Conquer your Fear of Public Speaking

I work with some of the best public speakers - and many of them are introverts. Yet several have also been extroverts. They share a common interest - conquering their fears.

Where the introvert is the commonly held example of an individual who fears speaking in public, the extrovert can also relate.


I am currently enrolled in a professional speaking training made up of both introverts and extroverts. In each of us I witness degrees of anxiety as we approach our speech giving moment. In brief, the extrovert fears losing their structure while we introverts fear losing our nerve.

Maybe I've summed this up more out of opinion than fact, yet it remains, when we plan to conquer our fears vs. being bound by them, we discover new power and wholeness in our abilities. Just as in many skills, the best way to conquer the fears of public speaking is to get prepared. Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, PhD writes about Preparation with 5 key points in her book, The Introverted Leader. It is one of the 4 P's she focuses on for introvert leadership.

My clients address several P's as well for public speaking: planning, preparation and practice. The combination of the 3 are what we use to help gain confidence. In general, it's easier for the introvert to address all 3 p's because we are so process oriented. Yet extroverts handle them quite well when they get used to slowing down.

We move from anxiety to enthusiasm when we conquer our fears of public speaking. And that brings us introverts so much purpose. Perhaps 2012 is the time you, too, can experience this process!