People do not come to your presentation to see how much you do not care about stuff.

They come to your presentation to be infected with the same passion for the subject that you feel.

Just look at this video of Angus Young playing the guitar in Paris in 1979. He’s sweating profusely. He’s drooling. He’s sucking oxygen out of a tube.

And yet what are people doing? They are cheering him on. When he goes out for the “crowd walk,” they are straining to touch his sweaty back.

What does this have to do with your presentations?

“How can I be not nervous?” is the wrong question to be asking. Sure, you want to be calm enough that you can keep your head about you and remember what you’re there to say.

But instead of trying to drill all emotion out of yourself, ask, “How can I show my geeky passion and nerdy excitement?”

You know one thing that adult humans are really not good at? Showing emotion. For some bizarre reason, we have convinced ourselves that not displaying emotion is “grown up.” Even when we see the reluctance to show emotion causing marriages to collapse and friendships to implode, we double-down on it.

And so even the smallest displays of emotion will make you stand out.

When you are presenting, showing emotion is way more important than appearing calm. If you are excited about something, channel your inner Angus Young and let it out.

Or, as I like to say, “Spill your blood.”