Most speakers sabotage themselves before they even get on stage.

Some wing it. Others over-hype themselves. Many cling to lucky charms or last-minute cramming. The result? Nerves, shaky delivery, and lost connection with the audience.

In this solo episode, John shares a practical pre-game system you can actually use to get stage-ready without superstition or overthinking.

You’ll learn how to:

• Reset your mindset in two minutes with Stoic reframing, box breathing, and a simple nerves-to-excitement shift.
• Prepare your body and voice with easy warm-ups (that won’t make you look ridiculous backstage).
• Prime your message by locking in your opening, closing, and key beats — without cramming.
• Avoid common pre-game mistakes that drain your energy or ramp up nerves.

Whether you’re about to step on stage, record a podcast, or present to your team, these tools will help you show up calm, confident, and connected.

👉 Next time: John speaks with Joel Benge about Message Mastery and why tech leaders need to “talk good” (his words, not mine).

👉 Coming soon: A solo deep dive on the ethics of influence and the tricky line between genuine credibility and manufactured status.

🎥 For behind-the-scenes extras and visuals, subscribe to the YouTube channel: Present Influence

Visit presentinfluence.com/quiz to take the Speaker Radiance Quiz and discover your Charisma Quotient.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction: The Importance of Pre-Game Preparation

01:03 Personal Story: Overcoming Stage Fright

02:37 Mental Preparation Techniques

03:30 Breathing Exercises for Calmness

06:34 Vocal Warm-Ups and Physical Preparation

09:41 Effective Rehearsal Strategies

16:45 Common Pre-Game Mistakes to Avoid

21:05 Final Tips and Conclusion

For speaking enquiries or to connect with me, you can email john@presentinfluence.com or find me on LinkedIn

You can find all our clips, episodes and more on the Present Influence YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PresentInfluence

Thanks for listening, and please give the show a 5* review if you enjoyed it.

Here's the problem.

2

What you do in the 10 to 30

minutes before you speak can

3

make or break the whole thing.

4

Yet most speakers either wing it or over

hack themselves or fall into superstition.

5

Here's my promise to you today, I'll

give you a practical pregame system

6

You can actually use no rabbit's, feet,

no power poses unless you want to.

7

Just approval ways to get your mind,

body, and message ready to show up.

8

Calm, confident, and connected.

9

Welcome to present Influence the

show for professional speakers

10

who want their communication to

impact, influence, and inspire.

11

I'm John Ball, keynote coach and

professional speaker and your

12

guide on this journey to a mastery

level communication skills.

13

too many speakers treat the pre-game

as optional and then wonder why they

14

feel shaky once they're on stage.

15

And I've done it myself and I've

always regretted it when I have,

16

think of it like a pilots checklist.

17

If you skip this, then you're

gonna risk a bit of turbulence.

18

A bit of a bumpy ride.

19

So I'm gonna share a quick story of

when my own pre-game went wrong and how

20

one tiny adjustment changed everything.

21

Now, my first time doing open mic comedy,

I've wanted to do it for years, but

22

never really, never really had the nerve.

23

I was terrified of it.

24

I was.

25

Really too scared of that

vulnerability of putting yourself

26

on a stage in the hopes of being

funny and then bombing out big time.

27

The shame and the self-criticism that

would follow something like that might

28

just shred my confidence completely.

29

If there's any one way I

could get myself to do it.

30

I gave myself permission to bomb badly.

31

The biggest win would no longer be

getting the laughs, but just getting

32

up on that stage on the open mic and

sure laughs would be really nice.

33

And so many people had come to support

me that I didn't want to let them down.

34

But I also knew I didn't

have to be funny for that.

35

They were there to support

me no matter what happened.

36

When I lowered the stakes for myself,

the nerves mostly disappeared.

37

Did I still stumble a bit on stage?

38

Trying to remember myself?

39

Yeah, I did.

40

Did it matter?

41

Well, not so much did I get some

laughs I did and it was amazing.

42

But I don't think I could have

done that if I'd needed to get

43

those laughs to feel successful.

44

It may also have helped that the

two acts on before me both bombed,

45

so the bar was set pretty low.

46

That certainly worked in my favor.

47

Your brain can turn into a

saboteur right before you speak.

48

It can start your thoughts.

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Racing, escape, fantasy.

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Shall I make a run for it?

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The field imposter syndrome.

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Am I good enough?

53

Can I do this?

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You can restate your state

in under two minutes.

