An estimated 75% of adults suffer from a fear of public speaking.

When stress hormones are released

we may behave differently - frequently, our minds go blank, our voices become harder to control, we
may visibly shake etc.

Even professional public speakers have to deal with nerves but they have techniques to cope. In this
article, we discuss ways of speaking with confidence in public.

Preparation and organisation

Be prepared and organised for your presentation because this increases your control and less things can
go wrong. For example:

Visit the venue and room you'll be presenting in beforehand

Ensure you print any materials you need at least the day before

Create cards to use as cues

Prepare for technical faults, such as, having a back-up in case a video does not play

Arrive early for your speech

Practice repeatedly

Positive mental imagery

Visualise delivering your presentation confidently and successfully as this will reinforce your confidence.
Really imagine being there and use all of your senses to form the imagery. If you find that your
visualisations are negative then challenge these scenarios by drawing on previous experiences of
successful communication. Substitute the negative imagery with more realistic imagery.

Managing nerves

Remember that you haven't been invited to present for the purpose of being ridiculed - the audience
wants to hear you speak. Plan for managing your nerves by:

Avoiding consuming too much caffeine beforehand as this is a stimulant and can leave you feeling more
nervous and shaky.

Preparing music or a podcast that you can listen to on the way to the presentation.

Find a mindfulness exercise you'd feel comfortable doing as you travel to the venue.

Master controlled breathing beforehand so you can engage in this right before going onstage.

If you have time, engage in exercise beforehand. Exercising releases endorphins which reduce stress
levels and make you feel better.
Recognise that it's unlikely that the audience will know that you're feeling nervous - you do not look as
anxious as you feel.

Pausing

During the presentation, if you notice that you're speaking too quickly then pause and breathe. This
won't look strange - it will appear as though you're giving thought to what you're saying. You can also
strategically plan some of your pauses, such as after questions and at the end of sections, because this
will give you a chance to calm down and it will also give the audience an opportunity to think and
reflect.

Pausing will also help you avoid filler words, such as, "um" as well which can make you sound unsure.

Practice

If you're very familiar with the content of your presentation, your audience will perceive you as
confident. Practicing tips:

Don't just read the presentation through - practice everything, including your transitions and using your
visual aids.

Stand up and speak it aloud as though you were presenting to an audience.

Ensure that you practice your body language and gesturing.

Practice in front of others and get their feedback.

Film yourself presenting and watch it back.

Freely improvise so you'll sound more natural on the day. Don't learn your presentation verbatim
because you will sound uninterested and if you lose focus then you may forget everything.

Confident body language

You'll notice that professional public speakers look relaxed and confident, they talk slowly and make
positive body movements. To appear confident:

Maintain eye contact with the audience

Use gestures to emphasise points

Move around the stage

Match facial expressions with what you're saying

Reduce nervous habits

Slowly and steadily breathe

Use your voice aptly

Use your nervous energy

It can be difficult to hide your nerves so another way of dealing with this is to emphasise your emotions.
This means conveying the emotions you're explaining/you felt at the time, for example, the
disappointment you felt at a failure or the excitement you felt at a finding. The emotion you display will
hide your nerves.

Speak slowly

When you're nervous you may rush through your presentation and finish too quickly. This makes it
obvious to the audience that you're nervous, it's probably frustrating for them to listen to and watch,
you're not taking the time to connect with them and it's likely that you're making mistakes.

Try speaking at a speed that feels uncomfortably slow because it's likely that's the correct speed.

Connect with audience from the start

The first five minutes are vital for engaging the audience and getting them to listen to you. Consider
telling a story about a mistake you made or maybe life wasn't going well for you in the past - if relevant
to your presentation's aim.

People will relate to this as we have all experienced mistakes and failures. The more the audience
relates to you, the more likely they will remain engaged which will increase your confidence.

