A while back, I received a message on LinkedIn from someone who asked me, “How did you become such a skilled speaker? I hope to reach that level someday.”
The funny thing is, I never set out with some grand plan to become a speaker. I learned to speak because, at different points in my career, I had no choice but to find my voice.
College certainly gave me plenty of practice. I took the required public speaking class and, apparently deciding I hadn’t suffered enough, followed that with a debate class. But some of my best training actually happened in my political science courses.
Those classrooms could get lively. You had to know what you believed, explain why you believed it and be prepared for someone across the room to challenge you. There wasn’t much room for hiding.
But the place where I really learned how to use my voice wasn’t a classroom or a stage.
It was at work.
Sometimes your job teaches you to speak
After college, I spent more than a decade working in the intermodal transportation industry at IMC Companies in Memphis. About five years into my time there, fresh out of graduate school, I became Manager of Driver Services.
My department worked directly with hundreds of owner-operators and handled everything from payroll check disbursements to over-the-road equipment repairs, accident recovery and the countless problems that come with keeping trucks and freight moving.
It was fast. It was unpredictable. And there was almost always somebody who needed an answer.
I was also a young woman managing and working with a predominantly male workforce in an industry that, at the time, was overwhelmingly male.
I learned very quickly that if I couldn’t communicate clearly, stand behind my decisions and stay composed when things got heated, I wasn’t going to be very effective.
There was no microphone. No perfectly rehearsed speech. No applause at the end.
There were drivers who were angry about deductions from their checks. There were accidents that required immediate decisions. There were problems happening hundreds of miles away that my team had to help solve from Memphis.
That job taught me more about finding my voice than any public speaking class ever could.
You get better by doing it
That’s why I think we sometimes approach public speaking backwards. We believe we need to become confident before we raise our hand, speak in the meeting, give the presentation or step onto the stage.
Most of the time, it happens the other way around.
You speak. You learn. You adjust. Then you do it again.
If you want to become a stronger speaker, here are a few things that have made the biggest difference for me:
1. Speak about what you know.
You don’t have to know everything about a subject, but you should know why you’re talking about it. Experience gives you something a perfectly memorized script never will.
2. Practice out loud.
Reading your presentation silently isn’t the same as saying the words. Practice in front of a mirror. Record yourself on your phone. Listen to your pacing. Notice the words you stumble over. The more familiar you become with your own voice, the more natural you’ll sound when other people are listening.
3. Slow down and connect with the room.
Take a breath. Look at people. Let yourself pause. You don’t have to fill every second with words. Some of the strongest moments in a presentation happen when you give the audience a second to think.
And one more that may matter more than all the others:
Don’t wait until you feel ready.
You probably won’t.
Your voice gets stronger when you use it
Public speaking isn’t only about standing on a stage. Leaders speak every day—in meetings, difficult conversations, presentations, interviews and moments when something needs to be said and everyone else is waiting for someone to say it.
That’s where your voice gets built.
Mine certainly wasn’t built overnight. It was built in classrooms, conference rooms, conversations with truck drivers, difficult situations, workshops and eventually on stages.
So if you’re waiting until you’re completely confident before you speak up, stop waiting.
Use the voice you have now.
It gets stronger from there.
Let’s keep the conversation going.
Sandy Adams 