A Natural Public Speaker

No one was calling me this when my voice cracked, my face flushed, and I tried to hide my sweat and discomfort. I wasn’t afraid of public speaking, my body just refused to let me do it the way I wanted to. I have some unique perspectives, we all do. But those perspectives can’t affect others if we are not able to share them. So, my failure to speak well in public left me deeply frustrated. I know I am not alone in this experience, but that didn’t make me feel much better about my struggle.

If you find yourself in this situation, you can choose to give up or take on the challenge to overcome your innate limitations. The approach I took was akin to exposure therapy. I forced myself to speak in front of a group as often as I could. I wasn’t great and it was uncomfortable, but I did it nonetheless. As time went on, things got easier, and I have come to really enjoy speaking to an audience.

Here are some simple things that helped me feel become more comfortable speaking in public:

📹Keep your camera on during calls as much as possible. It helps normalize the feeling of people looking at you.

🙋‍♂️Ask questions from the audience. You’ll get used to speaking into a mic and having the spotlight for a short period.

🎭Rehearse. This will help you remember what you’re going to say and it will give you extra repetitions.

📼Record yourself speaking to share later. It is not the same as doing it live, but knowing others will see it will give you some of the public speaking feeling.

📖Sign up to share a short story. It will be over quickly.

Remember that people want to see you succeed and they understand that public speaking is challenging. I am always more impressed by the speakers who overcome their fears and struggle though than the seasoned professionals who make it look effortless. Public speaking is a skill and like all skills we need to put in the practice time if we want to play well. We see a competent speaker on stage and tend to assume they got there easily, but more often than not there is quite a bit of work behind their natural ability.