BUSINESS STRATEGY a press conference for your company before doing the quarterly analyst calls with investors – start at whatever level that works for you , then increase the stakes at a pace that stretches you a tiny bit every time .
Sissel Heiberg , Author
Good first presentation topics are those that are both close to your heart and relevant to your work ( for instance , at the starter level , if you volunteer with a mental health charity you can talk about the potential for the team to fundraise for them , or the link between good work / life balance and mental wellbeing , or how to avoid burnout ; if you play football every weekend , consider using yourself as a case study for how physical exercise has improved your mental focus at work ; if you ’ ve recently started evening studies , share how it ’ s going and inform about other study options that your company supports ). The specific topic is less important than the fact that it ’ s something you feel comfortable talking about . That way you can focus less on the content and more on the act of speaking , and how you want to come across without adding a layer of nervousness about the subject matter .
Then seek out increasingly complex , and larger and larger groups to talk to – and you ’ ll find that , with time , what used to make you nervous no longer does . What you used to dread becomes routine , and as your threshold is increased , the anxiety you used to associate with public speaking one day only shows up when you go over the comfort level – which we should all do every so often . The actual threshold varies from person to person , and context is individual too ; for some it can be that a recording is worse than a live event , for others it ’ s the size of the group that makes a difference , and for others it could affect nerves if there are people they know in the audience . Find out what your triggers are , and work on expanding your comfort zone step by step . Whatever your public speaking history , and whatever your personal position on the introversion spectrum , practice really does make a difference .
Sissel Heiberg is author of Quiet Leader : What you can learn from the power of introverts which examines the benefits of introversion in leadership , out now , published by Pearson . x
www . intelligentcxo . com
27