if there is one skill
one thing that I've been on the most tumultuous
crazy roller coaster ride journey on over the last god
like 10 15
probably even 20 years
it has been public speaking presenting
standing in front of people
like using your words and communication
to inspire people to come along on a journey with you
and as you'll know
when you are in a position of leadership at work
or just a position where you wanna influence
and inspire and kinda like yeah
bring people along on that journey
you you have to be good with public speaking
with communication and I think there's a bit of a like
confidence gap with this in
and what I mean by confidence gap is
it's the confidence that can hold us back
so it's not always the skill
it sometimes can be you know
you might have the framework or the um
system for doing something
but it's there's a gap there's a leap in between
having that framework and system
and that gap or leap is generally confidence
and so in this episode
I am gonna take us all the way through
my journey of public speaking
and how I've grown over the years
I'm gonna give you some really
solid skills that you can take away from this episode
and some small kind of like hacks and habits
as well as to how we improve our public speaking
and I don't mean standing up on a stage
I mean we'll do that as well
these hacks will help you there as well
but I mean
more sometimes like one on one conversations
we need these skills for but you think about
you know presenting what it could be online
presenting in front of more senior people than you
it could be presenting to your team
in that weekly team meeting
it could be like standing in front of a boardroom
any of those things
this episode is gonna help you get more confident
help you to overcome some of the anxiety
that we all get all
some of the nervousness we all get around that
but then also give you some like
really practical tools and
and tricks and hacks that I've Learned over the years
and now put into place in every single thing that I do
so welcome back to the boardroom
we are now all the way at Episode 8
the boardroom is a podcast where we open
the closed boardroom doors
we really unearth some of those conversations
that
a lot of us never got the opportunity to be privy to
and thank you for the reception of this podcast so far
we've got thousands and thousands of you tuning in
which is just unbelievable
and we are still like I said
a relatively small podcast right now
and it really helps
if you would just subscribe and review
reviewing the podcast
is one of the most helpful things you can do
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just review it whatever platform you're on
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and we just can't wait to bring you even more of these
and I'm so so glad you're here
so let's get stuck into it
77% of people on planet earth have something called
glossophobia
now glossophobia is the fear of public speaking
it's a real true phobia I'm not really sure
at what point we stop calling things phobias
because I appreciate a phobia is a
is meant to be like
a fear of something that can't actually harm you
but you know
it's real like it's a real fear and it's okay
it's a it's a real thing it's hard
and so anyway 77% of people have glossophobia
and now I'm gonna read off my phone for a sec
because I've just got some notes on
exactly what the key symptoms of glossophobia are
and the reason I want to read these off my phone
is so that you really deeply understand what this is
cause I think it's so important to talk about
before we go into you know
like the tricks hacks
whatever understanding that nervousness and anxiety
and where it stems from
cause it helps us to feel less alone
I think it helps us to when we start to understand
we start to feel more control over it
so I'm gonna show you what Google says so glossophobia
the key symptoms we've got four here
the first one is anticipatory anxiety
so the this is a symptom where days or hours before
you get that feeling of dread
and it's so funny cause I remember this like so
so clearly when I did my first ever
I think
I've spoke to you guys on this podcast about this
before I did my first ever public speaking gig
where I went to a conference and like stood on a stage
it was a very small one
it was very kind of small controlled
but that was literally
I couldn't sleep for days before
I went and hid in the toilet before I went on stage
because I was like can I just get away
you know like can I pretend I'm ill
can I get out of this
I remember that anticipatory anxiety so awful
so clearly so the next one is physical distress
I think you know
these are the symptoms that
they really show up in how you present
how you actually feel so things like it says here
rapid heartbeat heavy sweating nausea trembling
dry mouth all that oh my god
it's just this is giving me a flashback to
just before my Tedx talk where I was like
really struggling to control those things
I was just shaking
like my heart was literally pounding out my chest
so you got that you've got the anxiety
but you got the physical distress as well
then we've got cognitive disruption
so this is a symptom
and I think this is what a lot of people get fearful of
is that symptom of like
I'm gonna freeze up I'm gonna you know
