The questions people ask before they call me.
Mostly about the fear, and whether any of it can actually be changed. Here are the honest answers, including the ones that don't involve hiring me.
You are not the exception
0%
In a randomly selected community sample of 526 adults, 55% named speaking to a large audience as a fear. It was the single most commonly feared situation of all those tested.
Stein, Walker & Forde, American Journal of Psychiatry, 1994
The reason it feels lonely is that everybody hides it. The calm ones in your meetings are not a different species. Most of them were taught.
More normal than almost any other fear we have. It outranks heights, flying and spiders in the research above. What makes it feel shameful is that it arrives with visible symptoms: the shaking, the colour in your face, the voice that won't sit still. Everybody can see it, so you assume everybody is judging it. They are usually too busy worrying about their own turn.
What's actually happening
Six things adrenaline is doing to you, and what fixes each one.
Thoughts
Arrive faster than you can order them
What fixes it: Structure prepared in advance, so you don't improvise
Mouth
Goes dry as digestion shuts down
What fixes it: Water, and knowing the first line by heart
Voice
Rises in pitch and thins out
What fixes it: Support from the breath, not the throat
Breath
Moves high and shallow into the top of the chest
What fixes it: Low breathing, into the bottom of the ribs
Heart
Rate climbs, which feeds the sense of panic
What fixes it: A longer out-breath than in-breath
Hands
Tremble as the body prepares to move
What fixes it: Weight and grounding, plus somewhere to put them
Every one of these is physical. That's the good news, because physical things can be trained.
Does it actually work?
It works, and it keeps working after you stop.
0.74
1.11
Right after training
At follow-up
Effect size (Hedges' g). Higher means greater reduction in fear.
A meta-analysis pooling 30 randomised controlled trials and 1,355 participants found psychological interventions clearly reduced fear of public speaking. The striking part is the second bar: improvement did not fade once training ended. It grew.
Nordgreen et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 2019
No difference
Between online and face-to-face delivery. The same meta-analysis found technology-assisted coaching just as effective as in-person work.
You've just read the whole page. That's not nothing.
People who are fine with how they come across don't read this far. Book a free twenty-minute call and tell me what's coming up, or what's been quietly holding you back. I'll map out exactly what we'd work on and what changes by the end of it. Pick a time that suits you.
Twenty minutes, and no obligation.
Sources
- Stein MB, Walker JR, Forde DR. Setting diagnostic thresholds for social phobia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1994. Read the study
- Nordgreen T et al. Psychological Interventions for the Fear of Public Speaking: A Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 2019. Read the study
- Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Conquering Stage Fright. Read the guidance