55

I'll show you how stoic reframing a visual

exercise, a simple breathing pattern

56

and a nerve to energy reframe can shift

your head space from panic to presence.

57

So think of this as espresso for

your confidence without the shakes.

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This is the mental setup that

I go through before a keynote

59

or a workshop to start this.

60

Lower your ego.

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Ego is your enemy.

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Remind yourself, this is not about me.

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I am not what's important here.

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It's about the message.

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It's about the audience.

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Be here for your audience.

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Then you can try something called box

breathing, and you may have come across

68

this before, and it's really simple.

69

It's breathing in through your

nose for four seconds, holding the

70

breath for six seconds, and then

breathing out for eight seconds.

71

Now, it doesn't have to be exact seconds.

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You can count those numbers in your

head at whatever speed you wanna go,

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but it is that thing of having the

breathe in for four, hold for six,

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breathe out for eight, will help you.

75

Now, there are many

different variations on this.

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If you practice something similar, a

little differently, count on doing that.

77

You do not have to implement

exactly this, but this is the

78

simplest method for box breathing.

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There's alternate nostril breathing if

you want to try all that kind of stuff.

80

So like yoga kind of breathing.

81

If you have knowledge and insight

that by all means, use those instead.

82

The other trick to use

here is peripheral vision.

83

A peripheral focus.

84

And this is something that really just

shifts your way from being focused in

85

singularly on one particular thing.

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Like right now, I am looking very directly

at my camera at you, and I'm also.

87

In peripheral vision, which

means I can kind of see what's

88

going on at the side of me.

89

And one of the ways you can check in on

that is, is holding your hand by your

90

head and wiggling your fingers or trying

to see what's on the wall or what's in

91

the surroundings to the side of you.

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And it starts to shift you out

of what we call direct focus or,

93

foveal vision into peripheral focus.

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And this.

95

Does help to relax.

96

You see if you can stay in peripheral

vision, it's a good thing to

97

practice for the whole of your talk.

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It will mean that you'll take in much

more of how your audience is responding

99

and reacting, and you're less likely

to feel nervous you're just less likely

100

to be experiencing any intense emotions

whilst you are in peripheral vision.

101

So give it a try.

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Now, the final part of this is to

remind yourself that your nervous

103

feeling is physiologically exactly

the same as feeling excitement.

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Listen to the recent episode with

Rebecca Williams where she talks exactly

105

about this and why that is the case.

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So instead choose to be excited.

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Recognize that feeling and say,

right, maybe I can just decide

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that that is excitement rather than

fear because it feels the same.

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How do I know that it's not?

110

It could be excitement.

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So which is the more attractive

emotion to feel nervous or excited?

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I'd go with excited.

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That choice when I made it for

myself, is the thing that led me

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to falling in love with speaking

and presenting and getting excited.

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Generally now feeling excited when I get.

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On a stage.

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So try a two minute reset

before your next talk.

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Go through that Stoic practice

of reminding yourself that it's

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not about your ego, it's about

your message and your audience.

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Put yourself into peripheral vision.

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Spend a minute or so doing box

breathing, maybe just three or five

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cycles of breathing with box breathing,

and then reframe your nerves as

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excitement and see how that feels.

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A common issue with speakers about to go

on stage is that dry throat, the stiff

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shoulders, and the unwarmed voice that

can make you sound flat or strained.

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Simple physical resets will make your

voice stronger and your presence grounded.

127

And I encourage you to check out the

episode that I did not that long ago with

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Jimmy Cannon Voice Coach, amazing guy.

129

Gives us some great vocal exercises,

some great ways to think about

130

your voice and how you sound and

that you can definitely implement.

131

But let's give you something simple here.

132

So I'm gonna share with you the

quickest warmups that I know.

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They don't make you look

ridiculous backstage.

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Well, maybe one of 'em a little

bit, but they'll keep your voice

135

from crackling on the opening line.

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So I say check out the episode with

Jimmy Cannon, but one of the simplest

137

vocal exercises you could do is kind

of just humming and humming up and

138

down the vocal range and trying to

make that hum as smooth as possible.

139

Now, if you are not too shy, if you

don't mind people thinking might be a

140

bit silly, try and add into the hum,

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a bit of a blowing raspberry with your

lips or your lips together and your.

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Blowing them in the raspy sound.

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It won't sound funny or sound a bit like.

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It's not a nice noise.

145

But going up and down your vocal

range with that and smoothing that

146

out as much as possible is going

to help you warm up your voice.

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Now of course, you probably do want to

make sure you have some water available.

