7 Essential Steps to Being Ice-Cool When Public Speaking

That leave people wondering how you do it

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Imagine this.

You are sat just in front of the stage in a large conference room. Behind you are more than 250 people. The speaker is beginning to close out her speech, which means in about three minutes, it will be your turn.

Suddenly you are gripped by rising panic, nausea twists your stomach, your heart begins to thump against your rib-cage, and you feel an almost overwhelming urge to stand and leave.

What do you do?

That was me in June 2019. I was giving a motivational talk at a conference called ‘Inspire’.

I’ll be honest; at that moment, I suddenly wasn’t sure if I could do it. Nerves have always been a battle for me. I remember wetting myself aged ten before a try-out rugby game for the best players within my town. Thankfully, the wetting has stopped, but the nerves have always been a problem.

This is how I remained in my seat and then went on to deliver a talk that got a room full of applause and secured several other speaking opportunities.

#1 Preparation is everything

When I was invited to do the talk, I knew this would be a big opportunity for me. I’ve wanted to develop myself as a speaker for several years and that if I could nail this, then it would provide me with a launching-off point.

To give me the best opportunity, I decided to invest in a speaking coach. I knew a few but chose a lady called Sarah Archer, who hosts the Speaking Club Podcast, which I’d be listening to avidly for months. She wasn’t cheap, but I knew if I wanted to be a professional, I needed to act like it. That begins with investing in myself with the best coaches.

For my money, I got six 45min sessions with Sarah. She shared with me her framework for building a speech, and I did the grunt work in between sessions. The sessions themselves were broken up between content and…