How to Overcome Glossophobia
By Gillian Hand
Many people (74% of people, in fact)[1] find public speaking daunting. It is one of the most common fears because it can create a feeling of vulnerability.[2] When presenting, you open yourself up to criticism and judgement. At the same time, engaging in public speaking can be a highly rewarding experience. Strong public speaking skills allow you to influence the world around you, develop your leadership skills, help you become a more critical thinker, and enable you to become a thought leader.[3] These benefits also can help you climb the career ladder with far more ease. For instance, if you can display strong communication skills when running a team meeting or delivering a short presentation at a staff meeting, your boss may tap you to deliver the next big presentation.
Recently, I had the opportunity to present a research paper at the International Association for Intelligence Education’s 2022 conference at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. This was my first time as a young professional presenting to a room of industry experts. Going into the presentation I was nervous, but this experience taught me several valuable lessons, with the central theme being that when pursuing public speaking, choose a topic of passion. By doing so, you can begin to perfect your public speaking skills. In my case, I presented on Chinese cyberattacks against Taiwan—a topic that I had read about for endless hours not because I had to, but because I wanted to. My eagerness to research this topic enabled me to become extremely knowledgeable on it and subsequently gain the confidence to speak about it.
I’ve since reflected on how speaking on a topic of passion can help unlock and improve public speaking skills. Here’s what I learned:
Speaking on a topic about which you are passionate allows you to easily remember your talking points.
Presenting on a topic of passion provides the speaker with confidence. They understand the topic at hand well, making it easier to remember their talking points. This familiarity translates into confidence. A speaker’s nonverbal behaviors—such as stance, gestures, and eye contact—serve as the foundation for the audience’s assessment of the speaker’s confidence. Audiences equate a speaker’s perceived confidence with their competence. By speaking on a topic about which you are passionate and familiar, you are more likely to embody confidence and display these critical nonverbal cues when presenting.
Passion unleashes a speaker’s creativity.
Speaking on an area of passion unlocks the creativity of the speaker. This allows the speaker to be highly engaging, which in turn makes it easier to captivate the audience. An important aspect of public speaking is storytelling, rather than simply reading the text on PowerPoint slides one prepares. Those new to public speaking may heavily rely on visuals (such as those PowerPoint slides) as their crutch. However, visuals should only act as supporting materials; the presenter themselves should be the story’s central character. Since passion for and familiarity with a topic imbues a speaker with confidence, they are more likely to tell an engaging and creative story that relies on the art of storytelling rather than just text and visuals.
Fake it ‘til you make it—believe in your expertise and others will follow.
When a speaker is passionate about a topic and uses that passion as motivation to extensively study and research it, they become the expert. One piece of valuable feedback I received from a well-respected industry expert was that the strongest points of my presentation were when I let myself go a bit off script. In these moments, when I did not have to glance back at my slides and could freely talk about my research my face lit up and my passion for the issue became clear. My thorough knowledge of (and passion about) the topic is what captivated the audience and got them to trust that I was an expert in it. After my presentation, several audience members complimented me on my presentation and asked questions about my research, acknowledging that I was indeed perceived as having expertise on this topic.
Be patient—perfecting public speaking skills will take time.
The first few times an individual presents in public, it’s unlikely that they will sound like Tony Robbins or Oprah. But, ultimately the only way to perfect public speaking skills is to keep trying. Practicing before a presentation is vital and one of the most helpful ways to practice is in front of others. Get one or two co-workers or friends (people around whom you are comfortable) and do a few dry runs of your presentation with them—visual aids and all. After you are done with your dry run, ask for their feedback: How was your body language? Did you speak at a consistent speed? Did anything you say come across as confusing? Did you struggle with certain parts of the presentation? By knowing the answers to these questions before “the big day,” you can adjust as needed. Malcolm Gladwell coined the “10,000-hour rule” famous as a benchmark for excellence—stating, in so many words, that 20 hours of practice a week for a decade can make anyone a master in their field.[4] Now, that is not to say you need to practice 20 hours a week for one presentation, but rather that practice will build your mastery of public speaking — and the best part is, because you already care deeply about the topic, you hopefully won’t get sick of repeating the presentation multiple times!
Conclusion
Ultimately, a speaker’s passion is what draws in the audience and makes a speech memorable, not just the topic itself. People remember presentations that grab their attention with an engaging story. The next time the opportunity presents itself to speak in front of others—whether to colleagues in the board room or to industry experts at the Citadel—identify your passion, learn everything you can about it and practice. Your confidence will shine through.