There was a time in her life when Sophie thought she would never, ever, be able to do what you see her doing in the photo below. But there she is, giving a lecture in front of a packed audience, a lecture that includes the dreaded 'question time' at the end, and thoroughly enjoying the whole thing. When she was in her early 20s, Sophie hated public speaking. She was a shy child and a bit naturally introverted, so the idea of being the centre of attention felt terrifying to he

The average person ranks the fear of public speaking higher than the fear of death. The truth is, this fear could be hurting your professional and personal life. You may have been there before. You feel nervous, your palms sweat, your stomach ties itself into knots. You don’t want to do it. Now for the good news, you can considerably reduce your anxiety of public speaking. There are simple techniques to help you overcome your initial discomfort. There are even ways to help ha

The average person ranks the fear of public speaking higher than the fear of death. The truth is, this fear could be hurting your professional and personal life. You may have been there before. You feel nervous, your palms sweat, your stomach ties itself into knots. You don’t want to do it. You would rather do anything else than talk to someone. Is this you? A wide variety of studies have crowned fear of public speaking – or glossophobia, for sticklers – as our king of all ph

Whenever surveys have been carried out about what people’s worst fears are, one of the top answers that consistently comes up is public speaking. So many people dread the idea of being up before an audience giving a talk or a presentation. On a rational level, you might know that you’re perfectly safe in front of an audience, but at an emotional level, a part of your mind thinks you are genuinely in danger, so it activates the body’s emergency response mechanisms. This is why