Friendly faces

Find a member of the audience that is: engaged, nodding or smiling in each section of the room. When
you find yourself becoming uncomfortable you can move your eyes to the friendly face in that section.

Identify and challenge your excuses

Write down the thoughts you have when you avoid speaking in a meeting or when you reject delivering
a presentation. These thoughts will identify what you're specifically afraid of, such as, worrying the
audience will judge you as incompetent.

This negative inner dialogue reduces your confidence and makes you think you can't speak in public.
Challenge these thoughts by looking at evidence of your successful communication and recognise how
unrealistic the thoughts can be.

Focus on your message

When you're presenting focus on what you're saying and why this message needs to be delivered to the
audience. This will keep you connected with your speech and will prevent you from being distracted by,
for example, an audience member falling asleep or your evaluation of how the presentation is going.
Instead you'll be connecting to the listeners who finding your presentation valuable.

Create a stage persona

It can be tempting to imitate favoured public speakers but it's better to work out what your
characteristics as a speaker are and then amplify these. To develop a confident stage persona ask
yourself:

What are my best characteristics as a speaker? E.g. Am I empathetic? Humorous? etc.

What are my features as a speaker? E.g. Do I gesticulate a lot? Am I energetic? Do I stick to the script or
do I improvise? etc.

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience
that reveals the human spirit.”

E.E. Cummings

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

refers to it as simply believing in oneself. Another popular article defines self-confidence as an

individual’s expectations of performance and self-evaluations of abilities and prior performance
(Lenney, 1977).

Finally, Psychology Dictionary Online defines self-confidence as an individual’s trust in his or her own
abilities, capacities, and judgments, or belief that he or she can successfully face day to day challenges
and demands (Psychology Dictionary Online).

Self-confidence also brings about more happiness. Typically, when you are confident in your abilities
you are happier due to your successes. When you are feeling better about your capabilities, the more
energized and motivated you are to take action and achieve your goals.

Self-confidence, then, is similar to self-efficacy in that it tends to focus on the individual’s future
performance; however, it seems to be based on prior performance, and so in a sense, it also focuses
on the past.
Some studies show a strong relationship between self-confidence and positive mental health
(Atherton et al., 2016; Clark & Gakuru, 2014; Gloppen, David-Ferdon, & Bates, 2010; Skenderis, 2015;
Stankov, 2013; Stankov & Lee, 2014). The success of individuals with high self-esteem lies in these six
attributes:

A greater sense of self-worth

Greater enjoyment in life and in activities

Freedom from self-doubt

Freedom from fear and anxiety, freedom from social anxiety, and less stress

More energy and motivation to act

More enjoyable time interacting with other people at social gatherings. When you are relaxed and
confident others will feel at ease around you.

#6 Confidence makes you a better communicator

Confident people are often good communicators. They aren’t afraid to be direct when necessary and
don’t second-guess themselves while they’re talking. Someone with low confidence may struggle with
making their needs and wants clear because they aren’t sure of themselves or they’re afraid of how
others will respond. This lack of clarity makes misunderstandings more likely. Confidence, on the
other hand, ensures more direct, honest communication.

#8 Confidence can help manage anxious feelings

Everyone feels anxious at some time. You might have an important meeting at work or need to have a
difficult conversation with someone. Confidence helps shield you from the nervous voice that says
“You can’t do this. You should give up.” Instead of feeling trapped by negative self-talk, confidence
provides an alternative message: “You can do this.”

#9 Confidence motivates you

To achieve your dreams and be successful in any area of life, you need motivation. You can find
motivation in many forms, but confidence is one of the most important. Confidence helps you look
back at your previous successes, no matter how small, and use them as fuel for the future. It helps you
feel proud of what you’ve accomplished in the past and hopeful for what you’ll achieve next.

by Emmaline Soken-Huberty
Why confidence is the secret to success in life
Written by: the Officevibe Content Team

Confidence is such a hard thing to maintain, because it can be crushed at any moment.