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Ideally, room temperature

rather than cold, which might

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just affect your voice more.

150

So that's a good thing to have as well.

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I also kind of like.

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Licorice tea.

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I find that, licorice tea or those

licorice tabs you can get, to be

154

careful with tabs 'cause they can make

some of them make your tongue black.

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But licorice in itself can be a great

thing for helping to soothe your voice and

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give you a little bit of vocal resonance.

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So I do highly recommend that.

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One vocal warmup is probably enough.

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Licorice, if you want

to add that in there.

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Power poses.

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I don't care about those.

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I mean, they're, if they help you or

they make you feel good, then great.

163

I've tried them.

164

It honestly does nothing.

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For me, the evidence of power poses

working is not conclusive, unfortunately.

166

But I would say this, if it helps

you to stand like Superman or Wonder

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Woman in a big power pose and you feel

good for that, go ahead and do it.

168

But the posture that I

do think you should do.

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Something we'll call presenter stance.

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So you want your feet for

this, shoulder width apart.

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And shoulder width is generally,

usually not as far as you think it is.

172

So it should be in line, feet in line

with your shoulders as best you can.

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And facing forward.

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You want your knees, your

legs straight, but not locked.

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You don't want your knees locked up here.

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So you wanna keep a fairly loose posture

always by your side and head up straight.

177

Now it might.

178

Feel a little unnatural because we're

very used to often having our hands

179

by our side or talking with our hands,

and you can still do that, but it's

180

gonna come from the size of your body.

181

You're gonna maybe start your first

line in that posture with your hands by

182

your body, and so you can practice that

whilst you're doing your vocal warmups.

183

The more we practice these things,

the more likely we are to do them

184

when we're on the stage as well.

185

So nice and simple more

than anything else.

186

One simple vocal warm up.

187

Standing presenter starts,

give yourself a posture check.

188

You are good to go.

189

Now sometimes the message is the problem.

190

And, one common mistake that speakers

make is trying to cram in the wings.

191

So whilst you're backstage, you're trying

to go through your whole talk and that's

192

a lot of pressure to put on yourself.

193

You're gonna ramp up your nerves

whilst you're doing that particularly,

194

and especially if there's a bit

that you just can't remember.

195

So it can also lead to things coming

out a little robotic as you're trying

196

to remember, line by line perhaps.

197

Having a whole talk memorized is

generally not the best idea anyway.

198

You wanna be able to still sound natural

while you're speaking and presenting.

199

So whilst you may, to some degree follow

a script, you also want to have the

200

flexibility to talk around it as well.

201

You should know.

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Your subject matter, your stories and

everything else going into your talk

203

reasonably well anyway, to be able to not

need it to be exactly as you wrote it.

204

But you wanted to still follow

the pathway that you take.

205

The key beats of your talk are the

most important part, and certainly

206

many people will say this just to make

sure the bits that you do memorize

207

are your opening and your closing.

208

Once you've got those, everything in

between is more likely to flow you.

209

You know you're gonna open strong,

and you'll know you're gonna close

210

strong, and you can practice those bits

to make them as natural as possible.

211

So if you're gonna practice

anything backstage, I would

212

say practice your opening.

213

Maybe you're closing as well,

but definitely your opening

214

if you're gonna practice that.

215

However, it could actually be just as

good, and it may be even more beneficial

216

to have something more like a set list.

217

Comedians have a set list.

218

When they go on stage, they know

what they're gonna be leading into.

219

From here to there and so on.

220

So what's the first bit

I'm gonna talk about?

221

What's the next bit I'm gonna talk about?

222

It could just be a word or a phrase or

a sentence that reminds you, all right.

223

That's what this part of the talk is.

224

It gives you a lot more confidence.

225

I've seen, I know, and I do know speakers

who will have essentially their set

226

list on the stage, take to the floor in

front of them so that they don't have

227

to go to a podium or they don't have

to pull a card out of their pocket.

228

That set list is there.

229

Or it might be on a.

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Teleprompter for them as well,

if they're working with that.

231

And they don't want a full on

script 'cause they want to be

232

more natural and improvised.

233

So if you're gonna memorize,

memorize your opening and closing

234

and have your set list, have your

run list for what you're gonna talk

235

about, available to you as well.

236

So you just have the key beats there.

237

let me explain why.

238

Why rehearsing your wedding vows

in the taxi is a terrible idea

239

and what you should do instead.

240

So look, I don't think

cramming is ever a good idea.

241

It doesn't really tend to work too well.

