When I was a kid, if you were to have told me that as an adult I would earn part of my income from public speaking, and enjoy it, I would have:

a: laughed in your face

b: puked on the floor.

I certainly remember doing b before speech class in 9th grade.

32 years later

Well, here we are 32 years later, and I'm earning part of my income from speaking and loving it.

They say that the two most common phobias are fear of flying and fear of public speaking. I wonder what would happen if you asked a person with both phobias to give a speech on a plane?

What I have discovered is that it is not the fear of speaking in public that terrifies people, it's the fear of being up in front of all those people and not having anything to say.

Knowing what to say

Knowing what to say makes all the difference betweeen success and failure, fear and delight.

Whatever your area of expertise, I encourage you to come up with one or two presentations to start with, and find places to do them.

Eventually you will know the material so well that you could stand up right now and do the presentation.

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