There is, of course, all the traditional advice of how to manage your own nerves like:

* Preparation and rehearsal. In your preparations, make sure you plan the processes you are going to use, as well as the content to be covered. This is essential.

* Make sure you have too much for the time allocated so you will not be worried about finishing an hour early, and have nothing for them to do. Plan some revision activities.

Other nerve suppressants (besides valium) could include:

* Being there early so you ‘claim’ the room before the participants arrive and have time to set it up to your specifications.

* Have a personal prop like “Linus’s Security Blanket” that marks the room out as yours for the session. Many of you have seen Laurie’s brightly colour mexican blanket in use – once that is out on his Presenter’s Table, he OWNS that space.

* Have everything set up to compliment your delivery, and create an atmosphere before they arrive – energetic?  relaxed? soothing?  whatever you want…

* Have some music going for their arrival.

* Mentally rehearse how you ideally want the day to go. Visualise it – once you have it firmly in your mind, the day will flow accordingly.

* Don’t forget you have something worthwhile to give the participants, and despite your self doubt, you very likely know far more than they do about the topic or what you have planned for the day or discussion, so don’t undermine yourself before ‘going in’.

* Do some Centering exercises to focus yourself.

* Breathe deeply and imagine you are grounded through the floor.

* Use the Pencil Technique: Do your Chart work in Pencil before they arrive. They will never see the pencil lines from where they are sitting and all you do in draw over them in coloured pens during your talk. It looks impressive, especially if you use symbols and key words.  It will definitely eliminate your fear of forgetting something.