Confidence is so important though, because it gives us the strength we need to accomplish almost
anything.

How many times have you been held back because of a lack of confidence? I know for me it’s probably
in the hundreds.

Many people struggle with lack of self-confidence and it holds us back. We need to work hard on
improving our self-confidence and self-esteem if we want to be the type of leaders that employees
look up to.

Researchers are starting to see confidence as a key element of internal well-being and happiness.

Without confidence, we’re unable to achieve flow, the magical feeling when you’re “in the zone.” If
you don’t believe in your skills, you’ll never be able to achieve that state of ultimate productivity.

Why Confidence is Important in Public Speaking

Ashish Arora

speaking at industry events is a great way to become known as an expert in your field and get your
message in front of large crowds.

But those new to public speaking know that it can be intimidating standing up in front of a group of
strangers. And when you appear nervous, your authority goes right out the window.

Don’t Try and Be Perfect

Perfection does NOT exist. Even big named speakers who give TedTalks can forget what they were
saying or trip on their way up to the stage. Who cares? You’re human after all.

Accepting your humanity will help you feel more confident, as will focusing on helping people with
the information you have to share.

Take Care of Your Health

You have to physically feel well to feel confident. So be sure to get plenty of rest before the big day,
eat well, avoid drinking too much coffee beforehand (you don’t want to be jittery AND have to use the
restroom), and get a bit of exercise in the morning to release any nervous energy.

If you follow these tips you can’t help but feel more confident. And when you feel confident, the
audience will notice and be fully engaged in what you have to say!

SEVEN TIPS TO BUILD CONFIDENCE IN PUBLIC SPEAKING

In the final part of this three part series on the importance of confidence in public speaking, we want
to share with you tips and practical tools that can help you to build confidence as a public speaker. As
we mentioned in part one, one thing which unites all speakers is the ongoing need for confidence.

When it comes to confidence, ‘build’ is the key word. ‘Build’ indicates that gaining confidence is a
gradual, step-by-step, experience-by-experience process. The great news is it does not necessarily
need to be a slow process!

Here are seven ways to be build your confidence as a speaker:

1. DEAL WITH ANY NEGATIVE PAST PUBLIC SPEAKING EXPERIENCES.

You may have experienced an extended awkward pause and wished the ground would swallow you
up. Or perhaps you have literally fainted under the pressure. Regardless of the severity of the
negative experience, the flash-backs can cause you to freeze or throw up at even the thought of ever
speaking publicly again. Like with any negative experience you get to make a choice. Will you allow it
to impact your future and define you or will you face it, deal with it and move on? It may be as simple
as deciding not to replay it in your mind anymore. Or you may need the help of someone else to move
past it. You can’t move forward and build confidence as a public speaker if you are haunted by
negative experiences.

2. DRAW ON POSITIVE PAST SPEAKING EXPERIENCES

Whilst it may be a very different type and size of audience, or a different speech topic, drawing on
positive past public speaking experiences is very effective in building your confidence for your next
speech/presentation. If you could do it then, you can do it again! It is often easy to forget an event
that went really well. It is therefore recommended you write down when it is fresh in your mind what
you did well, why you think you succeeded and any uplifting feedback received from others. As part of
your preparation for your next event, you can then refer back to your notes, recall the past event and
adrenaline high you felt and this can boost your confidence.

3. WATCH YOURSELF ON CAMERA AND WRITE DOWN THE THINGS YOU LIKE

Watching yourself on camera is such an effective way of getting an appreciation and insight into what
the audience experiences when you speak. However, only reviewing your recording identifying all
things you need to fix is only one side of the coin. It is important to review your footage and identify
what you like about your speaking as well. Carrying out this form of analysis helps to ensure you don’t
get completely overwhelmed by all you feel you need to fix. Focusing on what you liked and ideally
writing this down will boost your confidence.

4. DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS, LEARN WHAT YOU CAN AND MOVE ON

Comparison can be very destructive in your confidence building process. There are always going to be
people around you or those you admire that you may consider are ‘better’ than you. But that is no
reason to give up or feel down! No one else can speak the way you do. Learn what you can from
others and move on. Don’t waste your time and energy constantly measuring and benchmarking
yourself against others. One practical way to do this is to monitor your social media usage. For
example, if looking at your Facebook causes you to compare yourself, limit how much you look at it.
Comparison generally causes you to focus on what you don’t have and what you are not good at.
Don’t let comparison be a distraction. No-one sounds, has the same sense of humour or the same
thoughts to share as you. Draw and build confidence from what makes you uniquely you as speaker.

5. BACK YOURSELF WITH YOUR WORDS

Words are powerful. What you say about yourself will shape your future. Speaking really critically of
yourself as a speaker can be a huge hindrance in building your confidence and negativity is not
attractive. Instead back yourself with your words. You may not be where you want to be yet but
tearing yourself down is not going to help. It is possible to speak honestly and openly about your
speaking abilities without any fluff and putting a positive spin on it which will build you up. Think of
negative words as leaving a horrible taste in your mouth. Remember if you can’t say something
positive about yourself as a speaker you may be best not to say anything at all. If you want to build
confidence back yourself with your words.

6. CONFIDENCE AND ARROGANCE ARE DIFFERENT – DON’T FEAR BEING CONFIDENT

Whilst there is a point in which the scale can tip from confidence to arrogance, if you are concerned as
a confident speaker in any way that the audience may perceive your confidence as arrogance don’t
be. The fact that you are concerned says it all! Arrogant people are not concerned at all about the
audience’s perception as sadly they are so consumed and focused on themselves. If you have a
healthy mindset and attitude as a speaker you won’t come across as arrogant. You therefore don’t
need to fear how your confidence will be perceived which in turn will help you to embrace and build
your confidence.

7. PRACTICE

You have confidence when you know you can do something. Many people just don’t practice enough
in front of an audience in a friendly environment where their is no consequences if mistakes are
made. If you want to build your confidence as a speaker be intentional about investing time in
developing your speaking skills. It is a skill you want to know you have in good time ahead of a public
speaking event as opposed to either panicking before an event having to learn the skill at high speed
or going to extreme measures to avoid the event altogether because you are not confident in your
speaking abilities. Practicing will help you master the art of public speaking and this is the key reason
why we run public speaking courses – to allow speakers like you to practice which will build your
confidence. Practice results in progress and your confidence gets built when you know you are
making progress.

We hope this three part series on confidence has been helpful and remember, the importance of
confidence in public speaking should never be underestimated.
How to Confidently Speak in Public: 10 Public Speaking Tips

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Dec 15, 2021 • 5 min read

Whether it’s for a class presentation in school or a speech at a wedding, public speaking can be nerve-
racking. You can overcome a fear of public speaking, though, with a few helpful tips and a lot of
practice.

What Is Public Speaking?

Public speaking is the act of talking in front of a live audience with the intent to educate, persuade, or
entertain your listeners. Public speaking is a broad category that includes formal public speeches in
front of large audiences—like a keynote address at a conference—and more informal speeches in
front of smaller audiences—like a toast at a dinner party. Effective verbal and nonverbal
communication skills are necessary for a public speaker to successfully engage their audience.

5 Reasons to Master the Art of Public Speaking

Good public speaking skills can benefit both your personal and professional life, and they are worth
developing in for a number of reasons:

1. To boost your confidence: Overcoming fear of public speaking gives you poise and makes you less
nervous in social situations.

2. To facilitate career advancement: Whether they help you perform better in job interviews or ace a
big presentation, effective public speaking skills are essential for anyone who wants to be in a
leadership position in the workplace.

3. To become a better communicator: Learning public speaking skills will make you reflect on and
improve your overall communication skills. This helps you drop bad speaking habits and become a
better communicator in your everyday life.