forget what I'm supposed to say
I'm gonna freeze up go completely blank
and as we get further into this episode
I'm gonna give you some tricks of how to kind of
overcome that because this was a big one for me too
so like freezing going completely blank
struggling to maintain a train of thought
because obviously it's terrifying
and again just to go back to that Tedx talk
like I so with a Tedx talk
to give you guys some like
behind the scenes info of how Tedx works
you it it people say don't script it
but most of the Tedx talks are scripted
and it's very different to what you might consider
like a script being nowadays
where you do a social media video
or a lot of people script their podcasts
we absolutely don't
where you're reading off a teleprompter
that's not what Tedx is so when you do a Tedx talk
it's scripted but you have to remember it
so it's generally like 15 minutes of talking
and whilst most people
you won't like remember it word for word
you will kind of have these maybe 15
bullet points that you riff off
over the course of the 15 minutes
but you have to be so concise with what it is
you wanna say
and obviously if you got 15 bullet points
you've only got 15 minutes
so you got one minute per bullet point
you have to be like so clear
so concise and so that
taught me so much about the skill of inspiring
and public speaking and that talk
like now when I get booked for public speaking
everyone almost every single client
will reference that talk and be like
I watched your Tedx talk about Gen Z and here's like
you know we wanna book you in for this
can you do a different talk
can you do the same talk etcetera
and so yeah that cognitive disruption
was really real for me at Tedx
because if you imagine memorizing
pretty much memorizing a 15 minute script
that was fucking terrifying um
avoidance behaviour so just deliberately skipping it
like a lot of us might try and skip things
calling sick maybe this happened at school like
you know
if you had to stand up and give a presentation
at school but then the common causes
like the underlying causes
the things that actually cause this
because we think that you know
standing on a stage you might be terrified
because you might forget what you're gonna say
or because you sort of fear
what if I don't do it well enough
but the real causes are this underlying
fear of judgment so being like scrutinized
feeling embarrassed
so if you think about missing a line you
what you and I know that if we stood on a stage
if we're presenting to our team in a meeting
no one cares if you just skip a word or two
it's that underlying feeling of like oh
but they might not know what I'm doing
or might think I don't know what I'm talking about
and so we just really don't want to be rejected
or embarrassed past trauma
so having like a negative experience in the past
it could have been from school
it could have been from family
where you stood up to say something
and it's not being received well
and brain chemistry like just tech
just truly science
like heightened activity in the amygdala
which is the brain's fear processing center
will trigger an exaggerated fight or flight response
so these are like the underlying
common causes of that glossophobia
so what that all tells me is
this isn't really about a fear of speaking necessarily
it's this fear of being seen and being heard
and you know
that fear of being truly
authentically yourself in front of a group of people
and someone judging you or it feeling embarrassing
or you're not kind of
living up to the picture
that you want to paint in their head
and the reason that this conversation matters
more than ever right now
is managers more than ever
are being expected to communicate things from above
so if you if you think like pre pandemic generally
if we were all in an office
like pre pandemic
I know this is really hard to even think about now
we barely used zoom
like if you were in a big corporate business
and you had maybe like
teams that were on different sides of the planet or
you know in different offices across the country
maybe you would use something like zoom
or teams to have video calls occasionally
but in general like pre covid
the mentality was you
you were generally in the office with people
like I remember
the only thing we used to have zoom calls for was like
client demos and really quick client demos
and so it
this kind of is a new phenomenon that middle managers
like you and I or business leaders
are expected to communicate strategy more than ever
through the devices of like zoom
give presentations over zoom
and you know
like previously you might have had say
if your business wanted to communicate strategy
you might have had the csuite
or the CEO or whatever come into the room
and they would have stood up in front of a meeting
room of people and they would have communicated
exactly what they were doing
whether they were inspiring or not
that's how it would have worked
now
you've got these like matrix layers of communication
whereby us you know
the middle managers the
it maybe even senior leaders
cause they still are in the middle
when you're in a corporate
are expected to deliver presentations
these like town halls you know
I remember at Sage we used to have like
I would sit on a panel
where we'd present to the whole Sage group
