Fear of evaluation and embarrassment is a natural evolutionary human response. Looking at an audience can feel like you’re staring at a pride of lions because you are a hardwired survival machine. The good news is that any level of glossophobia can get much better—and dare I say enjoyable—with practice. 

Don’t let your fear of public speaking prevent you from working on a valuable life skill that will serve you well in the future. 

Take it from someone who used to get so nervous walking to Toastmasters (a public speaking meetup) that I’d sometimes turn around to go home. Now having attained top speaker scores at several large conferences, I can tell you it gets so much better and I promise you have the ability to master the art of public speaking!

Here are my top 33 public speaking tips for beginners:

#1 Speaking is never about you.

Not even if you’re asked to do an intro, talk about yourself or your company. 

The entire purpose is to deliver value to the audience. Framing your talk around that concept will help you deliver meaningful information to the audience members who are giving you two of their most valuable resources; their time and attention. 

Show up ready to give, instead of taking or selling.

Realizing this also helps take ego (and a lot of nerves imo) out of speaking.

#2 Start small.

Your first time public speaking shouldn’t be an hour-long keynote in front of a few thousand people (new speakers have successfully done this, but I don’t suggest it). Start small.

Volunteer to give a five- to 10-minute presentation to your team at work, at a local meetup, or even just in front of a few family members or friends. This will help you practice, build your confidence, and get constructive feedback before tackling larger speaking opportunities.

#3 Nervousness is psychologically identical to arousal.

Understanding this can help you befriend your nervous energy. Each time I think or say, “I’m nervous,” I reframe it to, “I’m excited!” 

How you speak to yourself matters.

#4 Know your audience.

What commonalities do they share? What are they seeking to learn? And how can you leverage that information to deliver a premium talk? Knowing your audience helps you prepare qualified material. Nothing’s worse than being halfway through a talk and seeing deer-in-headlights faces.

#5 Speak on topics you know.

Speaking about something you know well will help give you confidence throughout your talk. It will also support you during any questions.

Beginners often say they don’t know what topic to choose. If this is you, try talking about a personal experience you’ve had that others might find interesting and can learn from.

#6 Ask for feedback early and often.

Get candid feedback about your talk to help take your public speaking to the next level. This works best when you seek critiques from trusted individuals who have your best interest at heart. Don’t listen to haters or spiteful peers.

It’s also important to record and watch your talks back. As cringy as it is to watch/hear yourself speak, I promise it will make you a stronger, more self-aware speaker. 

#7 Don’t overload your slides.

There should never be more than three takeaways per slide, preferably just one. Omit needless words and let your slides be supportive of what you’re saying. Less is more. 

Slides should (a) tell the audience what you’re going to tell them, (b) support you in telling them, then (c) tell them what you told them.

#8 Engage the audience.

Don’t speak at the audience, speak to/with the audience. Include them throughout your presentation by using collaborative words like “we.”

Asking the audience questions and incorporating attendees with interactive components can help accomplish this. 

#9 Over prepare.

Practice giving your talk out loud. Record yourself during run-throughs to see if you’re delivering the information efficiently. 

Pro Tip: Roll with the punches when distractions come up.
Fun Fact: A lost plumber started banging on a conference exit door and kept knocking for nearly two mins in the middle of my Learn Inbound Keynote.

Things like this come up and it’s your job to put the audience at ease, maintain control, and roll with it. During this mishap, the entire audience was looking around confused. Feeling their attention go elsewhere I addressed it head-on with a silly joke about how flattered I was that someone wanted to come see my talk so bad.

#10 Watch Universe on Netflix.

This is admittedly a weird one! Haha! But, if I’m really nervous excited before a big talk, I’ll watch The Universe to remind myself how comically small and unimportant I am. Mean that in the best and most beautifully interconnected way. It helps take some of the pressure off.

#11 Get to know the environment.

Always try to scope out where you’ll be speaking beforehand. Get a feel for where you can move around, where the lights are, if you should avoid any projection areas, etc. Call me neurotic but I’ll sometimes tape out zones on the floor/stage (with A/V permission) so I don’t wander off into non-desirable areas.

#12 Test equipment.

It’s always a good idea to do a run-through with your slides + mic to get a feel for everything. 

Pro Tip: Hiding lavalier (clip-on mic) packs can unfortunately be very tricky for anyone wearing certain types of women’s clothing. Make sure you have enough space to hide a mic pack clipped onto the back of your bra (prefer this because it’s most concealed) if that’s available to you, a back pocket, or onto the back of your pants, skirt, etc. And while you’re doing all that, please hide the mic wire under your clothes and remove any conference badges. This will make you look more professional on stage.

#13 It’s normal and okay to stumble.

Let’s say you forget to mention something or gibberish comes out of your mouth (very common). Just keep going! Remember the audience is cheering for you. 

They also have no idea what you are going to say. So just roll with it and no one will be the wiser.

#14 Move your body the morning of.

This can be as simple as some light stretching, going for a walk, or your usual workout. 

Emotions = energy in motion. 

Give your extra energy an outlet so you can be as focused and calm for your talk as possible.

#15 Take deep belly breaths.

The technique known as box breathing has saved me from several pre-talk panic attacks (s/o to Paul Shapiro, who had me do this when I started panicking before my TechSEOBoost Keynote).

