It’s presentation day. You created your PowerPoint and you’ve prepared everything that you’re going to say. Everyone else is dreading having to get up there to present.

Hello class! I’m excited to hear your presentations today…Who wants to go first?

You freeze and get that uneasy pit feeling in your stomach. God you hate this moment. Social anxiety? Shit. You want to go last when everyone is too tired to pay attention and give a shit. When everyone is waiting for that bell to ring to get the fuck out of there so they’re happy to have you rush through it. That’s what you’d prefer.

No. No. No. Fuck everything about that.

I haven’t written any post about this because it hadn’t occurred to me until now. But I just realized that since I began self improvement and acquired that confidence, I’ve insisted on going first in pretty much everything. Presenting a project? First. Every time. I actually crave it. Even when I’ve had group presentations, I assume the leadership role and tell the group we are going first. I don’t even ask them what they want. I tell them that’s what we’re going to do. People respect you for this — they see you as unafraid and as a leader and are secretly relieved that someone else has taken on that responsibility.

I love it because I set the tone for the rest of the class. I know I’m better than everyone and I want to set the bar high which no one else can reach. In my data analytics class in my final semester, I went up to the professor ahead of time and requested that I go first. He allowed it and I crushed the presentation. The guy who went after me was so embarrassing, he started his presentation off with, “Well, uh… I didn’t go quite as far as Shakedown did…uh…”

Other benefits: People take you more seriously when you volunteer to go first. People also have the most energy and pay more attention. This is a good thing. Only beta bitches don’t want people to pay attention to them when they talk. Demand their attention. It is your turn to talk and they need to respect that.

I’m a very good public speaker and presenter and was lucky enough to be formally trained in my undergraduate senior design class. Pair that with my study on social behavior and body language and it makes for very effective presentations. Perhaps I’ll make a series on posts on public speaking and presenting soon.

Be the guy that sets the bar. Be the guy that goes first.