New to public speaking? Two bits of advice that'll help you succeed.

As a product manager, communication is a core part of your job - be that presenting the vision, strategy, and product direction, selling to customers, or celebrating your teams’ success.

Being able to speak to large audiences of people has, for me, come in very handy. It’s a high-leverage way of sharing information, or influencing and persuading people round to your point of view.

But it’s also scary. It’s unnatural. It’s rare. Even for extroverts, it can be a challenge. For introverts, public speaking can be counter to every fibre of your personality.

Overcoming these fears (or at least managing them) requires practice, self-control, and finding the right mindset.

I’ve worked with lots of people for whom public speaking is a new experience, but an essential part of their growth. Perhaps they’re an engineer who’s been asked to talk about their work at the next team meeting, or a data-scientist who’s been asked to present at a conference.

In these situations, there’s two bits of advice I give – which people have told me really helped them to overcome their fears.

1/ Everyone in the room wants you to succeed.

New public speakers can make the mistake of thinking the audience is cold, hostile, unfriendly – in most cases that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

When people go to a meeting or a conference - they want to have a good time. They want to be entertained. They want to learn something.

Very few people will be thinking: I really hope they screw this up. Actually, they’re rooting for you.

Once you realise this, a room of people becomes a tailwind, not a headwind. You should imagine them infusing you with confidence and energy. You should know that they’ll laugh at your jokes, and forgive your mistakes.

Now, there are cases where this isn’t true: a courtroom, for example, or when you have to give a room of people news they don’t want to hear. But these cases are rare, and not the kinds of situations novice speakers often find themselves in without a lot of support. 

But in the vast vast majority of cases, the audience is rooting for you. Remember that every time you step out on stage.

2/ You know more about your subject than anyone else in the room.

Someone asked you to speak. They chose you for a reason. Perhaps you put yourself forward? Well, then someone accepted your request.

They didn’t have to do that. They could have picked someone else. They could have said no. But they didn’t and now here you are. You are where you are because you deserve to be.

You might not think you know everything about your topic but, in general, relative to the audience, you’re the expert. 

Feeling this way is normal. Acquiring knowledge is like climbing up a ladder. You take each rung at a time, but it’s only when you look down that you realise how far you’ve come. 

The speakers I worry about the most are those that think they know it all. Complacency is the enemy of success. You might not feel like an expert but if you’ve been asked to speak, it’s because you are.

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There’s obviously a lot more to successful public speaking than that, but if you’re struggling for confidence. Remember these two bits of advice, then go out there and crush it.