How to overcome the fear of speaking in public?

Speaking in public It’s a situation that every entrepreneur faces one day. Whether on a select committee, at a conference, or through webinars or podcasts, your business will regularly lead you to introduce yourself, highlight your business, or educate customers and prospects.

We are all more or less comfortable with the idea of ​​raising our voices in front of an audience.. Some are even totally anxious, paralyzed by public speaking. Tight throat, tight stomach, difficult breathing, feeling of discomfort are the first symptoms of stage fright that can grasp the novice speaker.

While your blog and all the content you produce are important in helping you gain visibility, you shouldn’t overlook the opportunities that real life offers you. Live events (conferences, seminars, courses, training, networking evenings, workshops, etc.) represent an opportunity to quickly make interesting contacts and Make yourself known as an expert.

Unfortunately, we are not all equal in this exercise, and although the ease and verve of some may disconcerte others, it is still possible to make significant progress. Here are some points that can help you improve your speaking.

Read also: How to successfully present an idea

Develop a presentation elevator

The Elevator Pitch is present yourself or your business in an impactful way in a very short period of time. The name comes from the plot that gave birth to this technique. Let’s imagine you’re walking to the elevator at your hotel and the employer or financier of your wildest dreams enters at the same time as you. How will you take advantage of the few seconds/minutes at your disposal to make him want to see you again?

This the presentation must be super effective and distinguish yourself from most suitors met before you. When I work on this part with my students, the first presentation they offer is often too wordy, too detailed. It’s importantget straight to the point. Don’t try to say everything, you still won’t be able to. The main thing is make your interlocutor want to get to know you better or discover your project. Leave some suspense so that it wants to provoke a real encounter.

This presentation must be short: between 30 seconds and one minute (remember the elevator!) Introduce yourself clearly, highlight your strengths and skills (or those of your company) without seeming presumptuous. Because of this, focus less on who you are and more on what you can bring to your interlocutor. Finally, make sure you have a clear objective in your presentation and that your interlocutor can perceive it. Whether it’s a collaboration, an interview, an interview, a loan or something else, the goal must be clear.

Once you establish this pitch, it will be useful to you everywhere! A professional evening? You will be able to present yourself clearly and effectively. A conference? Your introduction is perfect! An unexpected opportunity? Get out your pitch elevator! When we know that the first minutes of our presentation are the ones that will allow us to capture or divert the attention of our audience, it is important to optimize them as much as possible!

Capture your audience’s attention from the first seconds

That’s important the first few minutes of your introduction grab the audience’s attention. There are several ways to do this:

• use humorif you’re good!
• make a promise on the content of your presentation. Make sure it’s something worthy of interest to your viewers, like: “We’ll see in a few minutes how to increase your turnover by 30% in less than 3 months using a lever you certainly never thought of! »
• be dynamic. Someone passive will have put the room to sleep as quickly as they entered.

Your attitude will also help increase your audience’s interest in you. There are several ways to achieve this:

• if you are not stressed, Be yourself. Adapt your attitude to your audience but maintain your personality. The “real” side is always appreciated.
• be relaxed. Nothing is more embarrassing for the public than feeling stress and difficulties. He ends up losing interest in what you say because of the embarrassment he feels.
• if you’re really stressed, try to play a role. I know, this goes against the first point, yet it works. This will allow you to be successful in your first presentations and over time you will feel more comfortable and can become yourself again. Imagine yourself in the shoes of a speaker you like. Imagine how he would present to you, what his body language would be, the tone and volume of his voice, his attitude towards the people in front of you, etc. It’s a slightly fun way to ward off stage fright and proves to be very effective.

Videos

I know, it’s very hard to look at yourself. However, if you are scared of your first public speaking engagements, I encourage you to try webinar or YouTube videos. The advantage is that you won’t have the audience in front of you and you can get into the habit of speaking out loud.

It’s a great workout. Listening to yourself will then allow you to identify any linguistic tics – we all have them – and to correct them if they are too annoying.

Get ready!

This is obvious advice but worth remembering. If the first fear of speaking in public is linked to the audience itself, the second is that of the unknown.

If necessary, check the presentation ten times. Does it work as you want, do you have all the necessary adapters (HDMI, VGA) to cover all situations? I remember one class where the first few hours turned into a nightmare because my MacBook crashed every 10 minutes or so and I struggled to get it to work. Later that morning I found out that the tech department could lend me a laptop for the day. I should have found out sooner.

Make sure you have it too enough material to last the day or not have too much and end on a high note. Be confident in your content. Rehearse your presentation, just for yourself and time yourself. Anything that doesn’t «flow» naturally, eliminate it!

Do not play the presentation

On the one hand, this would force you to write too much in your presentation. Gold, each slide must present an ideaand develop it orally. One source of anxiety is wanting to do and say everything perfectly. Every word. Detach yourself from the presentation.

For me, my Powerpoint file simply helps me to have the guidelines of my course. Then I don’t write anything and I know the material well enough not to memorize it. And it’s a shame if I miss a certain anecdote or if I forget to mention a certain subpoint. I would have said the essentials, no matter what, and that is the most important thing.

Rest and eat well

If you are worried, go to bed early and get up early. In the morning, try calmly, review your presentation without any pressure. Eat enough to avoid feeling hungry during the presentation and not too much to avoid difficult digestion problems.

Don’t spend too much time on your topic, a few minutes are enough to put the ideas back in your head. You’ve been working on it for the past few days, you’re ready, everything will be fine!

To conclude

I’m not afraid of public speaking and I really enjoy it. I had the opportunity to do this as a teenager, so I have experience. I still get nervous sometimes and it’s usually when I haven’t prepared enough or don’t know the subject.

However, once under the «spotlight», the adrenaline takes over. I always try to have a certain balance in my preparation. I’ve noticed that if I prepare too much I become unnatural. Conversely, if I just give myself a path, a draft of my conference or my course, then I feel more at ease, the ideas come to me naturally and are often better than if I had prepared them.

So find your rhythm, your way of working, what works for you. So, ready for some big oral? And how do you prepare? What are your tips, how do you overcome your fears or shyness?