Moving Through Your Fear About Speaking

Do you have a desire to be a speaker? Do you know you have a powerful message you want to share with the world? Is fear stopping you?

Even the best speakers have a fear or anxiety about speaking. Mahatma Gandhi, during his student life, suffered from frequent panic attacks. He had a particularly agonizing experience during a speech he was asked to give to a vegetarian community in London. After reading one line from the message he had prepared, he could no longer speak and asked someone else to read the rest of the speech for him.  Warren Buffet was once a college student who was “terrified” of getting up and saying his name.  Barbra Streisand stopped singing for years due to her anxiety about speaking.

It is said that for some people, the fear is so strong they'd rather be the one being eulogized, than the one giving the eulogy. There's nothing wrong being a little nervous before you speak. In fact, a little bit of adrenalin is good because it keeps you alert, focused, and energized as you speak.

Fear shows up in different ways. It could be the fear of failure, fear of rejection, or fear of success. The fear can manifest itself in ways that we’re not always aware of. Some signs of hidden fear are procrastination, distraction, excuses, feeling stuck, feeling overwhelmed, negative beliefs, worried, and anxious.

Whenever we step into something new or take on something we’ve never done before, it’s not uncommon to experience fear. We remember our past failures and pull back to avoid them happening again. I invite you to consider what happened in the past is over and will not happen again. We don’t know what is going to happen in the future. We only have the present moment.

Be in the present and create action steps to take. By taking action will help you diminish the feeling of fear.  Remind yourself of the message you want to deliver to your audience.

Peak Performance Corporate Speaking is a Woman-Owned Professional Development Company uniquely designed to help Women Corporate Professionals improve their speaking skills, establish more credibility in less time, create a take-action culture of doer’s, be seen as thought-leaders and position themselves as industry-experts. Our mission is to transform Women Professionals from possibility to peak performance through speaking that leads to increased corporate success! Learn more at www.peakperformancespeaking.com.

You Don’t Have to Sound “Salesy” When You Speak

There is a subtle, proven way to sell your program or product at live speaking events that doesn’t sound “salesy.” It’s called “Sprinkling the Seeds.” Right from the start of your talk, sprinkle seeds of interest with your audience throughout your talk. By doing this, you don’t have to switch into a “sales mode” when it comes time to present your next program or product offering at the end of your talk. Let them know you have more to give them than you have time for. Let them know you’re going to do your best to cover as much value as you can during the time you’re speaking. Then let them know at the end of your talk you’ll share with them the additional resources you have.

Practice saying your sprinkling the seeds statements until the words easily flow.

Breaking Through the Fear Factor to Speaking

Is there part of you that really, really wants to take a quantum leap and become a speaker, but the other part of you is afraid you won’t succeed? Because of this, we don't take risks, we don't pursue our dreams of becoming a speaker. We play it safe and play it small in life. We call this the “Fear Factor”!


The way to break through the Fear Factor is to be willing to stretch yourself and step outside your comfort zone. It may be uncomfortable at first but understand that's only temporary. You're stepping into new and unfamiliar territory. It's okay to feel uncomfortable. But once you get to the other side, you'll feel exhilarated and excited. Once you start speaking in front of groups, you’ll know that YOU did it! You broke through the Fear Factor to the other side!