242

You might get away with it once

in a while, but it suggests that

243

you haven't fully prepared and

that really is the issue here.

244

I'd much rather you do that

than no preparation at all,

245

but it's still not great.

246

Cramming the night before

an exam isn't great.

247

It might get you through the exam,

but how much better could you do if

248

you were fully prepared and relaxed?

249

I will tell you this, my experience of

cramming in my degree was nightmare-ish

250

because when it came to my final

exams for my degree, I was a wreck.

251

I wasn't sleeping well, I was cramming

too much information in, and I knew

252

I could have done so much better

if I really just had put more work

253

into being prepared for those exams.

254

It's the same with your talks.

255

If you don't practice and prepare

fully, and not just on the day or

256

just before then you are not prepared.

257

You must consider your practice time,

your preparation time to be just as

258

important as the actual performance.

259

These are a part of the performance.

260

These are the, maybe in terms of an

iceberg, the bits that are underwater,

261

bits that the audience don't see.

262

You audience get to see the iceberg,

your performance, but all the

263

preparation, the pre-time, the putting

stuff together, the rehearsals, the

264

whatever run-throughs you're doing,

that's all part of the iceberg.

265

The stuff that the audience just

don't ever get to see, but it's

266

the biggest part of the work.

267

Your talk or your keynote, you know,

might, your talk might be by day you

268

doing Toastmasters, five to eight minutes.

269

If you're doing something a

bit bit bigger, it might be

270

10 minutes, 15, 20 keynotes.

271

Generally around 30, 45, 60 minutes or so.

272

That's a long time to be on stage,

but it's not nearly as long as the

273

time you should have spent preparing.

274

If you don't practice, you

haven't really put in the work.

275

You're just showing up

and winging it really.

276

Okay.

277

You may not be improvising the whole

thing, but you are putting extra

278

pressure on yourself to deliver something

that you haven't really prepared for.

279

Your delivery is gonna be much better

and more natural when you are practiced.

280

Your comfort level is gonna be

much better when you know that

281

you know your material and.

282

Your audience is going

to sense this as well.

283

So whilst you might get away with it, you

will know that you could have done better.

284

If you are still getting, could do

better on your internal report card,

285

it's time to fix that and know that you

can do better and you will do better

286

by committing yourself to preparing

thoroughly for your presentation.

287

You don't need to over rehearse.

288

You just need to rehearse practice

to the point where you know that

289

you know it, where it's kind of

290

in you, it is part of you.

291

You can't really forget it because

you've been through it so many times.

292

It does not need to be

verbatim, of course.

293

It really just needs to be so well

practiced that it's gonna be natural

294

for you because practice will come as

you deliver your talk more and more.

295

But in the early days of doing

that, without the practice and

296

preparation, it's going to be,

297

it can be hard.

298

You are just making life harder for

yourself, and I do think it's that thing

299

that it always feels like is boring.

300

It's not the sexy part of presenting.

301

You just wanna be out there doing your

talk on your presentation, getting

302

the applause or whatever else, getting

the sales for your product or service,

303

whatever else you might be offering.

304

Those are the fun and the sexy

and exciting parts of speaking.

305

The stuff that isn't so sexy or exciting

is the prospecting, is the follow up

306

calls, the CRM, the personal reviews or

the event reviews the calendar management,

307

the travel plans, and the preparation

and rehearsal time for your talk.

308

These are much less fun, but they're

super critical for you to have

309

success as a speaker or presenter.

310

not all rituals are gonna help.

311

Some are just gonna disguise your

anxiety and some are just pointless.

312

So spotting the traps can save

you from draining your energy

313

before you've even begun.

314

So let me reveal three pregame

mistakes that do more harm than

315

good and how to avoid them.

316

Overwarming up.

317

Big problem.

318

If you are warming up your voice

in your body until you actually

319

feel exhausted, not great.

320

Now, I do have, a playlist that I can know

if I have time and this right environment.

321

I can pop my earbuds in, pop

my pre-stage playlist on.

322

And it's all stuff that's help helping

me to increase my energy, to turn

323

on my energy, not to be ridiculously

high energy, but just to get to a good

324

energy level that I know I'm gonna

feel good out going out on stage.

325

I want it still to feel natural, but I

want to be pump up because I know that

326

my energy, my emotional state, which

I can manage is going to be leading

327

the emotional state of the audience.

328

It's very important that I get myself

into the emotional state that I want

329

my audience to experience as well, so

that I can help to lead them there.

330

Word for word rehearsal as well.

331

Avoid it.

