Hi all, I'm going to be presenting at my first conference soon and I'm very scared! How do you cope with pre-conference nerves? Any tricks? Also, when presenting I can't always act confident - sometimes it's clear my nerves are getting the better of me - again, any advice???

Thanks guys.

Yep...practice, practice and practice your presentation. If you know you can confidently reel off your presentation, it makes life much easier.

It's remarkable how many people walk onto a stage and just read off notes without making hardly any eye contact with the audience.

As for pre-presenting nerves, keep your mind busy on something else. Don't sit and stew over your presentation.

If you're really, really nervous, take some valium.

Being nervous is normal.
I still am after so many years.
I found that rehearsing in front of
a small critical group helped a lot.
Realize that very likely you know more about the subject than
anybody else in the audience.
Whatever happens: speak loudly and slowly.
I wish you success

What adlag says it very good advice. Practice in front of a small group, or even just one person. It's surprising how this can help, and ask for their feedback too. They'll pick up on stuff that you didn't realise sounded wrong or unclear.

I really hate presentations, and get terribly nervous. But when I'm actually doing the presenting, I love it! (strange?!).

Practice in front of a mirror too. It works for me, weird as it sounds! Also, try to see the room beforehand if you can and get a feel for it.

Great advice everyone! Thanks! Will definitely practice in front of a group and the mirror option made me giggle but I have done it before!

are your supervisor with you to the conference? if not, you can relax more; nobody pays much attention to the conference presentation if it is a nice location to hang out.., a bit kidding..

I agree with Missspacey. For my first ever conference presentation, I kept feeling nervous and bodged up my practise one in front of my research group and superivsor. However, on the day, I went up there and said "Good afternoon" and suddenly didn't feel nervous at all and REALLY confident.

Remember this is your own work and no one knows it better than you. It's fine to get nerves, I've seen well known people in my field who have presented hundreds of times look a tad nervous when they start.

A good tip is to get rid of the nervous energy by jiggling about - good idea to do this in the toilets.

if i'm too late - hope you had a great time, and found it a breeze!
if you have yet to give your paper:

1) talk to as many people as possible at the conference beforehand - it's so much, much easier to present to people you 'know'

2) as mentioned - practice as much as possible, prefereably in front of others (family may or may not be academics, but can tell you what message you're getting across)

3) have back-up plans - in case you're overwhelmed with nerves, have a script. but try to work from index card with key points. or even better - if you're using powerpoint, print out each slide with notes, then you know what's coming next.

4) remember to breathe slowly - it'll reduce your heart-rate and you'll come across calmer

5) spend time with someone who makes you comfortable / listen to your favourite music track (nip into the toilets!) beforehand - just to take your mind off it

6) take a box of immodium etc., if things are really bad!

if you have pathological problems - present a poster

But, it gets easier over time for most

as mentioned, you are in a unique position re. your research - you're the one who's worked on this specific topic. even if someone else has done something similar, your approach should be different. remember, conferences are designed to stimulate debate and exchange - the audience aren't there to judge you, to hear what you have to say. they may recognise you're new to it (as academia is usually a small world), but they should cut you some slack, and won't expect a slick presentation

good luck!