Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking

They say the one thing people fear more than death is public speaking. I'm not sure it was ever that extreme for me, but starting out, it was pretty close.  

Looking back, the last thing in the world I wanted to be doing was talking to more than 3 people at a time let alone giving presentations to thousands of people and in far away places like London, Moscow and Hong Kong. 

From the look of messages on my social networks, introversion and anxiety around public speaking is nothing unique. While I'm not the kind of speaker that works with a bureau or who does keynotes in city after city, I've been able to make a pretty big transition from dry mouth terror to actually having fun on stage.

The result? Creating a useful and "info-taining" experience for audiences all over the world, attracting clients and new employees. Most of the time anyway. 

Russell O'Sullivan from State of Digital recently reached out to me for tips about overcoming fears of public speaking (along with several other speakers) and in case you're in that situation, here's what I shared:

On Nervousness Before Presenting

When I first started presenting publicly, I was nearly paralyzed and spoke gibberish. Now it's more a feeling of anticipation, which is a good thing. A little adrenaline improves your senses and adds energy to a presentation.  

For me, there's a direct relationship between how much I practice out loud beforehand and the level of anxiety before a presentation. So, practice!

Interestingly, I do get a little nervous from time to time on radio, podcast and webinars where I cannot see the audience.  

Does Audience Size Matter?

It depends on the kind of presentation. If I’m giving a thought leader, inspirational or keynote type of presentation, then the larger the better - 500 or 5,000, it doesn't matter. Plus, the high you can get from connecting to a large crowd is amazing. 

If I’m giving a workshop, then smaller is better.

I once arrived to do a social media marketing workshop in New Zealand where I expected 20 to 25 students. There were nearly 200! That size of a group required me to adjust my approach significantly, especially with exercises and group sharing.

Stage Fright Stories

This wasn’t really a presentation exactly, but when I jumped out of an airplane with the U.S. Army Golden Knights as part of a conference PR stunt, I got seasick on the way down and cameras were rolling the whole time. I was not myself and couldn’t speak coherently as the camera guy ran up to me to do an interview, seconds after I landed. Very embarrassing! 

Overcoming Nerves

The way to overcome nerves is to know the material and have stories to tell. With that preparedness comes confidence.

I was recently about to present at a major social media marketing conference when the room moderator introduced himself telling me I had just 30 minutes to present with 15 minutes for Q and A (versus my understanding of 45 minutes of presentation).

I had 45 minutes of material and was seconds away from starting so I offered a compromise of 35-40 minutes with the rest for Q and A. He would have none of that as the seconds ticked away before I would get on stage and argued with me about the amount of time I would be presenting.  

In the past, this type of behavior would have put me off track and really affected my presentation, even causing some regression into stage fright. Instead, I stood my ground and stuck with the suggested compromise and the presentation went just fine. Ironically, the room moderator later complained to the conference organizer that I was the one that was being rude.

The main takeaway here is that there is no substitute for being knowledgeable, practiced and passionate about your topic to overcome nerves and deliver an amazing presentation experience for your audience. If something like a technical glitch or an overly aggressive moderator occurs, just roll with it and remember why you are there, to "info-tain" the audience. 

Tips For First Time Speakers

This advice comes from my perspective as an agency CEO who presents at events for thought leadership, lead generation and recruiting purposes.

First, try to find out about the audience and what their expectations might be. How is your presentation being promoted? What promises are being made about your presentation? Make sure you deliver on those promises.

As for the presentation itself, start with a story. Before planning out the tips, tactics and how to’s, think of a central story you can tell. In fact, if you have multiple stories, even better. Stories are more fun to present and infinitely more interesting to the audience.

Once you have that main story, accentuate and support it with the challenge your expertise can solve, recommended solution and actions the audience can take.

With any kind of content, always be able to answer:
1. What is it? (the problem relative to the audience)
2. How does your content solve a problem for the audience?
3. What should the audience do next?

Find out what your audience cares about, tell them stories and make sure you effectively describe the issue, a solution and what the audience should do next. That’s a great formula for an effective presentation for first timers and old timers alike.

If you want even more tips, check out the full post on State of Digital.