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 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…

Laid-back Luke’s casual attitude trips him up sometimes. And it is the underlying cause of his fear of public speaking. He’s OK at impromptu speaking and he prefers to talk off the cuff. He doesn’t like formal speaking because he hates preparing. Usually, he gets away with being a bit unprepared and disorganized. He is quite funny, so people overlook that he rambles a bit. But one day he had a really bad experience. He was asked to speak at an important meeting. 
"Sweet, he thought – I’ll just wing it! That usually works pretty well for me."
But the topic was complex and difficult to explain. He could hear himself waffling and did not seem to be able to stop! Then he was asked some challenging questions, and he continued to ramble his way through inadequate answers.

The next time he was asked to speak, things got worse. He was way more nervous than usual, and he felt self-conscious. He knew he should have prepared more, but it was easier to think of other things! From there, things spiraled downhill. He started avoiding public speaking – making excuses or being absent on the day. Then his friend did ask him to be his best man! Of course, he agreed, but now he is panicking and worrying that his speech is going to be a disaster.  

Perfect Penny
Perfect Penny is great at her job. She is motivated, hardworking and sets high standards for herself. She has been promoted quickly and is being encouraged by her manager to take on some big responsibilities which could be great for her career. 

But Penny has a secret problem. Presentations are now a large part of her role and she hates public speaking!  She spends hours preparing and it always goes OK but she relies heavily on her PowerPoint slides and never feels comfortable. She is worried about what others think of her and would love to be like her boss who seems so natural when she speaks! Recently Penny had a bad experience when the PowerPoint failed and she had to ad-lib briefly. She is so worried about it happening again that she has started losing sleep before a presentation. She can’t avoid it, but it is getting so bad that she is thinking of changing careers!

Sensitive Sarah
A fear of public speaking goes way back for Sensitive Sarah. She remembers stumbling over reading a poem when she was 12 years old and her classmates sniggering. She is a warm, friendly person but does not like being in the limelight. If you are talking to Sarah she will ask you lots of questions but she  hates talking about herself because she worries that others find her boring. 

Sarah has deliberately chosen a career to avoid public speaking – or so she thought! But she has recently discovered that her new role will require some public speaking and she is dreading it!

The courses I run are full of Laid-back Lukes, Perfect Pennys and Sensitive Sarahs. Some people are a combination of two of these. These personas are not gender specific. While the Lukes are more likely to be male, and the Pennys and Sarahs female,  I have had plenty of Laid-back Lucys, Perfect Peters and Sensitive Sams!

Luke, Penny and Sarah all have a fear of public speaking but they are quite different personality types, which means that they need slightly different strategies to deal with their fear.

Structure and practice for Laid-back Luke ​
Laid-back Luke needs two things. He needs to understand how to prepare and structure a good presentation and he needs to practice it well in advance!

If he learns to identify his key message/s and organize his ideas, this will help him be more concise. And the practice will ensure that he sticks to the outline he prepared, rather than going off script and having to make it up! It is not easy to persuade him to prepare because he procrastinates. He manages to stay laid back and relaxed by blocking out his worries – which is great until it is not!!


Being willing to rely less on her script for Perfect Penny - and dropping the self-critique 
Perfect Penny needs to relinquish some control so that she can sound a bit more natural and conversational. She should practice communicating the same ideas with slightly different words each time rather than trying to memorize word for word.

Perfect Penny may also suffer from Imposter Syndrome. Her high standards mean that when she falls short she wonders whether she is the right person for the job. Perfect Penny needs to be less self-critical and allow herself a few fumbles – no one will remember (or notice for that matter!).

Learning basic skills by practicing in a safe environment for Sarah - and working on self-esteem
Sensitive Sarah has avoided public speaking most of her life and so her skills are somewhat limited. She needs to start speaking in a safe environment to build her skills and confidence. It might take a bit longer for Sensitive Sarah as she has less experience than Penny or even Luke.

Sometimes, practicing public speaking in a safe environment is all she needs to get going and even enjoy it – but she may also need to do some work (preferably with a trained professional) on her self-esteem.  


At the end of a Fear-less course, Perfect Penny usually has enough tools to continue her public speaking journey alone. She has plenty of opportunities to practice, and as long as she can keep things in perspective, she will continue to progress.

Laid-back Luke and Sensitive Sarah are at risk of slipping back into old ways – for Luke, it will be disciplining himself to prepare and practice, and for Sarah, it will be about making sure she has regular opportunities to speak – as it has been easy to avoid in the past. All three are capable of being competent and confident presenters if they stick with it.

If you have made it this far in the article, you have probably decided which personality you identify most closely with. Remember these personalities are gender neutral and you might recognize yourself in more than one.  You don’t have to live with the fear of public speaking. Understanding more about how your personality has fueled your fear can help you develop effective strategies to overcome the fear. 
Article prepared by Catherine Syme