerly Twitter.

– Amaris Encinas , Sudiksha Kochi

Why did Trump ask for a mistrial and to change the gag order?

On Thursday, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche made zealous pleas for a mistrial and for a modified gag order based on Stormy Daniels' testimony. He said that some of her testimony was basically a "dog whistle for rape" – even though Daniels insisted she hadn't been physically threatened .

Blanche pointed to portions of Daniels' testimony where she described feeling light-headed, being aware of a power imbalance, and knowing Trump's bodyguard was nearby.

Blanche also characterized parts of Daniels' story as "completely different in kind" from earlier accounts – a claim the prosecution disputed.

Judge Juan Merchan said he wouldn't modify the gag order because he's concerned not just about witnesses who have already testified, but also about potential witnesses who could see Trump's attacks on others and be impacted. He described Trump's comments about people tied to his legal cases as "vitriol," adding: "Your client's track record speaks for itself."

Merchan also said Blanche made Daniels' credibility an issue when he called her claims about a sexual encounter false during his opening statement. The prosecution had the right to rehabilitate her credibility by going into her story after Blanche had "immediately attacked it," Merchan said.

What did Stormy Daniels say in court?

Stormy Daniels showed Thursday that she's no shrinking violet, even as she was hammered by an aggressive cross-examination. Trump lawyer Susan Necheles tried to portray Daniels' story as changing between iterations, and portray Daniels herself as money-grubbing.

Daniels pushed back as Necheles raised possible inconsistencies in her story, such as Daniels saying Trump approached her about dinner in one telling, and that Trump's bodyguard approached her on Trump's behalf in another. Daniels replied that Trump and his bodyguard are a unit.

When Daniels characterized her decision to participate in a hush money deal in 2016 as about staying safe, Necheles said it was really about Daniels' bottom line.

"You chose to make money, right?" Necheles said.

"I chose to take the non-disclosure," Daniels responded.

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Katt williams calls for reparations during ‘woke foke’ netflix live comedy special.

The show was opened by a handful of acts including Mo'Nique and Mark Curry.

By DeMicia Inman

DeMicia Inman

Staff Writer, News

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After kicking off 2024 with a viral appearance on Club Shay Sha y with Shannon Sharpe, Katt Williams carries his momentum with the Dark Matter Tour . As the cross-country trek continues, the comedian made a stop in California to film for fans unable to see his stand-up routine live.

Taking a seat at 6:00 p.m. PT, an hour before the main event, VIBE caught three sets from Tacarra Williams, Mark Curry , and Mo’Nique. While these performances were not aired, the level of laughter from the in-theater audience eclipsed some of the later reactions to the headliner.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Netflix US (@netflix)

Williams kept the audience laughing with jokes about parenthood, having teenage and adult children, and the ups and downs of dating older men. Curry followed up with a hilarious stand-up about seasoned strip clubs, Los Angeles, and his dating life.

Mo’Nique was the last opener before Katt Williams and kept the same energy regarding her feelings about Oprah Winfrey as the media mogul caught the blunt end of many of the comedian’s jokes. Telling the crowd “we gotta bring this bi**h” back, Mo’Nique also ragged on journalist Gayle King, sharing the hashtag #StaleGayleWashHerTail.

Her set continued to comedic bits on oral sex, marriage, religion, and more.

still running #KattWilliamsLive pic.twitter.com/5BuSgqIVwC — Strong Black Lead (@strongblacklead) May 5, 2024

Kevin Hart Hosts ‘The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady’ Netflix Special

At 7:00 p.m. PT on the dot, Katt Williams burst on stage, running back and forth to a standing ovation. The Ohio native launched his nearly hour-long presentation, with high energy and high expectations from ticketholders. Using visual aids and a stool as his props, the lights dimmed and it was officially showtime.

“They can’t threaten me, I’m already scared… the f**k,” joked Williams as he began to lay down what he refers to as the truth.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Netflix Is A Joke (@netflixisajoke)

Williams had jokes for a wide range of people from celebrity musicians and transgender athletes, to a blind child who was the subject of a past news special. Subjects included Carlee Russell , Nick Cannon, Robert De Niro, Jamie Foxx, Donald Trump, Lizzo, Trick Daddy, Tory Lanez, and more. He also made sure to touch on Hollywood’s biggest drug craze: Ozempic.

