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Many of you know that I do a lot of speaking about my books (nearly 740 author appearances as I write this), and I did public speaking in my corporate life too (I also created a public speaking workshop seminar that I use with clients). I frequently get questions from readers asking for tips about speaking. I’ll occasionally answer some of these here. I’ll start with my first and most important piece of public speaking advice to help you curtail nervousness: The audience WANTS you to succeed! I tell anyone who is reluctant to stand up in front of a room that if they keep this in mind, they have a great starting point. The audience is genuinely rooting for you. Think about this: what happens when you’re sitting in an audience and a speaker is doing poorly? Or a comedian is “dying” on stage? It produces a visceral, physical feeling of anxiety in your gut. You are so desperately hoping the speaker improves so YOU will feel better. Keep this in mind when you speak! I sometimes think speakers have this deep-seated fear that audience members are hoping they fall flat (maybe anxiety leftover from middle school that everyone wants to laugh at you?). Nothing can be further from the truth! The audience is so hoping you’ll knock it out of the park – for your sake and THEIRS. Go forth boldly and speak – with this thought top of mind. Let me know what other questions or feelings you may have on this topic!
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