4. To expand your social and professional networks: The more engaging and captivating you are when
speaking, the more others will want to interact with you. The confidence you build by honing your
public speaking skills also makes you more likely to approach and converse with potential new friends
and business partners.

5. To build your influence: Public speaking is an amazing tool for spreading your point of view.
Whether your goal is to advocate for an important political cause or to simply tell a funny story to a
group of friends, improving your public speaking skills makes it easier to influence the reaction of your
audience.

10 Tips for Public Speaking

Public speaking doesn't come naturally to most people, but if it's something you struggle with, start
small. First, gain speaking experience in low-pressure situations in front of small groups, and work
your way up from there. The more you implement these public speaking tips, the more comfortable
you’ll be at public speaking.

1. Know your audience. Preparation equals confidence. Even those people who embrace the stage and
look like they’re ad-libbing their way through a great speech have some predetermined talking points.
The way you present those points, in large part, should be determined by your audience. Before
outlining your speech, ask yourself what your audience members want to hear.

2. Visualize success. It's natural to worry about failure before you speak in front of a crowd, but
negative thoughts only increase your nerves. Instead, in the moments before you take the stage,
visualize yourself knocking it out of the park, and imagine how amazing you'll feel once it’s over.

3. Use a visual aid. In more formal speaking situations, public speakers often use visual aids to help
give a more effective presentation. For example, highlighting your key points in a powerpoint
slideshow is a great way to help your audience remember those points. Visual aids like charts, graphs,
photos, and videos are also great ways to add additional context to information in your speech.

4. Share personal anecdotes. Communicating effectively during a speaking engagement requires that
you engage your audience. If you can insert yourself into your talking points, you’ll show that you
mean what you’re saying.

5. Know where to look. If you’re speaking to a very large crowd, look just over the crowd’s eye line.
That will make it appear that you’re looking at everyone while giving you the personal comfort of not
having to be constantly reminded of the crowd’s daunting size. In a smaller crowd, find that one
person who’s making direct eye contact with you and hanging on to your every word. Speak to them.
They’ll make you feel confident about your speech. The audience member who’s looking at their
phone will only end up distracting you as well. Ignore them.

6. Only write down the bullet points. It's tempting to write out your speech in full and read from a
prepared script, but your words won’t sound genuine if you’re reading them verbatim from a piece of
paper instead of addressing your audience directly. Even if you’re not reading from a piece of paper,
you’ll still sound stiff if you’re delivering a memorized speech. This doesn’t mean you can’t write down
anything. Using index cards with bullet points is an effective tool to help you remember your big
ideas.

7. Keep it simple. You don’t need to impress the audience with your sentence structure. You need to
keep them engaged with short phrases and quick, snappy stories. Audiences always have limited
attention spans, and your speech better cater to that. That said, your speech isn’t always going to be a
hit. There’s not much you can do when that happens, so just keep talking like you’re killing it, and get
through what you came there to say.

8. Identify and eliminate your verbal tics. You may be prone to using filler words and phrases such as
"you know," "um," and "like," so pay attention to your own speech patterns or watch a video of
yourself speaking to make yourself aware of your unwanted verbal tendencies. Perfect diction and
enunciation takes some serious practice, but it will be worth it when you take the stage to speak for
an audience.

9. Use positive body language. Good posture and a friendly smile work wonders to engage your
audience. Also, rather than remaining stationary or hiding behind a podium, make sure to move when
speaking. Walking around and using active hand gestures not only creates energy to hold your
audience's attention, but it makes you appear more passionate about your topic.

10. Practice. Nobody becomes an expert on their first try, so the more you practice public speaking,
the easier it becomes. Whenever you're presented with an opportunity to speak in front of others,
jump on it. While rehearsing alone isn’t as useful as practicing publicly, it still helps you become more
comfortable and accustomed to your abilities.