“We just gave $100 billion to the Ukraine. And God bless the Ukrainians. But off the record? We don’t know them n***as like that! You could’ve gave that money to Black people. The f**k!”

The 2024 Netflix Is A Joke Fest continues through May 12 with over 300 live stand-up shows, special events, table reads, sketches, and more from rising stars, living legends, and every caliber of comedian in between. Take a look at the trailer for Katt Williams: Woke Foke below.

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Politics latest: Keir Starmer accused of 'rank hypocrisy' by Rishi Sunak after setting out what he'll do to tackle small boat crossings

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer lays out his party's plans to try and tackle small boat crossings if it wins power. Listen to the latest episode of the Electoral Dysfunction podcast as you scroll.

Friday 10 May 2024 18:30, UK

Starmer says small boat crossings 'one of the greatest challenges we face'
Explained: What's in Labour's plan to try and tackle problem
Darren McCaffrey: Will Labour's plan cut it with voters?
Starmer says no flights to Rwanda will take off under Labour
Sunak accuses Starmer of 'rank hypocrisy'
Electoral Dysfunction: Jess Phillips says Elphicke defection like 'being punched in gut'
UK exits recession | Economy 'returning to full health'
Faultlines: Can British farming survive?
Live reporting by Tim Baker

Across the UK, anger is brewing amongst some farmers.

Protests have already been held in London, Dover and Cardiff, with more planned - mirroring similar tensions seen across Europe in the last six months.

They say they’re annoyed about cheap foreign imports and changes to subsidies forcing them to give up land in favour of environmental schemes.

But what does this mean for the food on our table - and does British produce risk becoming a luxury product for the wealthy only?

On the Sky News Daily , Niall Paterson is joined by West of England and Wales correspondent Dan Whitehead to find out why farmers are so concerned, and speaks to Liz Webster, the founder of Save British Farming, about why she believes eating British isn't just good for our farmers - it's good for the nation's health, too.

In response to our report, Farming Minister Mark Spencer, said: "We firmly back our farmers. British farming is at the heart of British trade, and we put agriculture at the forefront of any deals we negotiate, prioritising new export opportunities, protecting UK food standards and removing market access barriers.

"We've maintained the £2.4bn annual farming budget and recently set out the biggest ever package of grants which supports farmers to produce food profitably and sustainably."

The Welsh government said: "A successful future for Welsh farming should combine the best of our traditional farming alongside cutting-edge innovation and diversification.

"It will produce the very best of Welsh food to the highest standards, while safeguarding our precious environment and addressing the urgent call of the climate and nature emergencies."

👉 Listen above then tap here to follow the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts 👈

Following the defection of the Dover and Deal MP Natalie Elphicke to Labour, Beth, Ruth and Jess discuss the surprise move and whether it could have been handled differently by Sir Keir Starmer.

They also talk about Beth's interview with the former immigration minister Robert Jenrick and his warnings about Reform UK.

Plus, how significant was the defeat of former Conservative mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street? Beth and Jess were both there to tell the story.

And they answer a question on Labour and the Muslim vote, and what the party can do to restore confidence and trust.

Email Beth, Jess, and Ruth at [email protected] , post on X to @BethRigby, or send a WhatsApp voice note on 07934 200 444.

👉 Listen above then tap here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts 👈

In January 2023, Rishi Sunak made five promises.

Since then, he and his ministers have rarely missed an opportunity to list them. In case you haven't heard, he promised to:

• Halve inflation • Grow the economy • Reduce debt • Cut NHS waiting lists and times • Stop the boats

See below how he is doing on these goals:

The Sky News live poll tracker - collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team - aggregates various surveys to indicate how voters feel about the different political parties.

With the local elections complete, Labour is still sitting comfortably ahead, with the Tories trailing behind.

See the latest update below - and you can read more about the methodology behind the tracker here .

Speaking to Sky political editor Beth Rigby , Sir Keir Starmer has defended his decision to allow Tory MP Natalie Elphicke into Labour.

