As much as 77% of the population are anxious about public speaking, so you are not alone. Since I was a child, I’ve been painfully shy and did everything to avoid public speaking, which hurt my career and my confidence. My heart rate would rapidly increase, I would get breathless, and my inner critic would make fun of me when I was giving any type of speech in my personal or professional life.
Public speaking is a learned skill. All it takes to get better and to build your confidence is practice. As the COO of my software company, I hired a public speaking consultant to give a workshop to our employees for their professional development.
First, he taught us about body language, vocal presence and speech organization. I got the feedback that all of my weight was on one leg, and I was leaning backwards like I wanted to get out of the room.
Next, each of us had to give four speeches over the half-day workshop. It was incredible to see each of us improve dramatically from speech 1 to speech 4 as we got more practice and built our confidence.
Last summer, I decided to face my fears and grow my public speaking skills by joining Toastmasters. By participating in the weekly meetings and taking on a variety of roles like timer, grammarian, speaker and evaluator, I am getting more and more confident speaking in public. I highly recommend you join Toastmasters if you have any fear of public speaking, or want to take your skills to the next level.
Growing isn’t comfortable
How do you grow the most as a person? By pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Nothing grows in your comfort zone.
I was absolutely terrified but said “yes” when I was given the opportunity to speak at the Toastmasters International Leadership Symposium last fall. After rehearsing for weeks, I gave my speech from my home office via Zoom while my kids watched TV downstairs. From the moment I began, I felt confident speaking publicly for the first time in my life.
I was literally bouncing off the walls with joy after I was done and bundled the kids into the car for a Halloween adventure in the mountains. My eight-year-old daughter turned to me from her seat beside me in the car and said, “I can feel your happiness inside me, Mama”.
There is no better feeling in the world than stepping outside your comfort zone and conquering a longstanding fear. This is how you build confidence in yourself.
Find a Toastmasters club to join near you: https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
