The Psychology of Public Speaking

November 5, 2023

People are scared of public speaking. And it’s totally normal. A direct quote from Frantically Speaking describes why it is common for humans to have this sense of fear.

“The skill of public speaking is often considered very hard because of the internal and externals pressures that float over us such as our self-efficacy, judgments of others, the physiology of our body when perceiving a new stimulus, lack of confidence, and a mix of emotions such as fear and apprehensions.”

As a Solutions Engineer or any customer-facing role, you’ll find yourself speaking publicly to large crowds and high-ranking individuals on a daily basis. It’s not an easy task and ‘till this day, it still brings anxiety because the crowds and deals get larger and larger.

So if it brings so much anxiety, why do I still enjoy it? It really clicks when you think in the right mindset and start valuing other people’s time.

Mindset

If it takes you out of your comfort zone, embrace it and think of it as an experience to make you a better person. It’s important to constantly step outside of your comfort zone. If you lived the same life every day, where would you find the new experiences that shape your creativity? As you start to challenge yourself, you build confidence and makes you more adaptable to change.

Know that everyone is nervous. I once spoke to a VP at a previous company I worked at right before he went up to speak in front of the whole company. I asked

“Hey X, you speak a lot.. Don’t you get nervous?”

To that, he answered

“Is anyone ever not nervous when they’re about to speak in front of a large crowd?”

That interaction reminded me that at the end of the day, everyone is human and nerves are normal. You can be the most successful person in the world, but there will always be something that makes you nervous eventually. Embrace it.

Valuing Other People’s Time

Story time. When I first joined Intercom, I was a 24 year old, 2 years into my Solutions Engineering experience. 3 weeks in, I was tasked with presenting onsite to the CMO and CTO of Zoom.

If you’ve followed Zoom since 2019, you’ll know that their trajectory has been nothing short of a rocket ship. At the height of the market valuation in 2021, these two individuals would’ve been close to the billion net worth mark.

So when you think about it.. 2 (potential) billionaires set aside 2 hours of their day just to hear me speak. Is that not insane? All the different things they could’ve done in those 2 hours to provide millions of dollars of value to the company, they chose to listen to a 24 year old present on how I could improve their business.

Know that when you present or speak in a public setting, everyone in the crowd is dedicating a part of their life to listen to you. Does that make you more nervous or appreciative of the moment?

I hope these lessons in public speaking serve you well. It’s not an overnight shift to get comfortable with public speaking. It took me years to develop the right mindset to be okay with messing up, and it’ll take me more years to continuously improve myself.