like I remember sitting on a panel once
with three other women
and we were presenting to like the whole team of
I think there was like 13,000 people at the time
and it's terrifying like
it is scary knowing that your voice and your opinions
and your thoughts and your work
is about to be perceived by that many people
and not just perceived but like
by the people that you care about
listening to you speak well
and what that means is
it's now more important than ever
for us to sharpen up these skills
to sharpen up these presentation skills
and something I hate is
when managers'cause I believed this to be true
when we kind of give ourselves
like a lack of confidence to go and present
to go into these rooms and have these conversations
because we believe that you have to be born with it
like you have to have this natural charisma
and be able to articulate yourself really well
from the get go in order to be good at this
but you know
just like everything else I teach in leadership
it is a skill I promise it's a skill
it's one that you can learn
you have to have the courage to go and practice
it but I guarantee you can learn it
I'm gonna go all the way back to school
when we had to stand up and present
you know
things that I remember doing economics for a level
and we'd have to like
stand up and present our business idea
or we'd have to I don't know
even going back right back to like primary school
standing up in front of assembly and reading something
that for me was nervy like I was terrified
I wasn't like a born natural
great public speaker who like
loved to be on stage
and got energized by being on stage
I was terrified and I think like
having the confidence
to have those difficult conversations
where even if it's like a one on one or a one on two
where you have to communicate ideas
communicate strategy from above
communicate you know
like more recently a good friend of mine
she's had to communicate to her entire team
that there's no pay rises this year
because the business isn't doing well
and therefore nobody in the team is getting a pay rise
and she's had to communicate that to the team
in a way that you know keeps them motivated
keeps them feeling energized and sometimes it's hard
like you can't actually always do that
but you have to implore some skills
as a leader to make sure that you can
kind of keep your team
feeling as though they're on this journey with you
and so I started off as you know
like a really nervous speaker
really nervous presenter
the first couple of public speaking things that I did
when it was at conferences
I was terrified by I used to also do like webinars
in the small tech business that I worked in
I do client webinars and present and I was so nervous
I remember before it like really so sweaty scared
I've had I've had like
sticky notes everywhere with scripts and be terrified
and then you know
fast forward to like today and don't get me wrong
standing on the stages is never gonna be natural
like it's not a natural thing
to go and stand on a stage in front of 300 people
and communicate your ideas really well
but I don't feel terrified anymore
I don't feel terrified and scared
and there's a few key reasons as to why
that I'm gonna hand over to you today
when I present to my team and share ideas
I like to think now that I can inspire them
and bring them along on that journey
and so
I'm gonna show you how I went on that journey to being
like this super nervous
terrified person about public speaking
about presenting in front of a small group
through to being able to deliver a Tedx talk
you know Tedx is one of the most
world renowned stages in the entire world
and so I'm gonna take you on that journey
I'm gonna give you my tips and tricks
and I just really hope that by the end of this episode
you have the courage
to go and try these things for yourself
and take take a bit of pressure off yourself as well
in presenting and public speaking
because it's not natural
like it's not a natural thing to do
so the first tip I am gonna give you is
whatever you think you're gonna start with
write it all down usually it's an intro hi
my name is Heather and this is my role
and here is what I'm gonna show you today
that's what everyone thinks you should start with
so write that out as you need to
and then remove the first three sentences
or the first three slides
just like with social media
where every video has a hook
just like with this podcast where at the beginning
I don't sit down and say hey
my name's Heather
this episode's gonna be all about presenting
and speaking the first at least like 5 sentences
first slide you need people to be hooked in
you will notice from here on out
and you may have noticed before
every episode that I start with
I jump straight into a story
or a statement or a question
as a um
participant in webinars or a listener of podcasts
you know you're someone who listens to podcasts
I'm someone who listens to podcasts
I'm someone who watches webinars watches YouTube
videos to educate myself
if I'm not hooked in that first five minutes
if I don't have somewhat of a promise of the value
or a delivery on the value
I'm checking out and if you're presenting to your team
especially if it's like over zoom
you know if you're doing a presentation online
you've got to keep them hooked in
