Practical Tips
Public Speaking and the Fear of Blushing
I used to be a blusher. When I spoke, when I liked a boy, or when I made a mistake—I turned red. My blushing reached its peak as a teen and resurfaced during menopause, when frequent hot flushes sometimes collided with embarrassing situations. After menopause?...
Suffering From Public Speaking Anxiety? Here’s What Others Just Like You, Have to Say About their fear.
I have written this article for people who want to do something about their fear of public speaking but need encouragement to take that first step. Many people hesitate because they know that taking a course will require them to do the thing they dread....
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...
Your Fear of Public Speaking is Not the Problem – It is Your Fear of the Fear
“Overcome”, “conquer”, “kill”, “get over”, and “cure the fear of public speaking” are all terms that people google. I know – I have done the keyword research! If you are anxious about public speaking, you probably see your anxiety as a big problem. You worry...
Experiencing ‘Zoom Panic’? You Are Not Alone.
You have heard of ‘Zoom fatigue’ – the experience of feeling exhausted from being online all day. But have you experienced ‘Zoom panic’? I have had a spate of recent calls from people who have had a bad experience presenting online. Some of them tell...
Why avoiding public speaking is worse than doing it! It is career-limiting, stressful, and harder than you think.
Verbal communication skills are valued by employers. They consistently rank highly on lists of the top “soft skills”. For example, the LinkedIn Learning 2020 Workplace report found that employers ranked “persuasion” as their number two soft skill requirement. And you can’t persuade without good verbal communication skills. Public speaking...
Is a Fear of Public Speaking Affecting Your Career? Why You Need to Act and What You Can Do.
A few months ago, I had a phone call from a young woman who needed help. Anna (not her real name) was a marketing graduate who had landed a great first job in the grocery sector. But she was suffering from anxiety because she was...
Will an online (live) course help me with my fear of public speaking?
Previously I have rejected suggestions to run Fear-less courses online because I was not convinced that it would work effectively. Then Covid19 came along! I had to cancel a course due to start on the first day of lockdown. And I had to decide whether...
How to act on your resolution to improve your public speaking – and three traps to avoid
Have you made a New Year’s resolution to ‘do something’ about your fear of public speaking? That’s fantastic! You won’t regret it. Read this article to find out how to keep this resolution! You probably felt great (even euphoric!) when you made a decision that...
Feel the fear (of public speaking) and do it anyway!
Susan Jeffers’ seminal self-help book “Feel the Fear and do it Anyway” was first published in 1987 . Its messages are just as relevant today and are highly applicable to fear of public speaking. According to a website dedicated to Susan’s work, she identified five...
How finding something important to say can boost your confidence.
While researching this topic, I came across a comment in an online forum.“I put on my first parent seminar this week. I was so terrified I almost cancelled! But I got over myself because I know parents are a bit desperate about how to help...
Using your nerves to enhance your public speaking performance
(Updated February 2020)Wouldn’t it be great to be able to stand in front of an audience and feel calm and relaxed? Actually, that should not be your aim! While it might be nice to feel calm, the reality is that you generally perform better when...