Everyone has adrenaline coursing through their veins before they get up in front of a crowd. It's been hard-wired into us as homo sapiens. You’ve got a range of choices on how you react to that adrenaline..
You can name it Fear, and tell yourself that you’re so frightened that you can hardly talk, or that you’re just a fraud, or that you’re a terrible speaker.
You can name it Creativity, and remind yourself that this energy serves to speed up the thinking processes in our brains. That means that your creative mind is working at warp speed, while you’re talking with mere mortals in human time. You’ll discover new insights as you speak. You’ll welcome questions as a way to explore the idea further. You’ll be a much stronger speaker..
You get to choose what you name the adrenaline – Fear or Creativity..
Likewise, at the end of a presentation, you’re tired and wired at the same time. Your brain is programmed to run through what just happened. Had you been chased by a tiger, your brain would have reviewed what went on, in order to avoid being chased by a tiger again..
How you react to your brain’s programmed behavior is your choice. You can use it to criticize yourself, tell yourself you’re a terrible speaker, and berate yourself for ever having considered speaking publicly..
Or you can use that energy and review your presentation from a creative and kind point of view. “Hmmm, I completely forgot to make that point. How can I change that slide to remind myself next time? Or, hey, it wasn’t that critical to the presentation; maybe I’ll change it to this other point.”.
You get to choose how you look back on the experience and what you learn from it..
And yes, I'm both a speaker and a coach on this kind of stuff...