Fresno’s Krishen Iyer on optimizing your public speaking skills for meetings

Through optimizing your public speaking skills, you will find that captivating the attention of those around you requires less work than you think.

Most of us have heard the catchphrase, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Similarly, it is not necessarily about what you say. It is how you say it. That is where public speaking comes in handy. Even when we know that we deserve our spot within our organization and receive positive feedback that confirms our performance, it is incredibly human to experience self-doubt in the workplace. Team meetings can amplify that self-doubt. If we feel inclined to speak up about a new idea or interesting new finding, but no one responds, the lack of excitement can feel like a personal attack on our contributions. Feeling insecure during a meeting, especially when we do not receive the desired response from our peers, may inspire some not to speak up at the next meeting. As a result, internally ruminating over what others think of us can cause us to withhold our ideas. Fortunately, we can overcome the very human feeling of self-doubt by building our confidence. Through optimizing your public speaking skills, you will find that captivating the attention of those around you requires less work than you think.