Ms Elphicke was on the right of the Conservative spectrum, and previously defended her sex-offender ex-husband, comments which she apologised for this week following her defection.

Addressing Tory voters, Sir Keir says he wants Labour to be a "place where they who have ambitions about their families, their communities, their country, can join and be part of what we are trying to build for their country".

Asked by Beth if he was ruthless, Sir Keir said: "Yes, I'm ruthless in trying to ensure we have a Labour government that can change this country for the better.

"Not ruthless for my own ambition, not ruthlessness particularly for the Labour Party - I'm ruthless for the country.

"The only way we'll bring about a change in this country is if we're ruthless about winning that general election and putting in place a government of public service, that’ll be a major change.

"Politics, I believe, should be about public service, that's what I've been about all my life."

More now from political editor Beth Rigby's interview with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

She reminded him that he previously ruled out doing a deal with the SNP - but has not done so for the Liberal Democrats.

Sir Keir again ruled out a coalition with the SNP - adding that he is aiming for a "majority Labour government".

He says Labour needs "to keep working hard, keep disciplined and getting our message across, which is something fundamental to me".

Pushed on his lack of ruling out a possible agreement with the Lib Dems, Sir Keir says: "I'm going for a majority.

"That's the answer I gave you a year ago. It's the same answer I'm giving you now."

Sir Keir Starmer was earlier today pushed on whether Rwanda deportation flights will take off if he was prime minister - although it was not clear if he would cancel flights which had already been organised.

Sky News understood that previously booked deportation flights to Rwanda would still go ahead if Sir Keir entered Number 10.

But the Labour leader has now gone further.

Speaking to political editor Beth Rigby , Sir Keir has ruled out any flights taking off.

"There will be no flights scheduled or taking off after general election if Labour wins that general election," he says.

He says: "Every flight that takes off carries with it a cheque to the Rwanda government.

"So I want to scrap the scheme - so that means the flights won't be going."

Sir Keir says he would rather spend the money on his own measures to counter small boats.

"No flights, no Rwanda scheme. It's a gimmick," he says.

By Alix Culbertson , political reporter

Scotland's new first minister has told Sky News that the controversial gender recognition reforms "cannot be implemented."

John Swinney, who became first minister this week , has faced questions over his stance on gender recognition after MSPs voted in 2022 to pass a bill to make it simpler for people to change their gender without having to obtain a medical diagnosis.

The UK government blocked the bill from being made into law and the Supreme Court rejected a request by the Scottish government for a judicial review.

Asked if he would be fighting to push the bill through, Mr Swinney told Sky News: "The reality of the situation we face is that the Supreme Court has said that we can't legislate in that area. We can't take forward that legislation."

The UK economy is no longer in recession, according to official figures.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by a better-than-expected 0.6% between January and March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Economists had predicted the figure would be 0.4%.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it showed the economy had "turned a corner".

He told Sky News's Ed Conway: "I am pleased that while there's more work to do, today's figures show that the economy now has real momentum, and I'm confident that with time, people will start to feel the benefits of that.

"We've had multiple months now where wages are rising, energy bills have fallen, mortgage rates are down and taxes are being cut... I'm pleased with the progress that we're making."

Mr Sunak added: "I am confident the economy is getting healthier every week."

You can read more here:

Rishi Sunak has criticised Sir Keir Starmer's position on Rwanda as "rank hypocrisy".

Speaking to broadcasters, the prime minister says the Labour leader has announced things the government is "already doing".

He gives the example of "punching through the backlog, having more law enforcement officers do more, that's all happening already".

"We've announced all of that more than a year ago," the prime minister adds.

"The question for Keir Starmer if he cares so much about that, why did he vote against the new laws that we passed to give our law enforcement officers new powers?

"They've now used those to arrest almost 8,000 people connected with illegal migration, sentenced them to hundreds of years in prison.

"And if it was up to him, all those people would be out on our streets, so I think it's rank hypocrisy property of his position."

