Public speaking: you were taught the wrong things

75% of people have a fear of public speaking, which shows how common glossophobia really is. But what most people don’t realise is that simply becoming comfortable puts you ahead of three-quarters of the population. You don’t need to be a professional speaker to stand out; you just need purposeful, focused practice.

Practice makes you comfortable. Successful practice makes you confident. Targeted practice makes you competent.

The problem is that you were likely taught the wrong things about public speaking. Outdated, robotic methods drain confidence instead of building it. Schools, colleagues, and even well-meaning mentors often reinforce habits that create more anxiety than progress. But with a few key mindset shifts and proven techniques, you can retrain how you think about speaking and finally feel calm, clear, and confident in front of any audience.

How to Overcome the Fear of Public Speaking

If you’ve ever had a bad experience giving a talk or presentation, it’s natural to fear that it will happen again. That fear can quickly spiral, making every future speaking opportunity feel like a threat. The key is to bring those fears into the open and reframe them logically.

Start by writing down your top four fears about public speaking. Seeing them on paper helps you separate emotion from reality. Then, ask yourself:

What’s the absolute worst outcome that could happen?
Am I actually in control of that outcome?
What’s the best-case scenario if everything goes right?
How likely is it that my worst-case scenario actually happens?
If it did happen, would it really be that bad?

When you answer these questions honestly, you’ll realise that your fears are often exaggerated. Most of what you’re afraid of, such as forgetting a line, stumbling over words, or losing your place, is minor and recoverable. Once you see that, the power your fear holds over you starts to fade.

The more often you face your fears with self-awareness, the more comfortable you’ll become. Every presentation becomes a chance to rewrite your relationship with public speaking.

Why Traditional Presentation Structures Don’t Work

We’ve all endured presentations that felt painfully long and predictable: the speaker begins by telling you what they’ll talk about, spends twenty minutes saying it, and ends by summarising everything again.

That’s not engaging. It’s exhausting.

And it’s not your fault if you’ve followed that same formula. That’s how most of us were taught to present in school and at work. But this outdated structure kills audience attention and prevents you from connecting on a human level.

To deliver presentations people actually want to listen to, you need to ditch the traditional agenda-based structure and focus on why your audience should care.

The Best Way to Structure a Presentation (The Nano Speech)

Here’s how to instantly make your presentations more engaging:

Stop opening with an agenda. Instead, start with a story, a bold statement, or a reason your audience should care.
Stop closing with a summary. End with a memorable call to action that inspires your audience to take the next step.

Small structural changes can completely transform the way people respond to you.

The best framework to use is the Nano Speech. It’s a simple, flexible model with three parts: Open, Body, Close. It can last ten seconds or thirty minutes and still keep your audience focused. This structure creates flow, maintains engagement, and builds confidence through clarity.

How to Reframe Public Speaking and Remove the Pressure

Most people picture public speaking as standing on a big stage, speaking to hundreds of people under bright lights. That’s not only intimidating, it’s also unrealistic for most speaking opportunities.

Instead, think of public speaking like building a house. You need a solid foundation before anything else. Those foundations come from preparation, mindset, and repetition.

Each time you speak, whether it’s in a meeting, on a video call, or at an event, you’re adding another brick to your confidence. One brick at a time might not seem like much, but keep going and you’ll eventually build the house of your speaking career.

By starting small and practising in lower-stakes environments, you develop skill and confidence at a sustainable pace.

At its core, public speaking is just a conversation. Once you reframe it that way, the pressure disappears. Whether you’re talking to one person or one hundred, your goal is the same: to connect, resonate, and share something meaningful.