5 Things I Did to Become a Fearless Public Speaker

Tried and true techniques to overcome your fear of public speaking

I was an export-quality introvert in my childhood. I could easily talk with family members and friends but had hard times with others.

Social gatherings were nightmares for me. My parents got embarrassed for me in every social gathering they took me with. When they introduced me to a stranger, I used to take a look at the face and that’s all — I would not lift my head the whole time. Talk about shyness!

When it comes to talking with any girl or a stranger, I could not speak a word. My friends used to make fun of me in front of the girls, but that didn’t change a thing.

The ability to speak in public isn’t something you are born with. You can deliver your speeches like a pro by developing the necessary skills.

Everyone feels the pressure before delivering their speeches. Some learn to control their nerves, others lose it.

Public speaking in itself is difficult. The situation gets even worse when you’re an introvert. I remember a speech competition from my junior high. General knowledge quiz, essay competition, etc. were a breeze for me. But the speech competition was beyond me.

I thought it for a while and decided to withdraw from the competition. I could hardly speak to a stranger, let alone in front of a crowd.

It was an inter-school competition and I was the only student competing from my school. So the teachers were pushing me to compete.

My heart was beating fast on the day of the competition. I went to the auditorium well-groomed. When they called my name, I went up on stage and took a random card.

The topic was a no-brainer. I could write pages on it. But the extempore speech was a different thing altogether.

Holding the microphone with both hands, I opened my mouth to talk but couldn’t utter a word. After a few tries, I succeeded at mumbling something but I’m sure no one in the audience could understand a thing I was saying.

I dropped the mic and left the stage immediately. I could not meet anyone for a few days after that.

Fast forward to yesterday morning and hundreds of students came to visit our facility. Our manager called a meeting and among others, discussed who’s up for giving a presentation. Guess who took the opportunity?

I’ll give you a hint — I did.

I entered the conference hall walking with confidence. I was looking at the audience in the eyes; whereas a few years ago I could not think about it. This me is different.

I was standing with my shoulder straight. My speech was fluent, persuasive and entertaining. I made jokes, walked with confidence, engaged the audience. There was no “um”, “ah”, “like”, “you know”s.

I ended the speech with a feeling of accomplishment. In a way, I knew my speech would be a blast. I rehearsed my speech until my performance was satisfactory.

Mastering something is possible only when you overcome your fear of doing that thing. The path to mastery is not easy. But again, you can do anything you set your mind to.

That day of junior high, I got so embarrassed that I decided to change myself. I knew I could not go forward in life if I fear public speaking. I knew I had to do something about it. I just didn’t know back then exactly what I needed to do.

With strong determination, I overcame my fear of public speaking and learned to enjoy it. You can do the same the way I did it.

Here I’ll tell you what worked for me in becoming a fearless public speaker:

Read Books on Public Speaking

Contrary to what this title says, you cannot learn public speaking just by reading books. Nonetheless, I’d suggest you read good books and well-written articles on public speaking.

Reading books has its benefits. When you observe something, you only learn what you perceive. One the other hand, by reading books you get to learn about the author’s perspectives. You learn about different points of view that you otherwise may not have thought of before.

You can find books on public speaking in your local library or online. I’ve read a couple of books on public speaking. They were good reads. I tried to grasp valuable insights and useful techniques from them.

I searched online and read tons of articles on what makes a good speech great. I learned everything there is on delivering a great speech. These helped me in developing a better understanding of my current status as well as my lacking in becoming a better public speaker.

Read anything and everything you find on public speaking: be it books, or articles. Try to learn what makes a public speaker great and practice their techniques.

Watch Videos of Great Public Speakers

You can learn a lot by observing a great public speaker. I watched hundreds of hours of videos to learn the subtleties of public speaking. My watch list included TED talks, product launches, presentations, etc.

When I liked a particular speaker, I searched for more videos of his presentations and binge-watched them.

Don’t confine yourself to presentation videos only. Watch movies and TV series with charismatic characters. They are great examples to develop a strong personality and confidence.

I’ve watched movies and TV series with strong leads to come out of my shell. Movies based on the life of admirable characters helped to build my confidence and shape my persona.

Fake Confidence ’til You Make It

We all feel the pressure on stage — but not everyone shows it. And you should neither.

It’s completely normal to feel the pressure in front of a large audience. Your hands will shake, your legs will tremble and your hearts will start to beat faster. The trick is not to let others have the faintest idea of how you’re feeling on stage.

Ever saw a duck swimming in the lake? Noticed how calm it seemed? Here’s the twist: a duck has to constantly paddle underwater to keep it afloat and move it forward. It just does not let you see its’ struggle.

Pretend you are full of confidence on stage even when you’re scared inside. Stand straight with your shoulders back and legs apart. Try the power posture. Look the audience in the eyes. These have reverse effects in boosting your confidence.

You have to fake your confidence for the first few times. Afterward, you will feel confident naturally.

Imitate a Public Speaker You Admire

Imitating real-life and fictional characters are both effective in becoming a better public speaker. Choose a real-life or fictional character you admire as a public speaker and observe how they deliver their messages, and make note of their body language.

Patrik Jane from the TV series The Mentalist had a great influence in developing my confidence. Observing and then imitating Patrick Jane taught me to deliver my speech in a way that people want to listen to.

Steve Jobs is my personal favorite in this field. He had this unbelievable quality of presenting a boring technical thing in a fun and entertaining way. His speeches were the epitome of public speaking. Watching his presentations’ videos has taught me a great many things. I tried to observe everything he did — no only what he said, but how he said it, what he did, etc.

Practice Before Every Performance

You can read all about public speaking, watch thousand-hours-worth videos, but nothing will work unless you practice. Practicing is the most important factor in becoming a great public speaker.

If you want to become a great public speaker and make yourself better with time, then you have got to practice — a lot.

Before any presentation, I practice in front of the mirror until I’m satisfied with my performance. First, I collect all the materials I can get hold of. Then I go through them in order of preference. I take note, jot down ideas and make a mental model of how I will deliver it in a way that people cannot ignore.

Sometimes I tape myself during the practice sessions as I prefer to practice alone. I don’t like the idea of showing my half-baked performance to others. I watch and re-watch the tape later to see how I did. This way I can bring changes to my presentation techniques and make it closer to perfection before the final performance.

If you’re okay with practicing in front of a real audience, then please by all means do so. It’s also a great way to rehearse and even better than practicing alone. You can engage your friends or family members as the audience and ask for feedback from them.

In Conclusion

Everything I did to change myself from that introvert little boy to this fearless public speaker is in this article. There’s no secret sauce.

With a little determination and continuous practice, you can make yourself a better public speaker. You just have to believe that you can.