The Fear-Less Public Speaking Blog
You will find articles here, mainly about public speaking nerves. These articles feature many of my clients and their stories about dealing with public speaking anxiety.
If you are interested in a course or one-on-one coaching, see what others say for direct testimonials.
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...
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...
How to Be an Authentic Speaker – and What It Really Means
It is easy to recognise an “authentic” speaker but unpacking what it really means is harder. After all, public speaking is a performance – so how can you perform and be authentic at the same time?Although public speaking is a performance, it is not the...
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...
Seven Stories of People Who Once Had a Crippling Fear of Public Speaking and Did Something About It!
I am doing something different for this month’s blog article. I want to share seven stories of people who decided they were no longer willing to let their fear of public speaking define them. Why tell these stories? Because most people wait far too long...
How to Become a More Confident Public Speaker by Moving Outside of Your Comfort Zone (and Why Public Speaking Courses Get Results!)
More than 80% of people who register for Fear-less public speaking courses are actively avoiding public speaking. Some have chosen their career to avoid it. Others have turned down a promotion. Many palm off every speaking ‘opportunity’ to someone else. As well as being highly...
You Have Decided to Do Something About Your Fear of Public Speaking. Now What?
For years, I considered ‘doing something’ about my public speaking anxiety, but I put it off until I experienced a full-blown panic attack. Even then, it took me 6 months to act. Many people live with a fear of public speaking for years. They avoid...
Think Purpose, Not Performance – How to Feel Less Anxious When You Speak
Imagine you are in a room full of people and a fire breaks out. You are the only person who can direct people to safety. Would you spend even one millisecond hesitating because you are nervous about speaking in front of a group? Of course...
How to Look Confident as a Public Speaker – Even When You Feel Nervous
Most people want the same thing when they present. They want to feel confident. But if that is not possible, they at least want to look confident. In my coaching, I often hear people say they could cope with the nerves if only no one...
Good Speakers Aren’t Born. They’re Made: What a Growth Mindset Can Teach Us about Public Speaking
First written in 2019, updated in 2025. I once had a high-school cooking teacher who told us that “good cooks are born, not made.” I remember feeling confused. If that were true, why had she decided to become a cooking teacher? Her comment is a...
Why the Imposter Syndrome May Explain Your Fear of Public Speaking- And What You Can Do About It
If you have ever stepped up to speak and thought, “Who am I to be talking about this?”, you are in very good company. In fact, those moments of doubt often show up most strongly in people who are highly capable, hard-working, and quietly ambitious....
Public Speaking – the Myth of the Confident Extrovert and the Nervous Introvert
I often have clients tell me that the reason they struggle with public speaking is that they are introverted by nature. Most people assume that extroverts make better public speakers. They tend to be outgoing, sociable, and happy to talk. Introverts, on the other hand,...
Fight, Flight, or Freeze: Why Your Body Panics When You Stand Up to Speak
One of the most reassuring things I can tell clients is that nothing about their fear is unusual. Their bodies are doing exactly what they were designed to do. In evolutionary terms, the fight, flight, or freeze response kept us alive. The difficulty is 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. Nearly forty years on, its central message still lands with uncomfortable accuracy for anyone who fears public speaking. Jeffers identified five core truths about fear. When I recently...
How Susan Cain Overcame a Fear of Public Speaking to Give a TED Talk That Has Been Viewed More Than 25 Million Times
Susan Cain, author and celebrated TED talk presenter, once had a crippling fear of public speaking. Her TED talk, The Power of Introverts, has more than 25 million views and is one of my all-time favourites.I am also a big fan of Tim Ferris, and so...