you've got to keep them engaged
and I think nowadays
people are so bored of the classic
like corporate presentation style
it's so boring and if you have even like a title slide
that doesn't have you can have a title slide
but maybe have a question on it
start with a question like
get people engaged in the chat box of the presentation
you know get them engaged
if you're presenting in front of a group
say you're standing up in front of your 10
person team on a Monday morning
start off with a question not how was your weekend
start off with
what was the most exciting part of everyone's week
last week that is immediately gonna get people focused
get people engaged
and you're also taking the impetus away from you
so you're taking it away from this is
this presentation is all about me
and what I've got to say
and me showing you the facts and me getting it right
and you're saying I wanna hear from you immediately
I wanna get you engaged
I want you like something that I do
if you've ever seen my stop being nice
start being kind it's my signature talk that I deliver
on stages all around the world
about three minutes in I ask the audience
how confident do you feel
having a difficult conversation
and I get them if I'm physically in the room with them
I'll get them to show me a number on their hands
from 1 to 10 and if I am on zoom or whatever
I'll get them to put the number in the chat box
and then I usually will pick on a couple of people
and ask them okay
tell me I'll pick on someone who voted really high
and someone who voted really low
and I'll just say tell me why you feel like that
tell me why you put a 3 up
tell me why you put a 9 up
and it's that audience interaction and engagement
that is gonna win them over
it's gonna win them over
it's gonna help them to feel engaged
because if you think to
when you last watched a presentation
the reason it's boring the reason it
from the beginning is like the most boring thing ever
and you wanna switch off is it's all about that person
it's all about them
and I know if you've chose to be here right
you've chose to click play on this podcast
you are already somewhat invested you you know
you can't maybe you already know who I am
maybe you don't know who I am
but does it really matter
and if it does tell the stories throughout
so what you'll notice
I'm doing throughout this podcast is
instead of like
sitting at the beginning of every episode
and telling you
or at the beginning of the first episode
even going through my career journey
telling you every single thing about me and you know
my favourite food and my pet and whatever
I don't have a pet wish I did but instead of doing that
it's boring I know that throughout the next 12 weeks
you will go on a journey with me
where you'll learn things about me
you'll learn my point of view
you will hear about my career history
but when I bring it in
it's done from the perspective of
Here's a story that's gonna help you
to see how you can overcome this pain
and so whatever is in your first three minutes
usually just scrap it hey guys
today we're gonna talk about X
y and Z
here's what we're gonna go through you can do that
just don't do it in the first three minutes
in the first three minutes
get people switched on get them engaged
you can ask people
think icebreaker questions in meetings are cringey
I think they're fucking brilliant
like I used to ask my team
we had just our monthly leadership review and I said
what's your biggest regret in life
how I know that is probably really deep
and a lot of people listen to this will be like
fucking hell Heather
you can't be asking them that in like a you know
weekly leadership meeting
I asked the question
and then I actually answered it first
to give them a bit of time to warm up
and to say I'm willing to share mine with you
and it was really I went probably a bit too deep
but they
they decide how much information they wanna give you
like
they don't have to tell you something that they really
truly deeply regret
if they want they could just say I regret you know
I don't know something that's more shallow
they get to decide they don't have to answer
it's an invitation to answer
it's not a summoning and so ask an icebreaker question
there's loads online
you can just Google icebreaker questions
and I used to love asking it cause it gets them closer
it gets us all together so that's your first point
whatever that first 5 minutes is make it fun engaging
different
don't make it all about you cause that is just boring
next tip is pause just pause and breathe
we tend to think when you're in the hot seat
when you're the one that's presenting
you feel time moving so slowly
because the eyes are on you
I guarantee people are
not computing the information as fast as you are
because you've prepped it
like you understand it you know
the context just slow down
something I really struggled with and to be honest
I've only got over this in the last
like six months or so was breathing on stage
like we get out of breath because we go so fast
and if you listen to the episode on stop being nice
start being kind
you will have heard me tell the story about me
like finding confidence in my own voice
and how I was just such a fast speaker
and a lot of the time we speak fast
if you ask a therapist why you speak so fast