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3 Ways to Stop Laughing After Every Comment
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3 Ways to Stop Laughing After Every Comment
Laughter: The Best Cure for a Boring Presentation

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How to deal with presentation stress and anxiety #shorts
When you're doing a presentation but your friends are watching

COMMENTS

Present a PowerPoint Without Laughing?
Clearly, there is a compelling need to not laugh, and laughing may prevent the success of your presentation. So you owe it to yourself to not laugh. After all, you do want your presentation to be a success. Visualize Somber Thoughts. Think about something that's moderately sad. And think that by not laughing, you are showing your support for ...
How To Stop Laughing During A Presentation
One strategy is to focus on your breathing during your presentation. By taking deep breaths and focusing on your breath, you can help to calm your nerves and reduce the likelihood of laughing uncontrollably. Another strategy is to pause before responding to questions or comments from your audience.
3 Ways to Stop Laughing at Inappropriate Times
Close your eyes and repeat a mantra. Think about a word or saying that focuses you, such as "calm" or "breathe.". Maintain this for 5 minutes a day, allowing thoughts to come and go without focusing on them or passing judgment. Simply breathe and return to your mantra. Do a body scan.
How to overcome presentation anxiety: 15 mindful techniques
5. Adopt a positive mindset. Actively work to replace negative self-talk with positive affirmations. Remind yourself of your strengths, past successes, and the value of the information you're sharing. A positive mindset can improve your self-esteem and reduce the impact of presentation anxiety. 6.
Stop Nervous Laughter (Simple Hacks To Control Your Awkward Laugh)
There are certain times in life when it is important to present yourself as being dignified and in control, such as during a work presentation or a funeral service. However, these also happen to be the times when this inappropriate type of laughter is likely to emerge. ... Here are some thoughts on how to stop yourself from laughing when you're ...
6 Ways to Reduce the Stress of Presenting
6 Ways to Reduce the Stress of Presenting. by. Joseph Grenny. August 31, 2015. In the past 30 years, I've given more than 3,000 speeches to audiences across the world. Presentations have been ...
How to Stop Laughing When You're Public Speaking
2. Have a good sitting or standing posture. Here, you need to avoid any funny poses that can make you laugh again or provoke others to laugh. When you use the best position, your authority and credible facts will give your audience interest in you. Ensure you are proud of your topic and take time to breathe as you relax when needed.
22 Ways to Calm Your Nerves Before a Speech or Presentation
11. Drink Water to Stay Hydrated During Your Presentation. Having a dry mouth can cause you to trip over your words, which will rev up even more nervous tension. Beginning a few days before you're scheduled to deliver your speech, increase your water intake so your words will flow easily.
15 Ways to Avoid a Public Speaking Freakout
13. Drink Water. Dry mouth is a common result of anxiety. Prevent cottonmouth blues by staying hydrated and drinking plenty of water before your talk (just don't forget to hit the bathroom before starting). Keep a bottle of water at arm's reach while presenting in case you get dry mouth while chatting up a storm.
7 Ways to Use Humor in Your Presentation
That's what jogs your audience out of its doldrums. 7. Embrace the Silence. The success of any funny comment during an in-person presentation is gauged by the laughter you get from your audience. I'd hazard a guess that even the canniest and most confident comic might be thrown by telling a joke to a crowd on mute.
8 Ways to Deliver a Great Presentation (Even If You're Super Anxious
It's likely about a fear of public humiliation rather than of public speaking. Shift the spotlight from yourself to what you have to say. Reject the voice in your head trying to destroy your ...
How to not be nervous for a presentation
And a friendly face will make the audience more open to what you're saying. 10. Remember the three "audience truths". These include: 1) for the duration of the presentation, the audience believes you're the expert, 2) they're on your side, and 3) they don't know when you make a mistake.
How To Stop Laughing In Serious Situations: 12 Things That Work
Breathe in through your nose. As you do it, count to five. Breathe out through your nose to the count of five. Repeat several times. Once you feel comfortable with breaths that last five counts, increase how long you breathe in and breathe out. You can work up to breaths that last up to 10 counts. 9.
Don't Let Anxiety Sabotage Your Next Presentation
