How to Handle Nerves Before Presenting to Senior Management

Abstract

This article is about how to handle nerves before presenting to senior management, and why "calm down" is often hard advice to follow. Three pieces of research bear on it. A set of studies found that saying "I am excited" led to more excitement and better performance than trying to calm down. A direct replication of the public-speaking part found the same effect on feelings but no difference in observer-rated performance. A small study of students preparing for an admissions test linked being told that arousal can help with higher maths scores. The three steps at the end are practical readings of this research and of ordinary preparation, not tested methods, and they are not medical advice.

The meeting at ten o'clock

It is 8:40 a.m. on the day of the quarterly review. The CFO and two directors join at ten. You have walked through the variance schedule five times, and your hands are cold.

At 9:50 you glance at the first slide and cannot remember what you meant to say after the first number. A colleague says, "Just relax." It does not help. You want the feeling gone before you walk in, and it will not go.

How to Respond When Your Numbers Are Questioned is about the moment after the first question. This article is about the minutes before you start.

How do I handle nerves before presenting to senior management?

Research cannot promise that you will feel calm, and nothing cited here tested a method on finance presentations. It does point to two things you can work with: what you do with the racing feeling in your body, and what you can realistically expect a short phrase to change. The next four sections cover this. The three steps after them turn it into something you can do before the meeting.

Why "calm down" is hard advice

Brooks (2014) starts from a common belief: that the best way to cope with anxiety before a performance is to try to calm down. Her studies tested another move, which is to read the same anxious arousal as excitement. She concludes that what matters is the match between the interpretation and the arousal you actually have.

Her argument is that anxiety and excitement are both states of high arousal, so reading the arousal as excitement may be an easier step than switching it off.

Read the 9:50 a.m. moment through this. Your colleague's "just relax" asks you to go from a racing heart to a quiet one in minutes. Brooks's argument is that a smaller step may be available. This is an inference. The studies did not test advice from colleagues, and they did not test finance professionals.

What saying "I am excited" did

Brooks (2014) ran studies on karaoke singing, public speaking and a maths test. Compared with trying to calm down, reappraising anxiety as excitement led to more excitement and better performance. Even minimal steps worked, such as saying "I am excited" aloud or receiving a short message to get excited.

In the public-speaking study, as later described by Poynter and Pasqualini (2025), students who said "I am excited" before a stressful speech of two to three minutes felt more excited, but not less anxious. Judges rated their speeches as more persuasive, competent, confident and persistent, and the speeches ran longer.

What a later replication found

Poynter and Pasqualini (2025) ran a direct replication and extension of the public-speaking study. The self-report results were nearly identical: people who said "I am excited" felt more excited, but not less anxious. There were no differences between conditions on any observer ratings of performance, and none on an indirect anxiety measure, the Emotional Stroop task. The authors conclude that the brief intervention changed how people felt but did not produce observable gains in public speaking.

Read the ten o'clock meeting through this. The better-supported part is the feeling: you can feel more excited without feeling less anxious. Whether it changes how you come across is not settled, and one replication does not close the question in either direction. This is an inference. The task was a short speech in a study, not a finance professional presenting to senior managers.

What being told that arousal can help did on an exam

Jamieson and colleagues (2010) studied 60 students who planned to take a graduate admissions test, the GRE, within three months. Half were told that arousal does not hurt performance and can even help it. Only 28 took the real test within the window, and the analyses covered those 28.

In a practice test in the lab, and on the real test one to three months later, the group told that arousal can help scored higher on the maths section. On the real test the averages were about 770 against about 706, on a scale of 200 to 800. There was no difference on the verbal section. The authors note the small sample, the high drop-out, and that they cannot tell whether the effect came from reinterpreting arousal on test day or from other changes, such as more study time.

Read your own racing heart through this. The idea that arousal can help is easy to say and hard to believe at 9:50 a.m. This is an inference. The study tested students, a maths test and a message from researchers. It cannot show what would happen before a presentation to senior managers.