they will say to you
it's because you don't have confidence in your voice
and you have to slow it down
pause to take a breath
like because it's kind of this cycle
if you don't pause to take those breaths
you just constantly feed back to your brain to say
I'm stressed I'm in flight mode
and that will just be like this vicious cycle
going back into your words
that make you get more worked up
more anxious more overwhelmed
and so allow yourself time to pause
give yourself a breath
give yourself some sort of cues throughout the talk
throughout the presentation
it could just be every slide you say to yourself
OK I'm gonna count to three in my head
do two deep breaths
one and 2 and just do two deep breaths
someone said to me once I've not fact checked this
but I'm pretty sure it's true
if ever you're feeling anxious
breathe out and sometimes I do this before bed now
if ever I'm a little bit on like
the more stressed side
and I and I wanna make sure I get a good sleep like
you know
when those thoughts are keeping you awake at night
do 10 really deep breaths out
because apparently when you breathe out for longer
it's a signal to your nervous system
that you are not stressed
that you're not in flight mode
you don't need to kind of go into that fight or flight
fear and so I do it now before I go on stage
I do it before I sleep
just take 10 really deep breaths
and breathe out for as long as you possibly can
and it's just gonna help put your body in
like a better physical state
but take those breaths throughout like slow it down
count in your head ask a question
and if there's a bit of a pause
when you ask that question
and people don't immediately respond
just don't feel the silence give them the space
allow them space my next point is that
I have had a lot of feedback on my public speaking
over the years again
public speaking sometimes just in boardroom meetings
with a small group
sometimes presenting in front of hundreds of people
sometimes on zoom
I've had lots of feedback because I go and look for it
I ask peers I ask people in the room
I send a form to people after my talk
asking for feedback is scarier than I think
a lot of us think we like
I always when I deliver something
if I'm not sure I did it to 100%
I will hesitate
when I want to ask for the feedback for it
because I think oh
but I know that they're not gonna give me like
a 10 out of 10 and maybe that's gonna stress me out
and do I really need to hear it
cause it's gonna make me more nervous
last time I cannot tell you how much over the years
asking for feedback on my public speaking
has improved my public speaking
so the next time you're in these scenarios
say to your team like people that you trust
it can be peers it can be people on your team
people that you manage ask them the question
what's one thing you loved about that presentation
and one thing you think I could have done better
and say to them look please
I really wanna know
because I'm trying to improve my public speaking
I'd love it if you could give me some feedback on this
I don't want you to sugarcoat it
I want you to tell me and that's just also like
another opportunity for you to signal to your team
that you care about feedback
you care about growing so that they can do that as well
and so go and ask for feedback
and so I went off on a bit of a Tangent there
but one of the bits of feedback I always get
so when I when I ask people
what bit did you love and what bit do you wish
like I could change or would have been better
the bits that people always love always
always always consistently is two things stories
so when I tell stories about who I am about my journey
about my career and second examples
so giving examples of things
so for example if I said to you
you know I want you to cut out
the first three minutes of your presentation
I need to then in order to connect it to you properly
I need to give an example of okay
so usually in the first three minutes
you do the intro and it's boring and blah blah
cut that out and start straight with the story
so examples and stories guys
are two things I want you to keep in your mind
and I would probably add questions in that as well
examples stories and questions
the reason they are so powerful is because
we are in a world where information is everywhere
we do not have a lack of information
I do not need someone to tell me
how to improve my public speaking
for example
I don't want someone to give me like a 10 point list of
here's one point from the internet
here's another statistic from the internet
whilst that can make a really good case for like
the backbone of what you're presenting
you need to connect that to the real world
by giving your stories your examples
and so keep stories and examples in your mind
they are the points in your talk
in your presentation where people are gonna connect
I think the reason people love those as well
is it deepens the level of a authority
because you're showing them
not just telling them
and be transparency and authenticity
because you're telling your stories of
you know ways that you've done this in the past
ways that you've messed up with this in the past
so stories and examples
always make sure if you're delivering a presentation
you have your stories and examples woven through it
something else I need us to remember
