The fear of public speaking, for many, is more intense than any other fear. Just the idea of standing in front of a group of people to speak or give a presentation can bring the bravest person to a sudden case of nausea, shaking knees and the sweats.
How do I know?
I used to be terrified of public speaking. Phobic. 20 years ago I had to present an award to a close friend of mine; all told this would mean being on stage for about 3 to 4 minutes. For the weeks leading up to the event I had a hard time sleeping and I am sure I lost a few pounds because my stomach was permanently upset. I did the presentation, it went well, but I barely remember any of it because I had so much adrenaline ripping through my system.
And then one day, about 10 years ago, I got over it. I made some very small but powerful changes to the way I thought about speaking and became so comfortable with public speaking that I have since spoken hundreds of times in over 20 countries. I have addressed audiences from only a few to several thousand. I have also shared the stage with some of the most prominent speakers in the world including Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, Brian Tracy and President Bill Clinton.
Today, one of the great privileges of my life is helping others overcome their fears of public speaking and teaching people how to use public speaking to attract more business.
Overcoming Fear
One of the most profound breakthroughs a person can have is to overcome the fear or nervousness they feel about public speaking. I have coached people through a variety of fear-smashing exercises including fire walking, board-breaking and rock climbing and I can tell you that helping someone find their voice and become comfortable with public speaking creates a much more significant and long-lasting impact than just about anything else.
The bottom line is that becoming comfortable with public speaking builds self esteem and confidence.
And so, today, I feel privileged to help people overcome their fears and, even better, become comfortable and joyful about doing public presentations.
Marketing
I often speak about a nearly magical way to create an unfair marketing advantage for you or your business; it’s something called The Stage Effect.
The Stage Effect is a powerful attraction that a person generates from an audience when they take the stage and perform. When a speaker (or a singer or actor, for that matter) takes the stage, they are putting themselves at risk and, if they do well, they will generate a great deal of respect, credibility, rapport and attraction from the audience.
Whatever your career or business, public speaking is one of the fastest and most effective ways to increase your income. Four reasons for this are:
1) Personal contact leaves the longest impression of all marketing tactics.
Public speaking means that you can have personal contact with a large number of people at the same time. When I speak at a conference or a trade show I am inundated with requests for more information, meetings and further invitations to speak.
2) Public speaking creates attraction.
Quite simply, people and companies will often pay more for the same service if they can get it from someone that they regard as prominent in the field and public speaking is the fastest way to create that prominence.
3) People will pay for you to come and speak.
One of the things I have enjoyed most about becoming comfortable with public speaking is that I am often flown to great locations to speak. In other words, people often pay me to travel in style to fun places where I get to promote myself by using The Stage Effect.
4) One talk leads to another.
My first ever talk on business, in London, England, led to an immediate invitation to speak at a conference in Singapore. That talk led to the next invitation and resulted in my speaking in several countries on a series of round-the-world tours.
Public speaking is one of the most powerful marketing tools available and one of the reasons for this is that most people are either nervous about, or uncomfortable with, public speaking.
At our Business Freedom Speaking Academy we help people, quickly and easily, overcome their fears of public speaking. The personal breakthroughs we see are incredibly inspiring. And, even more inspiring, is seeing those people months or years later and how much their lives have changed.
Having helped our clients get comfortable with public speaking, we then show them, step by step, how to use public speaking to promote themselves or their businesses and how to develop Inceptive Stories™ that give them tremendous credibility, authority and attraction.
In short, teaching public speaking and presentations skills is one of the most rewarding things I get to do with my time.
