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“I don’t like your attitude” shouted my high school teacher as I was evicted from the class and demanded to appear in front of the Head Master. He gave me a complete dressing down and I swore from that point onwards to improve my attitude to school.

Having the right attitude or the right state of mind is essential for anyone speaking or training in public. Here’s six tips on how.

Remove all concerns
Remove all concerns from your head. We’ve all baggage of some sorts in our head. A lingering argument with your partner, a major mistake you made yesterday or the loss of a deal can all affect your state of mind. The trick is to adopt mindfulness and empty the head so you can focus on the now.

A favourite Dandy Warhol’s number from the early noughties talks about having a trap door in the back of my head. I use this metaphor to empty out all the thoughts that are bringing me down before I perform on the stage. It works.

Music Anchors
On the subject of the Dandy Warhol’s let’s get into music and the effect it can have on your state of mind. As I write this, I’m listening to my State Changer Playlist on my phone. This playlist consists of a number of songs, tunes and tracks from my collection that each control and influence my state of mind. I’m 33,000 feet above the Himalayas having presented in Bangladesh and I just fancied a boost of energy so I’m listening to my playlist.

Music is an anchor. The listening can bring back a state of mind which you either experienced when you listened to the track or you embedded into the tune at a later date. Anchors do this. Anchors can be any sense – hearing something, seeing an image in your head, a physical touch on your body, a smell or a taste. They all relive a state of mind for you.

Collect anchors for each and every state you need. I use my playlist as it has an instant state changing capability and I love my tunes. Right now I’m listening to “I am the Resurrection” from the Stone Roses voted the number 10 guitar tune by Q Magazine. It revs me up so I can go out into the audience and “give ‘em large”.

Among my playlist I’ve:

• The Raven by the Stranglers for extra energy
• Good Morning Britain by Aztec Camera for inspiration
• One Day Like This by Elbow for concentration
• Nothing in My Way by Keane for Perseverance
• Glory Days by Pulp for stimulation

You may see it differently.

Physical Comfort
In 2016 I attended a private medical since I was applying for some additional medical insurance. The doctor was good, very good, and half way through stated to me with no emotion or prejudice, “Lose a stone”.

I shed 25 pounds that year, continued going to the gym but started doing weights and toned up a little. Boy did it make a difference to how I felt when presenting. It meant all my clothing was a whole lot looser and felt so much more comfortable.

Being physically comfortable is essential, loose clothing helps but learn to stand well. I call it the assertive stance. Ensure your body is perfectly balanced, no leaning on either leg, legs the same width as your shoulders, slightly apart. Girls get rid of your finishing school poses. Balanced, posture upright, shoulders back – just like your mum told you before you set off for school.

Breathing
Breath to thrive not just survive, was a phrase I heard at the annual convention of the Professional Speaking Association. Breathing is more than just surviving; it can affect your state of mind. Let me continue the story of my private doctor from earlier.

He asked me to lie on the couch and he progressed to measure my blood pressure. I have to confess to being a little nervous at the time, you see deep down I’m a big baby. After his first measure, he instructed me to calm down having stated there’s no way he could submit that blood pressure to the insurance company, they’d reject my application.

I thought how can I relax? Breathing I recalled. Breathe in deeply and breathe out very slowly, verrry slowly. I did this for one minute and he measured my blood pressure again. “That’s better, much more normal”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

So if you are a little nervous, and your blood pressure is rising, do the breathing technique before you go on stage for a couple of minutes and it will calm you down, lower your heart rate and put you in a more relaxed state of mind – a presenter state.

Take in the room
The aim here is to become one with the group. You will do that as your talk proceeds but to gain the right state at the beginning adapt a peripheral vision. Many presenters will use their foveal vision and focus on a particular spot; this has no value to become one with the room. Instead pick a spot but deliberately enhance your peripheral capability by concentrating on everything around you. This trains your brain to use peripheral vision as you begin your talk, thus taking in the whole audience.

Usually somebody introduces me on the stage – this takes 20 seconds or so. Typically stand to the side behind the introducer, ready to pounce but as she introduces me, I focus on her but let my peripheral vision do its magic taking in the whole room and every member of the audience that I can.

As I begin my talk, my brain is in peripheral mode and this lets me become one with them. I then relax the peripheral and go foveal ensuring I give as many people eye contact as I can. The eyes are the windows to the soul, let’s never forget that.

By the way, a little trade secret for you. Focussing your attention on peripheral vision rids you of nerves. Not a lot of people know that.

Gain control of the room
The bigger the audience, the bigger the applause you’ll get after the introduction and the more effort you’ll want to exert to gain control. Here’s how:

1. Peripheral into foveal eye contact around the room
2. Breath and adopt the assertive stance, be balanced and relaxed
3. The audience will now also relax
4. Present

A clip round the ear from the Headmaster soon cured my attitude all those years ago. Hey you can’t do that anymore can you? Or the cane, which I endured twice, which left nasty bruising for ages. Hasn’t the world changed but presenting to an audience will always require that you have the right state of mind.

Most salespeople are strong conversationalists when sitting down and talking with customers. When asked to deliver a presentation standing up, the dynamics can change dramatically for you if you’re not prepared. You can easily make every stand-up presentation a conversation with your audience, regardless of size. Here’s how.

The two most memorable parts of a stand-up presentation are the beginning and the end. The four easiest and most powerful ways to begin and end your presentations include:

1. Start with an exciting quotation that you can link to your presentation.

2. Begin your presentation with a compelling statement. Seven years ago, I gave a sales presentation titled, The 12 Best Ways To Increase Sales, Earn More Money, And Have More Fun. I began my presentation with, “There’s not a single thing I can do for you today, to show you how to increase sales, earn more money, and have more fun. Not one thing ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to share 12 creative ideas with you today.”

3. Start your sales presentation with a rhetorical question that creates a transition into your presentation.

4. One of the best audience grabbers is to start your sales presentation with a short story. Beginning your presentation with a success story that involves someone in your audience is even more powerful.

The next time you’re preparing how to begin and how to end one of your sales presentations consider one of these proven approaches.

Now, here are nine ways to jazz up your stand-up presentation skills. These nine tips will take your public speaking skills to a new level. Here they are:

1. Always prepare and rehearse the first 25 words and the last 25 words of every presentation. Practice your spontaneity until it sounds spontaneous.

2. Start with your expectations. Tell them specifically what the take-aways will be early in your presentation.

3. Never read your presentation. Never. No exceptions. It’s the quickest way put your audience to sleep.

4. Show that you’re alive by being animated. Remember it’s easier to be yourself than trying to impersonate someone else.

5. Pay attention to your hands. Nothing will make you look more awkward than unnatural hand movements.

6. Keep slides to a minimum. They should emphasize and reinforce your key points – not tell your entire story.

7. Use large type, so everyone in the room can clearly see what’s on the screen. Darken the screen as often as you can. You want the audience looking at you – not at the screen.

To darken the screen hit the letter “B” on the keyboard. Hit the letter “B” again to turn the screen on.

8. Don’t worry about making mistakes. Actually, mistakes make you human. Have fun, sharpen your sense of humor, and be sure to tell stories. Your stories are the quickest way for your audience to connect with you.

9. After every presentation ask yourself, “How can I do it better next time?” Then next time, be sure you do it better.

Take it from someone who gives a lot of sales presentations, and had to overcome a fear of public speaking, these nine suggestions really work.

Adopt these as your own and I’ll bet your next stand-up presentation will stand-out!