In a couple of weeks, I’m opening – giving the keynote presentation for and serving as facilitator during a meeting. An important meeting: 50 people, one meeting, big objectives, no second chance. I’m already feeling butterflies.

“Breathe…. and memorize your first two sentences.”

Early-career advice shared with me as I was preparing, then, for a client presentation. At that time, before presentations, I’d feel short of breath. I’d experience dry mouth and difficulty swallowing. Hand tremors and brain fog. And, when I started presentations, I would speak fast…. really, really, REALLY fast… to such excess that, after one presentation, a colleague said to me on the way out, “So, was there a fire in there, Nick?”

My ten years’ experience performing as a musician wasn’t translating into managing nerves while presenting to a group of people without a guitar around my neck.

Why? As a musician, I’d practice music to the point that I couldn’t get it wrong. As a young consultant, I didn’t have time or opportunity to rehearse in the same way.

So, a Toastmasters colleague suggested: “Memorize your first two sentences.”  Learn the presentation content, then, over-rehearse the opening lines or story so you feel totally in control of pace, intonation, and physical presentation. Practice just THAT part until you can’t get it wrong. Prepare it like the “big opening number” in your musical shows.

Then, once you’ve opened, breathe… and sing out – express yourself through the content you’ve mastered. Enjoy your performance.

Nick Miller is President of Clarity Advantage based in Concord, MA. He assists banks and credit unions to generate more and more profitable relationships, faster, with business clients, their owners, and their employees through better sales strategies and execution. Additional articles on Clarity’s web site.