Here’s how it works:

• 4 seconds inhale. 
• 4 seconds hold. 
• 4 seconds exhale. 
• 4 seconds hold. 
  • [rinse & repeat]

#16 Ground yourself.

Get out of your head and into your body + the present moment by wiggling all of your toes in your shoes. Harvey Martin, founder of Mindstrong and a sports performance specialist, tells athletes in high pressure situations to think, “Ten toes down” —a great mantra before going on stage.

#17 Power pose.

This sounds silly but power posing is incredibly powerful. Try stretching your arms out like you just won a race, or standing tall with shoulders back and hands on your hips. Power poses like these help you calm down and boost your confidence before a talk. I encourage speakers to take at least three mins to themselves before a talk to get in the zone. 

Pro Tip: A lot of speakers, myself included, listen to some of their favorite music beforehand. (Often in a bathroom while power posing—and often mic’d up, hahaa! Apologies to all my A/V friends.) Clearing your head and grounding yourself before a talk will help set you up for success.

#18 Warm up your voice.

There are many ways to warm up your voice. I’m no vocal expert so my favorites are pretty silly and revolve around ridiculous Anchorman quotes, like “How now brown cow” and “The arsonist has oddly shaped feet.” They make me laugh, okay!?

There are tons of great expert-led vocal warmup videos on YouTube you can explore to see what works right for you.

#19 Speak louder than you feel comfortable.

Don’t start screaming on stage, but speak loudly and from your belly instead of your chest. This helps communicate competence and strength to your listeners.

Powerful speakers do this beautifully.

#20 Slow down.

Speak slower than you think you should. This shows confidence and helps put the audience at ease.

#21 Leverage the power of storytelling!

Cannot tell you how often people who saw me talk years ago only remember the stories I told.

Stories are powerful tools to help you communicate and support your information + are incredibly memorable.

#22 Use pauses.

Pauses can be very powerful in the right moments.

Don’t feel like you have to fill every second with words (a common beginner mistake). Let your most powerful points hang in the air for several seconds. This will feel uncomfortable at first, but you’ll have more of the audience’s attention.

#23 Don’t immediately start talking.

“A lot of people start talking right away, and it’s out of nerves,” Simon Sinek, one of the most-watched TED Talks speakers of all time, told Entrepreneur. “That communicates a little bit of insecurity and fear.”

Instead, quietly walk out on stage. Then take a deep breath, find your place, wait a few seconds and begin. “I know it sounds long and tedious and it feels excruciatingly awkward when you do it,” Sinek says, “but it shows the audience you’re totally confident and in charge of the situation.”

#24 Maintain good posture.

This is huge! Posture says a lot about a person and it will only take seeing a few bad posture photos of yourself to make you course correct. 

Jordan Peterson has a great chapter on posture in 12 Rules for Life where he explains how defeated humans (and certain animals like lobsters) often assume a posture that matches their hierarchical position. So, stand tall!

Pro Tip: Command the space! Take up room and walk with purpose. I’ve seen a few of the best talks (material wise) completely flop because the speaker lacked good posture and was monotone.

#25 Make eye contact.

If you can’t do this at first, that’s okay. Simply look at the top of people’s heads (or just above) and it will appear to the audience that you are making some level of eye contact.

#26 Don’t memorize.

Have prompts for things you want to say and then speak conversationally. Also try to practice avoiding any filler words (ums, ahs, etc.). 

There are exceptions to this. My good speaker friend (and genius) Jono Alderson memorizes his talks word for word (citing that he wants to speak as efficiently as possible) and he consistently receives top speaker scores.

#27 Remember the audience is rooting for you!

Sitting in the audience and chatting with people before your talk can help put you at ease and recognize that they aren’t a pack of lions (like your reptilian brain thinks they are).

—Doing this has led me to meet some of my favorite people! Like the talented and lovely Sarah Pritchard before a keynote in Bali, Indonesia.

#28 Be vulnerable.

A little bit of transparency and humility goes a long way.

+People are generally good at reading people. Being vulnerable and authentic can help you gain the audience’s trust.

#29 Grab the audience’s attention right away!

This is so important and helps keep listeners engaged throughout your talk. There are lots of fun ways to do this that help break the ice and get you more comfortable speaking. For example, start with something unexpected. This could be a loud noise, bringing a strange object on stage or saying something out of the ordinary to engage audience members.

For example: Once I started a keynote by looking and pointing at three random individual audience members while slowly saying, “You have a secret… You have a secret… and you have a secret.”

Not to be cliche but you could have heard a pin drop.

#30 Don’t go over time.

Not only is going over time disrespectful to conference organizers and any speakers after you, but it also makes you look ill-prepared.

#31 Express thanks/gratitude when you’re done.

People have gifted you with their time and attention. It’s important to acknowledge that and be grateful.

#32 Toastmasters is a great place to start!

Toastmasters is an extremely helpful and educational public speaking community that you can find in most cities/towns. It’s a very safe place to get started and learn from other speakers, plus guest drop-ins are free!

#33 Have fun!

Try not to be so hard on yourself! You’re making a big first step by learning about public speaking right now and your future self will thank you for it. You’ll also be shocked at how much better and more comfortable you’ll be after just a few small talks.

A little public speaking experience can open up more opportunities than you ever thought possible.

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