332

Avoid it because especially at the last

minute, it's just gonna mess you up.

333

It's especially being, oh,

I didn't remember that bit.

334

You will wind yourself up even further

and probably struggle to remember.

335

'cause you're gonna go, what did I write?

336

What did I write?

337

That's what's gonna be coming up in your

head rather than just, alright, let's

338

find another way of saying this because

I can't remember exactly how I wrote it.

339

And that would also be fine.

340

No one will notice.

341

You can take the pause, think about

what comes next, remind yourself of your

342

mental playlist of what you just said.

343

And then carry on forward.

344

You can take 30 seconds or more

as a pause if you really need to.

345

Your audience will stay with you.

346

They will give you benefit.

347

But if you start to panic, if you start

to get yourself caught up in your, oh

348

my goodness, I can't remember a thing.

349

You're gonna stay stuck in that

and you might end up having to

350

stop the presentation altogether.

351

I've seen that happen.

352

Or you might just end

up running off stage.

353

I've also seen that happen.

354

Skipping post-game reflection is gonna

mean that you never really improve your

355

pre-game, so we must always look at how

we got on reflection review are really

356

important parts of the process for you.

357

You're gonna get feedback and you're

gonna want it from your audience,

358

ideally from your bookers, from

whoever else is involved in the event.

359

Get as much feedback as you possibly can.

360

Hopefully it's gonna be great feedback

'cause you've done all these things to

361

prepare yourself and you are good to go.

362

But if, but if it's not, it's potentially

gonna help you to develop and grow.

363

But the feedback that you give to

yourself is even more important.

364

So it can be great, especially in

earlier days of speaking, to record your

365

presentations, to record your talks.

366

Not only does that potentially give

you material for your demo videos,

367

which is, really good to have.

368

It also gives you the opportunity

to watch yourself back, to get used

369

to the sound of your own voice,

to how you look on stage and to be

370

able to see, do I look all right?

371

Am I doing weird hand gestures?

372

How's my voice sounding?

373

Is my intonation right?

374

What's my energy like throughout this?

375

You may not be able to give yourself a

fully detached view of your performance,

376

but you will have some level of that just

by being able to watch yourself back.

377

Very different to trying to

rehearse in the mirror, which

378

I've heard people suggest that.

379

I hate that as advice.

380

Never practice in a mirror.

381

You're never gonna have that on stage and

you're gonna be distracted by silly things

382

whilst you are rehearsing your talk.

383

So please don't do that.

384

But, it's a good idea to get used to

hearing the sound of your voice, to

385

seeing yourself on camera, because

whilst they can feel uncomfortable,

386

robbers don't like looking at ourselves

or hearing our voices initially.

387

You do get over it.

388

You do with repetition, move past

it, it becomes irrelevant and.

389

Just get used to it.

390

It becomes normal for you.

391

It might not be right now, but when

it is, you'll know that that's a

392

good thing to get over because it

is one of the things that sometimes

393

stops people from moving forward.

394

So, reflect, and review for

yourself more than anything else.

395

So by now you've got the principles

and here's the completely stripped

396

down version that you can steal.

397

So before your next talk test,

this three step ritual, two minute

398

breathing and posture reset.

399

So your box breathing and

your presenter stance.

400

One short vocal warmup.

401

So you're humming.

402

It could be you're humming

with the bur sound, though.

403

Raspberry blank.

404

Rehearse.

405

Only your opening.

406

Maybe your closing as well,

but only really your opening.

407

If you've got that, you are good to start.

408

You're getting the momentum, so try

it and you will feel the difference

409

before you even hit the stage.

410

So there you have it.

411

A simple pre-game system

that actually works.

412

Now, the problem that most speakers

face is that they either do too many

413

of these things or none of them at all.

414

So the promise is simple

and the premise as well.

415

If you manage your mind, body, and

message in these crucial minutes, you're

416

gonna walk out and present confidently

and ready to connect with your audience.

417

So next time on Present Influence, I'm

gonna be speaking with Joel Benge, and

418

joel is an expert on Message Mastery and

he helps people in the tech world to be

419

able to talk good as his words, not mine.

420

Next solo episode though I'll be taking

a look at the ethics of influence

421

and the tricky line between genuine

credibility and manufactured status.

422

So that's one you won't want to miss.

423

Follow the show to get new

episodes as they're released.

424

If you want the visuals, extras, and

behind the scenes content that I can't

425

squeeze into the podcast, head over to

my YouTube channel Present Influence.

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Thanks for listening, and

I'll see you next time.