Everyone has experienced failure at work, but the public humiliation of a bombed presentation is particularly hard to handle. And it can stay with you for a long time. Unfortunately, a common reaction is for people to try to avoid public speaking after a failure – which is career-limiting, stressful and often impossible long-term.
You can recover from a poor presentation and become a much better presenter. But instead of avoiding it, you have to figure out what went wrong and what you can do to fix it. This article explores the most common reasons for a poor presentation and what you can do to stop the same thing from happening again. Of course often it is not just one thing, but a combination.
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Laid-back Luke, Perfect Penny, and Sensitive Sarah all share a fear of public speaking. In this article I have used three personas to explain how different personality types can share this common fear. None of these personas represent a real person, but they are all typical of people who do my Fear-less public speaking courses.
Laid-back Luke You wouldn’t guess that Laid-back Luke is terrified of public speaking because, well… he’s so laid back! He seems relaxed and confident when he is not presenting. He’s the kind of friend you would choose as your best man for your wedding because you are sure he will be funny and charming - as long as he makes it to the wedding on time… Do you dust off the same presentation with minor tweaks every time you speak on a similar topic, or do you spend time adapting it to your audience?
We have all heard the advice, ‘know your audience,’ but it is tempting to overlook it when you are under pressure. Most people who suffer from public speaking anxiety have had a bad experience in the past. There can be many reasons for this, such as poor preparation. But, I’m willing to bet a fair proportion of people have had a presentation bomb because they have not tailored it to their audience. Today’s post is a story about how things can go wrong when you assume all your audiences are the same! If previous attempts to tackle your fear of public speaking have failed, this article is for you. It explains why learning public speaking skills, practice (preferably in a safe environment), and mindset shifts can work together to help you overcome a fear of public speaking. I like to think if it as a three-pronged approach. Like the legs on a stool, you need all three!
I have had clients who keep ‘putting themselves out there’ but find they are still highly anxious and can’t understand why – until I explain that they may need to examine some of their beliefs or mindsets about public speaking. I have had other clients who attend one of my courses thinking they can just take notes and be cured of their fear! Unfortunately, it does not work this way! Let’s take a look at each of the prongs. The number one goal of people who do my Fear-less public speaking course is to become a confident speaker. Their number two goal is to get rid of the nerves.
With a bit of work, anyone can become a confident speaker, but getting rid of the nerves is unlikely – and unnecessary! In this article, I explain that confident is not the opposite of nervous – you can be both. I started the Fear-less blog 5 years old and have written more than 50 articles. I aim to write one a month - sometimes I wonder whether I will run out of ideas for new articles – but it hasn’t happened yet!
I get about 10,000 visitors a year to the website (not huge but it is growing!) -about 80% of whom have clicked on a blog article to get there. There are a few articles that are especially popular but also some have never been ‘discovered’ that I think have a lot of value. The reason they have not been discovered could be as simple as the wrong key words. Most articles are ‘evergreen’ meaning they don’t relate to a specific event so retain their relevance over time. I have not used AI to generate any of the articles on the Blog. Most of my articles are heavy on original content – i.e., they draw on my own experience as a coach of people who fear public speaking. Many also reference other sources. I have written this article as a guide to the Fear-less blog so that you can more easily find articles of interest. And to give some of my lesser-known articles a second chance! Today’s blog post has a simple message. Everyone wants to become a more confident presenter. But confidence is not something that just happens. It takes courage and practice to become more confident.
Confidence is the number one thing people who fear public speaking want to gain. "I want to become a confident presenter.” “I would like to gain confidence in front of an audience.” "I want to look like a confident speaker” “I want to feel more confident when speaking to an audience.” These are all things that clients tell me. But many also tell me they avoid public speaking as much as possible! And that is having the opposite effect – it is eroding their confidence. I have a client, let's call him Ben, who has recently started his dream job. He is a strong presenter, passionate about his work, is getting great feedback from his manager, and knows he is the right person for the job. But despite all this, he experiences high anxiety when presenting to an audience in his new job.
He dreads even introducing himself. He knows he will have to do more presenting in the future, and he is worried about undermining his credibility by looking nervous – or even worse – having a panic attack! Not that he has ever had one – in fact, he gets great audience reactions and good feedback after he presents. Ben also has a start-up and does not feel at all nervous when presenting in this context. Ben is an extreme version of what I see in many clients. They are highly capable, reasonable or even good presenters and are comfortable presenting to certain audiences but are experiencing extreme anxiety in a corporate setting. Here is another example. Sarah (not her real name) spent many years in the entertainment sector. She joined my course after starting a corporate job. Presenting was a large part of the role, and she hated it! Sarah's first presentation in the course was about her previous career in entertainment. She was bubbly, engaging, charming, and showed no signs of anxiety. Her second presentation was what would have been a typical work presentation, and she seemed like a different person. She came across as professional but less engaging and relaxed. She had taken on a corporate persona that did not fit with what we had seen of her. In the pre-course questionnaire I send to my clients, I ask them if any particular audiences worry them the most. Some people say, "all audiences", but the most common response is "senior leaders, executives, people who are senior to me and so on." In this article, I explore what is going on for clients who get very nervous presenting to people with authority. It is a combination of a fear of being judged, the pressures of a corporate environment and feeling like they have to pretend to be something they are not. I am always looking for new ways to help people reframe their anxiety about public speaking, so I was thrilled to come across this TED talk by Lisa Damour – "3 steps of anxiety overload -- and how you can take back control".
She explains the three stages of anxiety and how we can intervene at each stage to stop ourselves from overreacting. The stages are:
I apply Lisa's three-stage framework to public speaking anxiety in this article. I look at some things we can do at each stage to prevent or minimise progression to the next. Ever had the experience of going blank in front of an audience? Forgetting what you were going to say and starting to panic? Or had an ‘out of body experience’ where you could hear yourself talking (even waffling)?! You may have felt like a horrified observer.
Experiences like these are hugely disconcerting but not unusual. For most of my clients, their biggest fear is forgetting what they want to say. |
Catherine SymeI get huge satisfaction from seeing the relief, pride, and even joy that people experience when they complete a course and reflect on the progress they have made. See what others say for some inspiring stories. Archives
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