Leadership takes a certain amount of courage and confidence. It demands you to be the face of your company, motivate employees, represent your team, and more. All of these responsibilities require you to be a confident public speaker. But what if you’re not one? Have you every thought “how to improve confidence in public speaking”
You may not want to hear this but a self-doubting business leader is likely to do a bad job. The moment you start to hesitate, all those around you and the business start to feel the impact.
Of course, you can’t be invincible all the time. The ups and downs of the business world test everyone. But you can learn how to improve your confidence in public speaking. It will allow you to improve your stance in a public setting and project a better version of yourself.
There are plenty of steps and tips that can help you boost your confidence. While some of them are quick handy tricks, others are mindset shifts that take time. However, there’s something that no one tells you to do—find out the cause of your insecurity.
More than half of the population worldwide, including business leaders like you, is not confident enough to represent themselves in front of a large group. Have you ever wondered why is it so?
The reasons behind this self-doubting mind frame can be anything from fear of judgment to imposter syndrome but before you begin to learn how to improve confidence in public speaking, it’s imperative to figure out where the insecurity stems from.
In case you’re struggling to take the first step in the right direction, we have an eight-week public speaking course in place to help business leaders, founders and CEOs lead with their words and boost confidence.
Once you have the root cause of your lack of confidence figured out, here are a few steps you can take to improve your confidence in public speaking.
Whenever you feel nervous or anxious, just remember your audience is just like you & we all go through same situations.
What scares you the most about public speaking? It’s most likely the thought of all those eyeballs gazing at you. You can almost hear their thoughts as they criticize you for the way you look, walk or talk.
However, that’s the worst assumption. Plus, it pushes you into a downward spiral. The truth is that whether you’re on a stage or in the boardroom, your audience, before their titles, is human.
Every human on this planet feels the same set of emotions as you. They are all intimidated by each other and scared of doing what you’re doing right now – public speaking. But it’s a cruel trick that our mind plays on us by making us forget that we are all human beings and we all make mistakes.
To improve confidence in public speaking you must learn to embrace the shared humanity between you and your audience. Whenever you start feeling anxious, intimidated, or doubt yourself, shoot a reminder to your brain that you are just like everyone else. Your audience too understands your fears and where you’re coming from.
This approach towards anxiety and insecurity can help you build confidence and present better in business meetings.
Consistency is the key. Make sure you work daily on things where you feel diffident.
Humans are creatures of habit. We need to set daily routines to function. You probably know all that but what you may not know is that one daily routine can increase your confidence overnight.
If you start doing just one thing daily that you have been thinking about for a long time like fixing your sleep cycle, eating healthy, limiting your screen time, going to bed early, or any such thing, you can boost your self-esteem. It indicates to your brain that you’re capable of change and worthy of good things.
Moreover, a well-rested healthy body is more self-confident than others. When you get REM sleep, your gut is full of healthy food and you’ve flushed out all the toxins in your body, you step into your workplace with an optimistic mindset.
So, if you want to improve your confidence in public speaking, start by taking care of your body. Building a routine of healthy habits will help you maintain a confident state of mind and conquer business like never before.
When you start working on your goals, make sure you are keeping a track on your progress. It will motivate you.
Do you remember that feeling of accomplishment when you outperformed yourself on a test or broke your record of push-ups?
You must have felt the confidence to take on the world at the moment. It’s because when you accomplish a goal or overcome a hurdle, it induces a sense of personal pride and self-esteem. You prove to yourself that you are capable of great things.
Similarly, when you’re trying to improve your confidence in public speaking, create a step-by-step plan for yourself and monitor your progress.
Since you can’t be an ace speaker overnight, celebrating small wins and appreciating the strides you have taken in your life will give you the same sense of accomplishment as before.
Yes, there’s a long road ahead of you but looking back at everything you’ve achieved will remind you how far you’ve come and inspire you to push even further.
When it comes to overcome your fears of public speaking, taking such risks are worth it.
The only way to improve confidence in public speaking is to take a risk and action despite your fear of failure, messing up, or embarrassment.
If it works, you’ll find that you can do more than you think you can. If it doesn’t work out, you’ll find that you can handle disappointment better than you think you can. Either way, you are better off.
So, find a low-stake audience and test yourself. Speak your mind publicly and observe how you do.
Whenever you’re in a situation that requires you to speak publicly and you’re at loss for words, think of someone you admire deeply who exudes confidence. Ask yourself what they would do or say if faced with your current challenges and opportunities. Channel their confidence, certainty and courage of public speaking into your presentation.
You’ll feel more empowered and able to bring your point of view into the conversation in a way you’ve never done before.
Network & communicate people who are in same role as you are. You will be motivated when you will see them improving.
Whether you’re joining a new company as the CEO or representing your startup at a prestigious conference, there’s always going to be someone in a similar situation feeling anxious about what’s about to come.
But merely knowing that you’re not alone in your struggles and there’s someone going through the same fear of public speaking & lack of confidence can be quite comforting.
That’s why networking with people in similar roles can be a good way to improve confidence. This will help with your personal development as well. You’ll discover that other business leaders stress about their upcoming presentations as well. And C-suite executives struggle with stage fright. Sharing your experience with like-minded people will allow you to connect on a more personal level and build strong relationships.
Find a Public speaking coach who can train you & help you to overcome your fears of public speaking.
If there’s one thing a business professional doesn’t have is time. There is a long list of ways to boost confidence, but a business leader can’t try out everything. If you’re one of them, you should take professional help.
A coach or trainer will help you learn public speaking just the way appropriate for you. They will teach you everything that works, more importantly, everything that doesn’t.
It chops off the trial and error part of learning public speaking and leaves with foolproof planning to improve confidence in public speaking.
Even if you are an introvert or suffer from social anxiety, it is possible to overcome your fear and improve your confidence in public speaking.
In fact, with professional guidance and a little bit of practice, it won’t seem like “public speaking” but a regular day of sharing your thoughts, opinions, and ideas with a group of people.
If you want to boost your confidence and begin enjoying speaking in public, consider our eight-week online public speaking course. It will help you eliminate all your self-doubts and build a personal brand.
Becoming a better speaker is easier than you think. Join the Emerge Global Public Speaking Course to find out.
It’s normal for business leaders to struggle with confidence but you don’t have to stay that way. Especially when your business requires you to be a confident leader and represent it. To overcome your social anxiety and boost your confidence you can try multiple tips and see what works for you or enroll in a public speaking course where an expert will guide you throughout your journey.
Public speaking is not optional for business leaders, CEOs, and directors. If you want to succeed it’s better to have the proper training to excel at it.
Jeremiah O’Brian is a faculty member at the USC School of Dramatic Arts. His exceptionally diverse background – from gritty nuts-and-bolts firefighting to film and theatre credits and accolades – is bolstered by his several graduate degrees.
