I was helping to run a workshop recently for high school student leaders. They were practising inspirational-type speeches that they would be giving at school assemblies to younger students.  Common themes were making the most of opportunities at school, overcoming adversity, and making friends. All students spoke well, but they spoke in generalities. For example, they encouraged younger students to take up extracurricular activities such as sports and music without talking much about their own activities. 
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​Then a young man spoke about how he had almost been expelled in his second year at high school until a teacher had recognised his potential, taken an interest in him and set him on a different path. He was now a student leader. Six months later, his speech is the only one I remember. Why? Because he didn’t talk about the idea of overcoming adversity – he demonstrated how he had done just that. 

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…

​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.

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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.
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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.

Skilled speakers exude confidence, right?

Not necessarily. Many reasonably good speakers suffer from intense self-doubt, which ruins the experience of speaking for them and holds them back from becoming great speakers.

​If you are an anxious speaker, you have probably decided you are rubbish at it – but, as this article explains, you may well be underrating your abilities.​

Public speaking is a performance, but it is not the same as acting. There are two main differences. The first is fairly obvious – as an actor, you are being someone else, but as a public speaker, ideally you are being yourself. Many people struggle with being themselves in front of an audience. How often do you hear people go into 'presentation mode'? They take on a professional persona that is an unconscious form of acting.

The second difference is about your relationship with the audience. An actor pretends that the audience is not there. But as a public speaker, you are there to engage directly with the audience – you acknowledge your listeners. To the audience, you are the whole point – and vice versa. Otherwise,  you may as well just hand out notes!

Yoodli is an exciting new AI public speaking tool that I am using in my coaching.

A lot of my work is with people who have extreme public speaking anxiety that holds them back from achieving their career and life goals.
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In my experience, there are three things that people need to overcome a crippling fear of public speaking:

1. A supportive coach who can help build their self-confidence and bring about some mindset shifts
2. An understanding of the skills involved in public speaking
3. A safe place to practice their developing and newly acquired skills.

Yoodli won’t replace the coach but it is a great tool to enable safe practice and support skill development.

​Remember learning to ride a bike? You probably started with training wheels. What happened when your parents removed the training wheels? Perhaps you went, wobble, wobble, wobble, splat. The next time the wobble lasted a little longer before the splat, and then maybe by the third or fourth time, you went wobble, wobble and then took off. You were away!

Would you have ever learned to ride a bike if you had kept the training wheels? Unlikely. Training wheels don’t teach you to balance; they just give you a feel for sitting on a bike.

Relying heavily on notes when you are learning to speak publicly is a bit like using training wheels on a bike. You will never be able to deliver a speech without notes if you always read your notes. Unlike training wheels, you may not need to ditch your notes altogether. But you will need to stop reading them!​