Overcoming the fear of public speaking is like a piece of cake

6 min readMar 25, 2022

Have you ever had a hard time figuring out how you want others to understand you? Did you ever feel that you know what you would like to say on the top of your head but you can’t spit it out? I feel you :’)

Fear of public speaking? Ugh! — Photo by Alexandra Gorn on Unsplash

I admit that I have a social anxiety disorder. I found out when I joined a couple of meetings with only a few people on Zoom. That forced me to talk or even say hi to others. It is still okay until I realized…

I felt burnout and my energy suddenly dropped down to 0 or even minus. My hand shook, my face was pale, and I was sweating a lot. My heart was pounding but it wasn’t like when you fall in love. It was so different. For me, it wasn’t funny at all. I had to find a way to overcome this. These are some occurrences that I faced other than Zoom meeting ‘tragedy’:

Zoom meeting is problematic sometimes to me — Photo by iyus sugiharto on Unsplash

The phone calls turned out disaster for me

The first time I got a call in another language (other than Indonesian, my native language) was when I was in the US. At that time, I got a call from a recruiter. The recruiter asked me if I wanted to take a role as a data analyst. I said nothing on the phone but the recruiter kept talking like I knew what she was going to say. I kept asking my friends how to respond to the call. OMG, I gave such a bad impression to the recruiter already!

Missing vocabulary made me become a bad translator

There are some words that I don’t know how to translate. There are slank words in Indonesia and if I translate it to another language, it will be so weird. So I had to translate it and it took a while for people to understand what I was going to say.

Lowering down the volume when I wasn’t confident enough

Why did I feel like using ‘Fade Out’ mode in my talking session? Come on, it is not video editing when you have to add fade-out mode at the end of the video or to create a transition to another video. LOL. I experienced this a lot at Zoom meetings. Ugh!

And I had more bad experiences when it came to public speaking. :) If I explain more my personal stories, you will get bored for sure. Let’s jump into the methods that I use to overcome the fear of public speaking. These all methods below are based on my personal experience.

Taking some courses related to this might help

Luckily, I had to take a course as a prerequisite to graduate from college. Even though I didn’t learn so much from the professor, I boosted my confidence by watching others present their presentation. Improvement was what I needed and feedback from peers made me grow.

Learning from other skills…

I used to dance traditional dance and I know it is not related to public speaking skills. However, being brave when everyone stared and focused on you, was the best feeling ever. I felt like I could stay out of my comfort zone when presenting myself in front of the public (even though I didn’t talk).

Deceiving myself (NOT a bad thing sometimes)

I deceive myself by saying that talking in Zoom meeting is the same thing as when I give a speech in front of hundred people in the auditorium. So, this practices my brain to get used to lots of people rather than just small groups.

Joining a community that has the same interests as yours

I would say joining the community is the best tip ever! By following their events, I could learn how others expressed their thoughts and feelings. I mute myself during the meeting, but I learn how others talk and give their opinions. Then after that, if the community provides a Zoom breakout room, I try my best to push myself to talk.

Writing down your thoughts before hopping on to the meeting

As you know, I have anxiety about talking with others via phone or video call. Sometimes, before the meeting starts, I make notes of what I should say in the meeting. I believe it helps me to reduce my anxiety and doubts.

Making notes before the meeting starts — Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Talking with friends or your support system

I like to talk to my friends and ask how I am doing with my speaking skills. Before that, I give them a small speech and I am always ready to accept whatever they throw at me. If friends or your support systems want you to be successful at public speaking, they won’t judge you, believe me. Instead, they will give you suggestions on what to improve.

Be prepared and be yourself

Public speaking is about how deep and understanding you are with the topic that you are going to bring to the audience. Your speaking should entice the audience’s attention without making them feel bored. Keep it short and straightforward.

What do you want to talk about? How do you make the users understand what you are going to say? Why do you bring or ask this topic? Does it relate with what the meeting’s main topic? If not, how can you relate the main topic with yours?

Also, keep being yourself. Show who you are and how you are so enthusiastic about the topic you bring.

Learning is continuity

Learning occurs in every aspect of our life, especially in public speaking. Even though you master enough this skill, it is never enough. Don’t feel discouraged if you fail in this skill. Not all people can do perfectly in everything.

Keep learning and believe that failure is a part of the learning process.

Try recording a video while you are talking

I am a content creator and I am grateful to say that because by being in this role, I am able to show my capability talking in front of the public, a bit by bit.

You don’t have to start by creating a complicated video like talking about crypto or another difficult topic. You can start with the topic that you are interested in. Then, try to share the video with others and ask for their feedback. By learning from their feedback, you can improve your speaking skills, hopefully.

If you are shy, ask people that you trust to review your speaking skills. You don’t have to share it on social media. It is totally up to you.

Here are some videos that maybe inspire you to get started. I made this for my LinkedIn post: