What was my path through the world of presentations like? Today I will share my story with you. From a guy who shook while presenting to someone who makes a living from speaking. Let it be a reminder that you can too.
Chapter 1: Student stress that was meant to discourage me forever
I remember that day at university like a still frame you can pause with a click. A room filled with whispers and the breathing of classmates. Fluorescent lights shining straight into my eyes. Papers slightly damp from sweaty hands. And in front of me the hardest task so far: deliver my first ever presentation at university. I stepped out, said what I had to say, and then ran back to my seat faster than you could click “next slide”.
I sat there with a pounding heart, feeling like I had just survived something truly terrifying. Then the professor said something that was supposed to strengthen me, but instead hit my ego: “Mr. Piotr, your presentation wasn’t that bad, but you know what? You have to work on your stress. You can’t shake like jelly.”
He talked about stress. I was just trying not to die of fear. That was my whole strategy. And I thought: “Presentations are not for me. I hope I never have to deal with them again in my life.”
Chapter 2: First signs of change
But a few years passed and I ended up in an advertising agency as a copywriter. Presentations returned like a bad dream. I had to defend my ideas. Clients looked at me with impatience. Colleagues checked their phones. I shook like jelly. I left meeting rooms feeling like something was wrong with me. At the same time I felt more and more that I did not want to be average at everything. I thought: maybe I can try to be good at one thing? Everyone in the company is terrible at presenting, so if I become just a bit better, I can stand out.
Now I know it was one of the best decisions in my life. A turning point. I was like Neo reaching for the blue pill. Like a Hobbit leaving the Shire. Like Bruce Wayne putting on the Batman suit for the first time.
My charm was a book.
Chapter 3: Books that opened the door to a new path
One day at a bookstore I came across Peter Coughter’s book “The Art of the Pitch”. I bought it without a plan. I read it once. Then again and again. I got hooked. Curiosity hit me. How far can I go with this?
And when I started using those ideas in practice, it turned out they worked. Very well.
I kept reading. Nancy Duarte, Garr Reynolds, Carmine Gallo. Each book felt like a new level in a game. I started analyzing presentations of top speakers. Colleagues jokingly began calling me the PowerPoint Emperor. They asked me more and more often to help with slides. First a few people. Then whole departments I did not even know existed.
Then a job interview at a new company. I got the job because of a great presentation. After some time my new boss said: “You know, I hired you because I had never seen a presentation like yours. I thought you must be a really smart person.”
That last phrase scared me. The problem was I did not see myself as really smart. I just made a good presentation.
Chapter 4: From a blog at the kitchen table to the first big clients
I started a blog about presentations because I wanted to organize my knowledge and see if anyone else cared about the topic. I wrote in the evenings at the kitchen table. Often with a cup of tea already cold. With a feeling that maybe I was overdoing this fascination with slides. But I kept writing.
After a few months an event agency reached out. I didn’t know them. They didn’t know me. They found my blog by accident. They needed someone to help polish presentations for speakers at a conference for a large American corporation. It was the first moment I felt that someone finally noticed what I was doing after hours, quietly, with no guarantee anyone cared.
I took the job. Worked a few days. Earned what I normally made in a month. But it wasn’t just the money. It was the moment that told me clearly: if you take this seriously, something big can come out of it.
So I started. After more successful projects, I decided to go further. I quit my full time job and became a freelance presentation specialist. It was 2015.
Chapter 5: The silence that almost stopped me
At first the phone kept ringing and I finally felt I was where I should be. Then suddenly everything stopped. No projects.
First for a week. Then another. Then another. Each day without work cut my wings a little more. I started asking myself questions I really did not want to ask. Did I make a mistake? Will I have to return to a regular job? Was this just a short adventure that has now ended?
Thoughts of a safe paycheck and a stable routine came back. But something inside said: hold on. And I remember that scene clearly. I was walking late through the center of Warsaw and I saw a man in a suit with a laptop bag leaving the office at 22:30. Most people would think it is sad. Staying late. A workaholic. I felt jealousy. In that moment my biggest dream was to have so much work I couldn’t finish by evening. I understood how much I cared about this path.
Eventually the projects came back. As if nothing happened. But I was already a different person. I knew I had survived the first real test.
Chapter 6: Team, stage and the elixir I now pass on
Today I have a company. A team working with me. Studio Prezentacji in Poland. SlideFormation abroad. Projects from New York, Copenhagen and London. Trainings. Conferences. TEDx. And above all people who, after my workshops and consultations, start to believe they can speak clearly, interestingly and with confidence.
My favorite moment is when someone suddenly notices that their idea has power. That they can convince others. That their words begin to work. That drives me.
Or when a presentation we created for a client helped them secure millions of dollars for business growth.
Communication is not a small thing. It changes relationships, companies and everyday life. When we can understand each other, a lot can be fixed.
Epilogue: Back to the first slide
When I think back to that university room, trembling hands and fear bigger than the whole world, I want to say one sentence to that guy: you are in the best place in the world. Because sometimes the best part of your story begins right where you feel the biggest fear.
So if your hands sometimes shake before a speech, relax. It passes.
Let me be your guide to the world of presentations and you will see that the shaking stops much sooner than you think.