leading a seminar for 10 people

[quote="jbjb85"]Hello all. I'm new here.
I will get straight to the point!
I have a terrible fear of public speaking. I am preparing for a seminar, which will be lead by me. It is a technically oriented seminar and my boss made me do it. While I am quite an expert in the field I am still very afraid of leading this seminar. My biggest fear is that someone will ask me a question on which I will have no answer and then I will freeze! I am so afraid of getting embarassed. What can I do?
Thank you.[/quot
Just be yourself, no one knows everything even in their area of expertise.
However, you have to know the topic of what you are going to discuss and know it very well.
In your area of practice, pick something that you love, a topic you love, learn more about it, practice the tough questions that can come out of it and answer them- Just try to prepare relentlessly on what you pick. Then....
Remember, no one knows your message, only you. So tell your message the way you know it.
Focus and relax, because everyone will be rooting for you.
Everyone will be wanting you to do well, they will also be wishing to learn some information from you, they will be wishing to find you interesting- maybe find some humor in your information, not too much.
Lastly, don't apologize, no one is aware of anything unsaid. Again, be yourself.

Kyawikyo is right ! Just be yourself don't care about this audience...prouve to you self that you can make it !! you're the best i mean your the best of the best just say it every day and you're see

Thanks for replying.
Well, I am quite an expert in the field (IT) and I am confident about my level of knowledge - that is most probably the reason why my boss picked me to lead the seminar. But the problem is that I am afraid of questions and I can't do anything about it... What should I say if someone asks me something I don't know?? What if there will be more questions on which I will have no answer (this is possible)? Should I say "I'm sorry, I can't answer you", or "I don't know" or "I need to check that myself"?
We are counting on about 20 people to attend the seminar, so it's not going to be a small thing...

Hello,
First of all Congratulations on being chosen by your boss.
Do not fret about this and that,
You said that your line of expertise is IT so your boss chose you.
Life has given you the opportunity to give information of your expertise to the world.
Even though you are an expert in your field try if you have time to study or know a few developments in the IT field.Do so.
What I suggest is you can hand out feedback forms on which give the other employees a chance to ask questions which you can answer later.
Ask each individual to put their names so that you can get back to them and give clear and concise answers to their question.
State this fact before your speech so that it will be clear to the listeners that if they have any query it will be taken care off by you.
Now you can go ahead and give your speech without any sort of worry.
Your image will be retained.
I hope this was helpful.

Thanks. That's not a bad idea!

Seminar starts next week, so I still have some time to calm myself down

I will report how it went... Thank you everyone.

Let me say you did the best thing you could to help reduce any chance of embarrassment by being a subject matter expert on the topic you're going to speak on.

In reference to someone asking a question you don't have the answer to, I can only speak from what worked for me. I knew someone would eventually ask me something I didn't know the answer to, and what I found works best is this:

"Good question. I don't have the answer off hand, but let me jot it down and make sure I have your contact information correct. I'll get that answer to you shortly after this meeting."

My previously attempts that did NOT WORK:

1) Getting defensive - "That's irrelevant" "Why did you ask that" "That's a stupid question" - all those responsive just pissed people off and then they went into attack mode. By letting them know that their input is welcome, they tend to be more civilized.
2) Panic - mostly from not knowing the answer, standing there with a blank look looking stupid, then going into a panic attack from the embarrassment of standing in front of a room of people who think I'm an idiot, and sometimes getting laughed at and made fun of. Nope, the "Good question" thing works MUCH BETTER.
3) Attacking them back - "REALLY? You really want to go there? Hey, why don't I ASK YOU a question..." Then go into a technical discussion to take that person down to tears in front of everyone. NOPE, that makes me look like a jerk. Why? Well, probably because I'm being a jerk?

thank you