Are you ruining your speaking performance?

Speaking
Written By Liam Sandford

Do you leave your speaking performance up to chance? Or do you know that you are going to deliver at your best and land everything you plan with the audience? Generally speaking, people are not intentional about public speaking, and it ruins their speaking performance.

Intention is important with the logistics, content, audience connection, but there is one thing that stands above that — whether or not you back yourself to deliver your presentation.

75% of the population have a fear of public speaking. A higher percentage find it stressful. The stress takes over and maybe you feel like you should not be delivering the presentation, like you are some kind of imposter that knows nothing about the topic. You stop backing yourself.

The 4 scenarios of public speaking

When you don’t back yourself you start showing the audience you are not confident. That lack of confidence gets misinterpreted as ‘they don’t know what they are doing’, and your credibility goes out the window.

But there are four scenarios of public speaking:

  • You have just learned about a topic and are presenting back on it

  • You are presenting your work

  • You have been asked to speak about the topic

  • You have chosen to speak about the topic

In each of these scenarios you know your stuff. You have knowledge that you can share, because either you have been working on it or you are seen as an authority on the topic.

You would not be speaking about it if you didn’t know anything.

Back yourself — you know your stuff.

You are unique — use it.

Nobody can be you better than you. You are your superpower. You may think that you don’t know anything that the audience doesn’t already know. But what they don’t have is your perspective.

Your perspective on the topic is unique and you should use that to your advantage. Nobody else has your experiences, your thought processes and your specific knowledge. Use your uniqueness to your advantage. Think about:

  • What you know

  • Your processes

  • Your experience

If you channel everything through these lenses you will deliver something of value that nobody else could.

If you are not backing yourself to deliver you cannot expect anybody else to either. Your audience owe you nothing. You have to show them your credibility and confidence, then back that up by delivering what you promised. If you don’t back yourself you are already making your job as a speaker harder.

Actionable takeaways

  • Back yourself to deliver — know that you have a unique perspective which adds diversity of thought to the discussion. This is important and should not be undervalued.

  • Think about which scenario you are in, whether you are presenting your work or have been chosen to speak — either way you have authority on the topic. Use that to your advantage.

  • Channel everything through the lens of your processes, experiences and knowledge. This will help you deliver value in a unique way that cannot be replicated by others.

More from me

Liam Sandford
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