Does your heart race at the thought of public speaking? You’re in good company. In fact, when polling company Gallup investigated our biggest fears, they found that speaking in front of others ranked second – more terrifying than heights or spiders and only slightly less scary than snakes. While feeling nervous is completely natural, letting those nerves shake your confidence can undermine your message and impact.

The good news? Even the most accomplished speakers get butterflies. Chris Anderson, curator of TED talks, points out that these nerves aren’t your enemy: “It’s a natural body response that can actually improve your performance: It gives you energy to perform and keeps your mind sharp.” Ready to transform those nervous jitters into presentation power? Here are some proven strategies from speaking experts that can help anyone deliver with confidence.

 

Start with Story: Frame Your Message

Getting confident all starts with how you prepare your material. Anderson says humans are wired to pay attention to stories and recommends a narrative structure that “loosely follows a detective story”. Present the problem and describe the search for a solution: “There’s an “aha” moment, and the audience’s perspective shifts in a meaningful way.”

He advises staying focused and not covering too much ground. Anderson also suggests providing details about the things that matter most but not overexplaining or trying to draw every implication—let the audience draw some of their own conclusions.

 

Practice Makes… Comfortable

Author and TED speaker Nova Reid says you want to aim to be prepared but not over-prepared. “It’s more human when you’re speaking from the heart,” she says, rather than reading from a script.

 

She suggests practising delivering your speech using notes and bullet points and filming yourself. It might feel awkward at first, but you’ll get a better sense of how you come across to an audience. “Don’t practice to be perfect; practice to get comfortable,” Reid says.

 

Project Confidence Through Body Language

“There is plenty of hard evidence that explains how you can give the appearance of confidence and competence — even if you’re nervous or timid on the inside,” says Harvard University instructor and author Carmine Gallo. He says that making eye contact, having an open posture, and appropriate gestures to emphasise your points all project confidence.

He also suggests practising to eliminate filler words like “um” and “er”, varying your pace of speech and adding pauses before your most important points. “Most people use filler words because they’re afraid of silence. It takes confidence to use dramatic pauses,” says Gallo.

 

Keep Visuals Simple and Strategic

Some visual aids can help your presentation, but you don’t want to take the spotlight off yourself. “The golden rule is to have one claim or idea per slide. If you have more to say, put it on the next slide,” says Paul Jurczynski, cofounder of Improve Presentation, which works with TED speakers.

Don’t be afraid to put up a blank slide, he says. You can give the audience a visual break and redirect their attention to you.

 

Handle Questions with Grace

“Most people don’t want to see you bomb. They want to hear what you have to say,” says confidence coach Jen Walter. But sometimes, an audience of professionals will have some tricky questions.

Walter suggests preparing in advance for these, including what you’ll say if you don’t know the answer. “Accept that it’s impossible for you to know everything,” she says. “People have more respect for the person who says ‘I don’t know’ than the person who clearly gives a bogus answer.”

 

Connect Before You Present

Research shows that arriving early and chatting with a few audience members can significantly reduce speaking anxiety. Management experts often recommend this technique because it transforms a room of strangers into a group of familiar faces.

Try to arrive 15-20 minutes before your presentation starts. Introduce yourself to a few people, ask what brings them to the event, or discuss something topical. When you begin speaking, you’ll see friendly faces in the crowd, making the room feel less intimidating. Plus, this informal interaction helps you gauge your audience’s knowledge and interests, allowing you to make subtle adjustments to your delivery.