when we're talking about presenting and public speaking
there is always gonna be someone's voice in your head
what I mean by that is
when you say you're presenting to a group of 30 people
on a team meeting
10 people whatever
there is someone in that virtual room
that you are seeking approval from
it could be that person who's been in the business
longer than you it could be the person who
you feel like they're really confident with public
speaking and therefore you're trying to impress them
it could be the it could be your boss
there's one person in
that virtual public speaking room
whatever that you are trying to win approval from
and you need to name that person
you don't have to tell them
but figure out who it is
because as soon as you figure out who it is
who is it you're seeking approval from
you can kind of take that approval back
so you can say to yourself OK
why am I seeking approval from Jane OK
I think it's because Jane's really confident
and so I and I don't feel confident
and therefore
I want her to leave thinking I feel confident okay
we're gonna take the winning approval back from Jane
because we don't care about Jane
Jane probably if she's really good at public speaking
probably has been on this journey
and knows how tough it is
so won't be judging you or maybe she is
but either way we don't care instead
the person I need you to think about is
there will be someone else in that room
and the other
the someone else will generally be the person
who is potentially the most junior
who is the least confident in public speaking
who will be watching you deliver this talk and think
wow I only hope one day
I have the confidence or courage to do that this wow
you know I really hope I can follow in their footsteps
for my career
try and place your attention importance on that person
because out of a room of 30 people
if you deliver a talk
and it positively impacts just one person's life
then it was worth it in my opinion
it was worth it
and I think so often we put all of our like
fear and anxiety
thinking on in the buckets of the wrong people
we're trying to impress the wrong people
when actually there's someone else in that room
who just really needs to hear today
what you've got to say and when you think about that
it will help you shape your talk
it will help you shape your presentation
in a better way
because if you think about just all the other points
we've spoke about before now
telling stories
giving examples and you know like being authentic
if you were to think about the person
that you wanted approval from
you would think oh I've got to try and impress them
I've got to bulk up the numbers
to try and impress them I've got to be perfect
I've got to say the right thing
that's just gonna trip you over
you're gonna speak fast you're gonna be nervous
you're gonna struggle to control your breath
if you instead think about the person
and maybe you don't even know who this other person is
like they could be someone in the audience
someone on the in the room that you don't even know
that they feel this way about you yet
who does look up to you is inspired by you
if you instead put your thinking in their bucket
you will start to lose the concept of being perfect
because they don't care
they already think you're brilliant
like you don't need to prove anything to them
you don't need to and so instead you start to think
what do they really need to hear in order to grow
how do I need to challenge them
how do I need to question them
what information do they need
and so really take your caring like tokens
if they exist let's say you got three caring tokens
take them away from the person
you're looking for approval from
and give them to the person who really needs your help
and support
I'm gonna give you a practical tip now as well
and I Learned this one from Tedx
so when you do tedx
you do this very rigorous process of
of the like lead up to the talk
so if you imagine
tedx only wanna publish like the best talks
the best speakers
and so it's like a whole six month process leading up
where you go to rehearsals
you get coached by previous Ted talkers
it's great it's it's quite grueling
it's quite intense it's quite tough
but it's brilliant like as a speaker
it's incredible
and something that I Learned from the Tedx coaches was
you have to rehearse out loud
so when you rehearse in your head
the internal monologue
you'll you'll know this cause I do this all the time
the internal monologue sounds so much sharper
like it's so much easier
to articulate your thoughts in your head
than it is out loud so when you're rehearsing
when you're practicing say it out loud
I know it can feel silly
I know it can feel weird speaking to like a nothingness
I mean I'm
I literally do that now
I've only got two people in the room
rehearse at least the first five minutes of your talk
out loud say it out loud
sit where you will be sat
do go through your slides and say the thing out loud
because you will then notice
if you start tripping over certain words
if certain things are hard to say
you can that's where you know that you need to
like focus a bit more and learn
it's so easy to say things in our head
saying things on our head is easy
I remember the first time I brought a new talk in
called own it and I delivered it for the first time
