I'm Terrible at Public Speaking—Where Do I Start?
20th August 2026
Quick answer: start by treating this as a physical problem, not a confidence problem. Script and memorise only your opening line, rehearse it out loud with your heart rate raised, and have a simple plan for what you will do if your mind goes blank. Most people notice a difference within one session.
You have probably typed "I'm terrible at public speaking—where do I start?" into an AI at 11pm the night before a team meeting, and then sat there staring at the results feeling worse than when you began.
The fear is a physical thing. Your heart does something funny, your face goes hot, and your mind empties out completely. Most advice tells you to be more confident or practice more, which is not helpful when you do not know what to practice.
At Confident You Training, founder Andy O'Sullivan sees this exact fear every week.. The people who come to us are good at their jobs. They have watched less experienced colleagues speak up in meetings while they sit there hoping nobody asks them a question.
The starting point is not about becoming a performer. It is about getting your body to cooperate so the knowledge you already have can actually come out.
Why does my mind go blank when I speak up?
When the meeting turns to you and everyone looks in your direction, your brain decides this is a threat. It floods your system with chemicals and everything goes a bit haywire. The part of your brain that handles words and logical thinking switches off temporarily.
You are not forgetting the information. Your brain has just decided that forming sentences is less important than surviving whatever is about to happen, even though what is about to happen is just you giving an update to people you have worked with for years.
It is the same reason you can explain a problem perfectly to your colleague at lunch, and then when a senior leader asks you about it in the meeting, you cannot remember a single thing you did.
The trick is to convince your body that speaking in a meeting is not actually dangerous, which is easier said than done when your hands are sweating and your mouth has gone dry.
How do I stop the panic in the first 30 seconds?
The panic is loudest at the start. That first moment when the person running the meeting says your name and everyone turns to look at you is when your body is most convinced something terrible is about to happen.
Writing out the first few sentences and memorising those lines properly helps a lot. You do not need to memorise the whole update. Just the opening. Something simple and grounded like, "In today's update, there are three key developments worth knowing about."
By scripting just the beginning, you give yourself a runway. Once the initial rush settles down a bit, usually after a minute or so, you can switch to bullet points for the rest.
This stops you from doing that thing where you stare at the ceiling trying to remember what you were meant to be talking about, which is a look everyone recognises and nobody enjoys witnessing from across the table.
People spend hours preparing their notes but cannot get through the first sentence without forgetting their own name, and then they wonder what is wrong with them.
Does practising in my head actually work?
Sitting at your desk and running the words through your head is nearly useless. You are teaching your brain to do the update in a calm, quiet state. Then you are in the meeting and your heart rate climbs and your brain does not recognise what is happening. It panics.
Rehearsing out loud makes a real difference. Even better, do 20 star jumps before you rehearse. Practising with a pounding heart teaches your brain that a racing chest is not a sign of doom. It is just a sign that you are energised.
This one shift stops the physical feeling of nerves from turning into a full meltdown. People will happily rehearse a wedding speech in the kitchen with a wooden spoon as a microphone but never think to practise their meeting update out loud, and then they wonder why the meeting feels harder.
Why does visualising success make it worse?
You have probably been told to close your eyes and picture everyone nodding along to your update. For people with a real fear of speaking up, this can make things worse. The gap between the imagined perfection and the current reality feels so wide that it creates more anxiety.
You feel like a fraud before you even open your mouth. Instead of visualising the outcome, plan your reactions. Ask yourself, "If I lose my place, what will I do?" The answer might be, "I will check my notes and take a sip of water."
That is a concrete instruction, not a vague hope. When you have a plan for the worst-case scenario, you stop scanning the faces around the table for danger and start focusing on what you are saying.
It is the difference between hoping the car does not break down on the M25 and knowing where the spare tyre is, which is not exciting but it does stop you gripping the steering wheel quite so hard.
Can I trick my body into feeling calm?
You cannot tell your body to calm down. Telling yourself to relax while your hands are shaking under the table usually makes the shaking worse because you are fighting your own chemistry.
