Does the fear of public speaking stop you putting yourself forward?
Do you miss out on presentation or public speaking opportunities?
Would becoming a confident speaker raise your professional profile and make life easier socially?
Here are three disasters that clients have told me they fear when they stand up to speak:
- Fear Number One: Going blank
This is the one most people cite, the fear of going blank and completely forgetting what they want to say.
Clients have told me they’ve been advised to speak off-the-cuff, that there’s no need to make notes. I believe this is risky. Even a confident speaker can have an off-day or feel unwell.
Your notes are an essential tool to ensure you don’t go blank. Make clear notes, with bullet points that are easy on the eye, easy to read. Staple them together or number them so they don’t get out of order. You won’t want a Boris Johnson type Miss Piggy moment! In November 2021 in a speech to the CBI, he lost his place in his notes and began talking about Peppa Pig World. So don’t let this happen to you!
- Fear number two: Losing the plot
People often worry about losing the plot, that they will be all over the place! If you are all over the place, your audience will be so too!
It is vital to prepare well and to structure your speech. Also find out what you can about your audience as this will help you pitch it at the right level. Be clear first what you want to achieve with your speech or presentation. This will help you design your speech. Have a clear introduction, middle and conclusion. It needs to be logical and easy to follow for you as well as for your listeners.
- Fear number three: Being under or over the time allotted.
Again, this is a common worry, the fear of having too little to say or going well over time.
It’s essential to practise each part of your speech as well as the whole, and time it. Remember, if you allow interjections from the audience, that will add to the time. By practising and timing yourself, you will discover if you need to increase or decrease your content.
In summary
All three fears have a common pre-emptive factor: practise and practise aloud what you want to say.
If something doesn’t quite go as you wished, take heart from this very interesting article by James Batchelor MBE. Anything can happen; don’t be hard on yourself. You can learn from it and recover, knowing you are not alone.
Personalised Support
If you feel one-to-one support would be helpful to develop your confidence in public speaking, whether for meetings, interviews, networking or presentations, and you want to know more, you are welcome to arrange a free initial call for 20 minutes without obligation.