Mindset Shifts
How to Stop Waffling – Think Before You Speak!
Picture this: You’re mid-sentence in an important meeting when suddenly your brain hits the brakes. Words tumble out, but they’re not making sense. You’re rambling, circling back, desperately trying to find your point. Sound familiar? “I can’t think when I speak. My mind goes blank...
Why You Should Be the Only Person Who Can Give Your Presentation
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...
Three Personality Types and One Fear – Public Speaking!
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...
A Three-pronged Approach to Dealing With Public Speaking Anxiety
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....
Why it is OK to be a nervous speaker!
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...
Becoming a more confident speaker takes two things – courage and practice
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...
How a Lack of Confidence Can Stop a Good Public Speaker From Being Great
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...
If You Are Avoiding Public Speaking You Are Not Alone – But You Are Not Doing Yourself Any Favours.
I run courses for people with public speaking anxiety. In the pre-course questionnaire, 80% of participants say that they avoid public speaking if they possibly can. They turn down opportunities, get ‘sick’ on the day, ask others to step in for them, and even turn...
Why a ‘Service Mindset’ Will make You a Better Public Speaker – And a Less Nervous One!
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...
How I Am Using Yoodli — A New AI Tool — To Support My Public Speaking Coaching
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.In my experience, there are...
Why Reading Your Speech is Like Riding a Bike with Training Wheels
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...
Five triggers for public speaking anxiety – and one solution
Surveys show that most people are nervous about public speaking and around 10% of people have an extreme fear. Glossophobia is the term used to describe persistent and excessive anxiety about public speaking. I have written before about why people fear public speaking. It is primarily a...
No good at public speaking? Six reasons why improving is just like learning to play a new sport (or any other complex skill)
I recently heard someone describe the three phases he goes through when learning a new skill. The first stage is fear. The second stage is grit – the hard work that goes into getting good at anything. Thirdly, there is mastery – the feeling of...
Nervous About Public Speaking? Self-Talk That Actually Helps
You are a bundle of nerves. You have an important presentation to give. You have been dreading it for days. You barely slept last night, and you can feel your heart pounding and the panic rising. You look in the mirror, smile, and repeat three...
Five Slightly Unusual Public Speaking Tips to Improve Your Delivery and Reduce Nervousness!
There are plenty of useful articles about public speaking, but many of them repackage similar tips. Remember to pause; practice your presentation thoroughly; maintain eye contact; focus on your audience; tell stories; and so on. Don’t get me wrong — it is all great advice! But I...