on the Astrid and me summer party stage
this was last summer the day before
I just did the talk like five times
I don't have to do this anymore
but when it's a new talk
I just did the talk like five times
and you have to stand up
walk around as if you're on a stage
say it out loud as if you're on a stage
like rehearsing in your head is absolutely no good
you know when you sat at the screen
and you kind of pretending to do it
it's not the same you have to rehearse out loud
and then I feel like
this is the bit of advice that I've
I've left it left it till last
cause you probably heard this one before
but obviously
don't have shitloads of text on the screen
but if you have like a bullet point list
try and have maximum like 4 bullet points
one word ideally
like the best when you kind of get to
I guess expert level or whatever of public speaking
you just want images or like one word or a question
or a statement or a quote on your slide
you don't actually want to rely on the slide
for the information because people just switch off
like people just read what's on there
and when you're reading what's on there
you can't really hear what you're saying
so you want you know
in an ideal world it would just be one thing
one question one statement
one image and you just riff off of that
and this is the other thing about telling stories
in presentations
when you tell a story
you won't get caught up in your words
because it's your story like you remember it
you were there you did the thing
this is also why I think that
I find it so easy to talk about leadership on a stage
like people always ask me if the Q&A makes me nervous
though you know
I do big talks like I did one
um last month with a Veeva
and it was broadcast all across to a Veeva
and their entire team obviously there's like god
tens of thousands of people in their team
and the team of Eva said to me
do you ever get nervous about the Q&A
because what if you get asked something
that you don't know the answer to
and I'm like no
because there's nothing in leadership that
not that I don't know the answer to
but there's nothing that I can't talk about
because I've done it like I have lived it
I've done it I've been in the trenches for the last 10
whatever years and so
even if I don't have like
a statistic or a definitive answer for that person
right there and then
I know that at some point in my career
I will have had that same feeling
I will have struggled with that same thing
and therefore it never makes me nervous
and so this is why stories are brilliant
because you're not telling people what to do
you're showing them how you've done it
and you're just saying you know
I'm just the guide you do this as well if you want
maybe it won't work for you
and the very last mindset flip that I need us to make
is we are just trying to say
the thing that someone in that room needs to hear
we're not trying to be perfect
no one cares if you skip a couple of words
no one cares
if you need 10 seconds to gather your thoughts
I promise I guarantee
like I have stood on so many stages
but also been in so many audiences
and when someone is on stage
everyone is rooting for you
people aren't trying to watch so that they can laugh
if you trip up and fail
I went to this brilliant conference
a couple of years ago that was like
a women in business conference in Manchester
and there it was
for a lot of the women that were going on stage
it was their first time ever and they were so nervous
we were speaking about it before
they were really nervous really terrified and it
but the whole audience was rooting for them
and there was a couple of times where like
one of the women on stage would forget their words
and would say out loud oh sorry
I forgot my words
and everyone would just clap and cheer and be like
we've got you
we've got this cause that's how people feel no one
I guarantee no one if you go back to that stat
about 77% of people
having it as one of their biggest phobias
I think the stat actually is that 75% of people
fear public speaking more than they fear death
75% of people
and so people aren't watching you thinking
oh my god I hope they fail
isn't it gonna be funny if they skip a word
oh she's really bad at that
oh he can't deliver that thing
instead everyone's just looking at you thinking wow
I wish I could do that like
I really wish I had the courage and confidence
to do that that's what a lot of people are thinking
so just do it for yourself
like we're not trying to be perfect
get rid of the idea of perfection
and the confidence for presenting
and public speaking will arrive
after you have the courage to do it
when you're scared so put all those things into place
let me know how it goes
I'd love to hear in the comments
and I'm gonna ask you a question in the comments
so wherever you're watching this
you should be able to comment on the episode
tell me in the comments from a scale of 1 to 10
how confident do you feel with public speaking
and give me a number anywhere from 1 to 10
and tell me why
because I'd really love to hear from you
I see and reply to every single comment
we're still a relatively small podcast
and it also just really helps us to like
understand what people need
so drop that in the comments
but then other than that
just thank you for listening in
and I will see you next week