A better approach is to reinterpret the feeling. The physical signs of anxiety are almost identical to excitement. A racing heart, sweaty palms, and quick breathing happen when you are thrilled too.
Instead of thinking "I am nervous," try thinking "I am energised." This is not just positive thinking. It works because your brain looks for a story to match the physical sensation.
If you label the rush as excitement, your body stops fighting it and starts using it as fuel for your voice and movement. The same set of symptoms is either a panic attack or a rollercoaster ride, and the only difference is the story you attach to it while you are queuing.
Should I try to eliminate filler words like "um"?
No. Focusing on not saying "um" is a trap. The "um" is a placeholder your brain uses while it searches for the next word. If you try to force yourself to be silent, you will just freeze.
Replacing the sound with a physical action works better. When you feel the urge to say "um," move your hand. Gesture towards your notes, shift in your chair, or make an open palm gesture.
The physical movement takes up the same half-second of time that the "um" filled, but it looks intentional. You sound more authoritative instantly, without having to become a more fluent speaker overnight.
Most people are so busy worrying about their own delivery that they will not notice you moved your hand instead of making a noise, and the few who do notice will assume it was a deliberate choice you learned on a course somewhere.
Why do I compare myself to less experienced colleagues?
Confidence does not correlate with competence. You have knowledge and experience, which means you understand the nuances and risks of your work. You know what can go wrong.
A junior colleague who speaks up easily often lacks that awareness. They are confident because they do not know what they do not know. Your fear is partly a symptom of your expertise.
You are aware of the weight of your words, and that makes you hesitate. The goal is not to become careless. It is to separate your knowledge from your fear of judgement.
The people around the table need your experience, but they cannot hear it if you are frozen. The person who speaks first in a meeting is not always the person who is right, they are just the person who is least worried about being wrong, and that is a very different thing to being good at the job.
How long does it take to get better at public speaking?
You will notice a difference in one session if you practise the right techniques. You will not become a world-class keynote speaker overnight, but you can stop the panic in a week.
A survey of 2,198 professionals by Confident You Training found that 89% experience meeting anxiety rather than presentation anxiety, and nine out of ten wanted more confidence rather than more skills.
It is a skill, like driving. Once you learn where the pedals are, you stop stalling the car, even if you are still nervous on the motorway.
Most people spend more time preparing their notes than they spend learning how to speak, and then they are surprised when the notes look great and the delivery feels like a hostage video.
FAQ
Why do I shake when I speak in meetings?
The shaking is your body getting ready to run or fight. It is a normal response when you feel like people are judging you. The shaking settles when you use that energy for movement instead of trying to hold it in.
Should I memorise my whole update?
No. Memorising an entire update is too much pressure. You spend all your energy trying to recall the next sentence, and if you miss one word, the whole chain breaks. Memorise the opening line, then use bullet points for the rest.
Is it better to look at my notes or the people around the table?
Look at the people, but not at their eyes. Look at their foreheads or eyebrows. It gives the illusion of eye contact without the emotional intensity of meeting someone's gaze directly.
What if my mind goes blank halfway through?
Have an "If/Then" plan. If your mind goes blank, then you take a sip of water and check your notes. It is a simple thing to do. It breaks the panic loop and gives your brain time to reboot.
Do I need a coach or can I fix this alone?
You can make progress alone with the right exercises. A public speaking coach speeds up the process because they can see your physical habits, like hiding your hands or avoiding eye contact, that you cannot see yourself.
Is my career actually being held back by this?
Almost certainly. In most organisations, the person who speaks clearly is seen as the person who leads. If you are invisible in meetings, you are invisible for promotions. It is often that simple.
About the author
Andy O'Sullivan is a London-based public speaking coach and five-times bestselling author. He works one-to-one with professionals whose fear of public speaking holds them back from speaking up in meetings, delivering presentations, and progressing in their career.
If you'd like to find out whether one-to-one coaching would be the right fit, get in touch here.