How to handle nerves before presenting to senior management: three steps

None of these is a cure, and none was tested on presentations to senior managers. They combine what the research points to with ordinary preparation. Where a step goes beyond the research, it says so.

1. Name the energy, and say "I am excited" once. Before you walk in, tell yourself that the racing heart is energy for the next ten minutes, and say "I am excited" quietly or aloud. It does not have to feel true at first. In the studies it was an instruction, and it still changed how people felt. Treat it as a way to change how you feel, not as a promise about how you will come across. This is an inference from Brooks (2014) and Jamieson and colleagues (2010), and the 2025 replication limits it. No study cited here tested it on presentations to senior managers.

2. Prepare the first minute, not only the deck. Write the opening two sentences: the conclusion, the number that matters, and the decision you need. Say them aloud once, with a timer. For instance: "Operating costs closed 3 percent over forecast, the cause is one contract, and I need a decision on it today." This is a judgement. A fixed opening means you do not have to decide how to begin while your heart is racing. No study cited here tested it.

3. Write down the three hardest questions, and answer each in one sentence. Ask yourself what the CFO is most likely to challenge, and write the answers in plain words. If an answer needs a number, check it once and stop. For instance: "Why is it over? One contract was invoiced early, and next quarter will reverse it." This is a judgement. It turns a vague dread into three small tasks, and no study cited here tested it.

Afterwards, write two lines: what you feared, and what happened. This is a judgement. If your mind starts to replay the room, How to Stop Replaying Criticism From Your Boss is about that loop. If the preparation itself turns into checking the deck again and again, Why You Keep Checking Your Work Over and Over is about that.

Questions People Ask

Should I try to calm down before presenting?

The studies cited here compared "calm" with "excited" in specific tasks. They did not test breathing exercises or other calming methods, so this article does not rule them out. If a method already helps you, there is no reason to drop it because of one set of studies. Brooks's argument is that feeling calm may be a harder target than using the energy you already have.

Is it normal to feel nervous presenting to senior management?

The studies cited here do not measure how common it is. They used tasks that make people anxious, such as a speech judged by others, which suggests that nerves before being evaluated are an ordinary response. This is an inference. Whether yours is ordinary or more than that depends on how long it lasts and what it stops you doing, which the last section covers.

What if my voice shakes or my mind goes blank?

The studies cited here did not look at either. A fixed opening, as in step 2, gives you a sentence to start from. A short pause to look at the number on the slide is often less noticeable to the room than it feels to you. This is a judgement, not a research finding.

Do these findings apply to the board or to finance professionals?

Not directly. None of the studies cited here tested finance professionals or senior audiences, and the exam study used students. The findings give you a direction to try, not proof that it works in the room where you present.

When it is more than nerves

Nerves before a presentation are one thing. It is more when you avoid presenting or turn down roles because of it, when dread of one meeting disturbs your sleep for days or weeks, or when you have panic attacks or physical symptoms such as chest pain. In those cases talk to your doctor or a qualified mental health professional. This article is not medical advice. Coaching is educational support for work patterns. It is not treatment and not a substitute for it.

If you find an error in your own numbers the night before, How to Tell Your Boss You Made a Mistake in the Numbers covers what to do.

Sources

• Brooks, A. W. (2014). Get excited: Reappraising pre-performance anxiety as excitement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(3), 1144–1158. DOI: 10.1037/a0035325

• Jamieson, J. P., Mendes, W. B., Blackstock, E., & Schmader, T. (2010). Turning the knots in your stomach into bows: Reappraising arousal improves performance on the GRE. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 208–212. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.08.015

• Poynter, M., & Pasqualini, M. S. (2025). Getting excited about public speaking: A replication. Psychology of Language and Communication, 29(1), 254–265. DOI: 10.58734/plc-2025-0011