If you want to beat speaking anxiety, you need to stop focusing on yourself and point your focus outward. This shift isn't something that can happen instantaneously. It takes time, patience, and ...
Presentation nerves
Pause, breathe, smile and make eye contact. Actively pause between paragraphs and key messages of your presentation. Pausing helps you to breathe, relax and pace the presentation. You could even start to enjoy it! Engage with your audience by making eye contact, and smiling genuinely. This will make you feel better and make your audience feel ...
Managing Presentation Nerves
Six Steps to Conquering Your Presentation Nerves. 1. Know Your Audience. Consult your audience before your presentation. The more confident you are that you're presenting them with useful and interesting material, the less nervous you'll be overall. You really don't want your presentation to be a surprise.
Nervous Laughter: Why You Do It & How to Stop It
Any time you hear yourself start to nervous laugh or feel a nervous laugh bubbling up, try one of these behaviors instead: A slow triple nod. A head tilt. Murming ahh or hmmm as you listen or are with someone. If you can, excuse yourself. This will give your body something to do to displace the nervous laughter.
How to stop laughing at the most inappropriate times
2. Call upon an all-knowing friend to ground you. And if that doesn't work, you could always have someone hold you down to keep you from laughing. No, not in a literal sense; rather, Gottsman says ...
17 Tips and Tricks to Stop Shaking and Ease your Anxiety During a
Just take a deep breath, hold it in for 4-5 seconds, release it, and continue doing this for 5 minutes. That's it! That's all you need to do to physically relax your body. While doing this breathing exercise try not to think about your speech. Just let it go.
How To Not Be Nervous for a Presentation: 19 Tips That Work
Drinking coffee will increase your heart rate and sweating and can even make your hands shake. This often gives the audience the idea that you're nervous, even if you're not. Avoid caffeine before your presentation to ensure you feel as calm and relaxed as possible. 13. Take notes during other presentations.
How to Make a Presentation More Humorous (With 7 Top ...
7. Use Analogies and Contrast. Another tip when thinking about how to add humor to a presentation is to use techniques like contrast, surprise, tension and analogies. Some of the examples shared earlier illustrate how surprise works to get attention. Here's an example of an analogy being used in a funny PowerPoint.
How to Stop Speaking Filler Words During Your Presentations
Here is how you can stop using filler words and sounds during your presentations to sound like a confident and polished presenter. On a side note, to avoid filler words during presentations you need confidence. With SlideBazaar's PowerPoint presentation templates, you can create stunning slides with the least effort.
How do I stop getting nervous when giving presentations?
First of all the more you do it tye easier it gets. The better you know the material the easier it is. You can also think of the nervousness as excitement, it is the same feeling so it might help give you confidence instead of take it away. I usually just have lots of great pictures in my presentations a few key words, this way it is ...
Israeli delegation caught laughing during UN vote on Palestine
Israeli delegates were seen laughing during a UN vote to reconsider and support the full membership of Palestine into the bloc. The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to pass the resolution ...
What to Do When You're Losing Your Audience During a Presentation
3) Lower your voice. So often, the impulse when people aren't paying attention is to go louder, faster, and noisier. Go for the unexpected and get quiet. 4) Introduce a story or analogy. If your ...
Trump trial recap: Judge wants Michael Cohen to stop comments on Trump
Asked by Trump lawyer Emil Bove if the AT&T records show who was speaking during a phone call, Dixon confirmed they don't. Dixon also agreed they don't show if a call was an unintended "pocket dial."
Katt Williams Calls For Reparations During 'Woke Foke' Netflix Live
At 7:00 p.m. PT on the dot, Katt Williams burst on stage, running back and forth to a standing ovation. The Ohio native launched his nearly hour-long presentation, with high energy and high ...
Economics majors take home the win at the 2024 Fiscal Challenge
The other teams all had six people, and some of them had additional people who helped work on their presentations but didn't come to the finals. We were just the four of us the whole time. Akash: [The format is] 15 minute presentation, 15 minute Q&A. And all of the teams are anonymous—the judges don't know who is from where.
Politics latest: Keir Starmer sets out what he'll do to tackle small
We will stop you. We will protect your victims. "With the Border Security Command, we will secure Britain's borders." This content is provided by , which may be using cookies and other ...