7 Steps to Speak in Public When You Are Terrified of It

If you follow these steps, you will give a good speech, even if you have zero experience.

I’ve heard people say this to me several times:

”It’s easy for you to speak in public. You’ve been an interpreter, you’ve done this for years.”

Yes, I used to work as an interpreter and it taught me some skills. But public speaking wasn’t necessarily one of them.

(By the way, interpreters working for international conferences often sit in a dark booth, located somewhere the audience can’t see it. Headphones on, they are all alone. They rarely get to face their audience. But yes, they get good at speaking in a booth, with no one watching.)

So I get it if you are afraid to speak in public.

Of course, everything is teachable, and there are hundreds of training programs out there that could help you. But if you don’t have TIME to learn or money to invest right now, and your boss (or teacher, or business partner, or investor) needs you to make a speech NOW, you could be terrified of this challenge. I get that.

Here’s what I learned from my experience when I had to speak in public but had no proper training yet. These 7 steps are what you should focus on. Nothing fancy, but you can’t go wrong if you follow them.

Maybe your audience will not go wild with applause, but you will come out of this with your head up and actually proud of yourself.

1. Dress so you can feel confident AND look nice

What you wear plays a big part in how you feel. When do you feel confident? When you wear something nice and elegant? Or when you wear your pajamas? Most people feel more confident when they have something nice on.

You shouldn’t dress up like you were invited to the Golden Globes, of course. But wear something that says ”I know that how I dress matters”. Because it does. Don’t wear anything too comfy or too casual.

If you’re a man, don’t wear a faded t-shirt or your 10-year-old sweater. Ok, maybe that t-shirt gives you confidence because it’s familiar. But you will look much better in a new shirt, I guarantee you this.

If you’re a woman, wear a blazer, or anything that makes you feel elegant, but not extravagant. (And if you’re thinking ”Yeah, but Steve Jobs always wore these casual jeans and t-shirts…”, well, that’s because he was Steve Jobs. Are you Steve Jobs?)

2. Prepare your speech

Ok, you’re going to say this is obvious, but not so much. How many times have I heard colleagues say:

”Well, it’s a conference about my work. I know my work. I don’t need to prepare my speech.”

You do need to prepare it.

Even if you talk about something that you know be heart, write down every word. Even if it’s a speech about your family. Or about your favorite pie recipes. If there’s an audience involved and you’re not an experienced speaker, write it down and rehearse it.

3. Move while you speak

In the first seconds, everybody will look at you, because that’s the polite thing to do. But that only lasts a couple of seconds if you’re not interesting enough.

As long as you speak, your job is to be the most interesting thing happening in the room!

The easiest way to capture attention is to move. Even if it’s just a little bit. Take two steps to the right, talk some more, then take two steps to the left. You got this.

4. Make eye contact

Experts say a good speaker will make EVERY person in the audience feel like they are in a one on one conversation. But that’s very hard to do. Don’t set such high standards for yourself. Just remember you do need some eye contact.

Pick 3 or 4 people in the audience (depending on the size of your audience), one in the first row, the second in the middle, and another one in the back. (They shouldn’t be sitting behind each other, try to alternate left, right, left).

Look them in the eyes and imagine you only speak to them. Switch whenever you can. This will not only make them feel concerned, but it will also help YOU focus.

You might think that looking at one person is more intimidating than looking at the whole room. It’s not. While you focus on one person at a time, it will be easier for your brain to stay on track, because it spends LESS energy.

When your gaze focuses, your brain focuses. Leaving your eyes wander all over the place with no purpose, that’s what’s potentially intimidating because your brain is relentlessly searching and searching and searching…

5. Interact with your audience

This might sound scary. If you have no experience with this, the mere concept of an audience terrifies you. How can I possibly suggest that you interact with it?

Well, it’s actually easier than you think. Besides, you only need to do it once during your speech. Just one easy interaction. It will earn you enough good points.

Think of a question that you can ask someone in the audience. It must be an easy question, something everybody could answer.

Let’s say your speech is about statistics of online purchases during confinement. Choose a person (randomly or strategically) and ask them something like:

”Do you have children, sir?” ”Yes, two.” ”And how old are they?” ”7 and 9.” ”7 and 9, ok. Well, statistics show that families with children tend to purchase online between 9pm and 11pm.” etc…

Don’t worry if the question doesn’t EXACTLY match your arguments. You don’t ask the question to build your arguments, you ask it to make people feel involved.

The second you ask that question, your audience ”wakes up”. You get their attention back. You are addressing ONE person, but they will ALL answer your question mentally. This is the power of interaction. Use it.

6. Use very simple visuals

If you need to make a presentation at work, you will probably use something like a keynote presentation, PowerPoint, or equivalent.

The best thing to do is to keep it simple. Most people fail at this because they think their visual aids must be informative. They don’t. YOU are the one providing the information, not your charts.

Remember, your job is to be the most interesting thing happening in the room. If your slides or charts are too attractive and rich in information, you lose your audience.

So make it as simple as possible. No creative backgrounds. No unnecessary words. Shorten those lists. Delete those colors. Delete as many things as possible.

7. Don’t imitate professional speakers

You’ve probably heard experts say: ”you should speak from your heart”. (Yeah, but when you’re a newbie, you can barely stop shaking, all your heart wants is burst out of your chest).

Or: ”make it enjoyable for yourself and your audience will enjoy it too”. (Well, I don’t believe you can really enjoy yourself when you’re terrified. This takes time.)

Yes, talented speakers speak from their heart, they let their natural voice come out, they look like they are having a blast while speaking in front of 100 people. But that only comes with experience.

If you’re stressed out, accept it. Don’t try to imitate experienced speakers. (Besides, there was a time when they were just as terrified as you are.)

Don’t feel like you’re failing if you can’t enjoy yourself. Nobody could when they started. Don’t try to be as confident as Steve Jobs. Just do the best you can with what you have today.

(I’ve been reading biographies of talented speakers for years, because these stories fascinate me. And what I found is that the majority of brilliant speakers were BAD when they started. The reason they became excellent is because they worked hard and because they wanted to overcome a personal obstacle, their shyness, their fear, something in their personal background, etc.)

There you have it. If you do nothing more than these 7 things, you WILL survive the experience of speaking in public and even come out of it successful:

1. Dress so you feel confident AND look good
2. Prepare your speech
3. Move while you speak
4. Make eye contact
5. Interact with your audience (once is enough)
6. Use very simple visual aids (if any)
7. Don’t imitate professional speakers