How to survive public speaking

Getting past the nerves and connect with your audience

A few years ago, I had the privilege of presenting at an international conference for my current profession. It was a huge honor.

My topic centered on the lessons learned while leading an organizational change that impacted over a thousand employees.

Our team worked our butts off on that project, and I thought it was a good story to tell. The selection committee seemed to agree, so it was a thrill to get the e-mail saying that my abstract was chosen.

Anyone who has attended a business conference knows the dread of trying to choose which sessions to attend. You may be attracted by a catchy title, or maybe the speaker has some notable accomplishments in their biography. Those are, by no means, a guarantee that the session will be worthwhile.

I recall sitting through many conference sessions regretting my decision the instant the speaker started to talk.

Some drone on and on without any attempt to engage their audience. Or, the presenter represents a firm only trying to hawk their services instead of giving educational information. My personal pet peeve is when the actual presentation does not match the description in the written program (“bait and switch”).