Hi, don't give up yet!! Confident public speaking is actually made up of of several different skills, including body language, vocal tone, storytelling and performance adrenaline management. That last one is actually the most important, and it's hardest for most people to master. The only way to do it is to practice regularly, so your body and mind get used to the feeling of working with adrenaline. Make no mistake: if you've ever seen a powerful Ted Talk or political stump speech, or a basket baller slam-dunk a ball, or an actor give an Oscar winning performance, you're looking at *thousands* of hours of practice. The good news is most of us don't require anywhere near that much time to improve our public speaking. Open your calendar and reserve two 30-minute practice sessions per week for the next 6 weeks. Spend the first 5 minutes singing or humming to warm up your voice. Then then net 10 minutes standing up and reading aloud a page from your favorite novel or article (print it out and project your voice to the other side of the room). After that you can practice your presentation, still standing up and using your whole body. If your actual event is remote, you can sit back down and do it that way. You can even record your sessions on your phone and listen back for improvements. The more you get used to the sound and feeling of it the more easily it will come to you when it's time to do the real presentation. Good luck and keep practicing!

You don't suck. It just takes practice. And it sounds like they're giving you not-so-constructive feedback. You should join my toastmasters club: * https://www.linkedin.com/company/willow-glen-toastmasters  * https://7281.toastmastersclubs.org/ We practice presentations & give each other actionable feedback for improving. It's a really supportive club.

What I have to add is you are presenting to 200 people and feedback from one or two people saying you suck is natural when you present to such a big crowd. Not saying to completely ignore the advice. But when you have a big group of people there is always bound to be negative feedback which may not be what everyone thinks.

Love the advice Rebecca! Hi Marissa! I would say it's also possible that because these presentations are so routine for you now, they're less eventful and significant. And as a result - the presentation moments may not tap into the same places or elicit the level of heightened emotion and energy for you that the they once did? You also mentioned that you're not super thrilled about the role so that is what's coming through to your audience via your communication and how you're engaging them. Is it that you don't like what you're doing or you don't like public speaking? Having said that - you're gonna have to do a bit of acting when it's presentation time so your audience shouldn't be able to sense your lack of enthusiasm, if you believe that your lack enthusiasm for the role itself might be a contributing factor? Lastly - maybe start researching opportunities that will excite you and align better with what you want! I'll echo what Rebecca said - you've got this!

Aww, not at all! I'm sorry you've had to process this challenging feedback. It's hard to hear, but I think you have an opportunity for growth and development. Presentation skills are definitely something you can work on. I think sometimes people think we should just know how to make a good presentation intuitively. But it really is a skill that can be learned! Everything from tone of voice to pacing to visuals can be improved if you're willing to hear the feedback, make changes, and practice. And there's a lot to know about creating a presentation that is engaging and anticipates the audience's questions leaving them feeling informed and satisfied. LinkedIn Learning has some great resources for this type of training: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/develop-your-presentation-skills?u=57912609 Don't give up! You've got this!