“If you don’t speak up, you won’t be heard.”

As a serial tech founder, public speaking is a core part of my job.

This includes everything from one-on-one calls with clients to pitching to a board of investors and presenting at a startup competition with 1,000 attendees.

Like everyone else, I get stressed before speaking in front of an audience, especially when so much seems to be at stake.

“Will I remember what I have to say?”

“Will I be able to answer their questions?”

“Will they judge me?”

The closer you get to the stage, the more you lose your sense of control.

Over the years, I’ve learned to stay cool-headed before public speaking. I’ve gathered a series of tips that apply equally well whether you’re in a room of 3,000 or on an online call with one person.

No, they’re not “don’t learn it by heart” or “imagine everyone’s naked.” But I don’t read much about these tips. So, let’s get started and walk each step closer to a successful public speaking gig.

1. Repeat your first sentence before getting on stage

Chances are, you’re learning your speech by heart. You’ve repeated it a thousand times, but then you get on stage, look at the audience, and your mind goes blank.

Stage fright, public scrutiny, sweaty palms, and the mic scratching your neck have chased all the words out of your mouth. But you do know your speech. If only someone could give you the first sentence, you would simply rock it!

Guess what? You are that someone. Yes, do repetitions. But the only thing you need to repeat right before getting on stage is your first sentence, delivered exactly in the tone and with the gestures you would want to use.

That way, when you get on stage, the first words of your speech flow out of your mouth, and the rest just follows.

2. Get familiar with the room

If you can, go to the venue ahead of time and practice in the actual setting.

Yes, getting on a wide stage feels terribly uncomfortable, but you know what’s worse? Getting on a wide stage with 3,000 eyes staring at you.

So, get familiar with the space before the pressure builds up. There’s no pressure of time or expectation — it’s just you and the room.

Can’t access the venue before the big day? Then recreate it: stand on your table at home while looking straight into your living room, and walk from one point to another as you practice with the right tone and gestures. It might not be as realistic, but it will get you closer to the stage than doing nothing at all.

The idea is to progressively, in a safe setting, recreate the conditions of the big day. This helps kill the fear of the unknown while building your self-confidence step by step.

3. Practice in front of your audience

No, not in front of your stuffed animals — in front of the actual audience. “What? But Margaux, I’m not ready to pitch yet!”

Let me explain. If you are going to present in front of a big crowd, stand on the side of the room and do your pitch looking at that very crowd. They don’t see you; they are looking at the stage, where you aren’t yet. This allows you to get used to presenting to them. It’s as close as it gets.

Is it a client or investor call instead? Book a call with a prospect you can’t serve or an investor who doesn’t invest in your industry. Pitch to them. See where you nail it and where you need more work.

It’s real practice in front of your target audience, so the moment you are in front of the real deal, it will feel like you already know what to do.

4. See your audience

It’s the big moment. You’re on stage, on the call, or in the room. Your palms are sweaty, knees are weak, mama’s spaghetti. Why? Because you see a black, angry mass staring at you with rage, ready to throw tomatoes at you.

Except, it’s not.

This mass? It’s really just one human + one human + one human. Most of us wouldn’t have a cardiac arrest for talking to a person or two at a cocktail party. Well, if they don’t scare you to death with a glass of champagne in hand, they won’t do more of it sitting half groggy on a conference chair on a Thursday evening.

So, see them individually. I insist. When you get on stage, take a minute to look at about six faces. If you aren’t sure, find a particularity for each of them: the color of their shirt, their curls or funny glasses, or the way they cross their legs.

And make eye contact with each of them. It will make them feel truly human — kind, well intentioned, admirative-of-a-fellow-human-getting-in-front-of-a-crowd human. That’s who you are truly talking to.

“But Margaux, I don’t have time for that; I need to speak!” You do have time. People aren’t going anywhere, and the counter doesn’t start until you open your mouth.

And if it does? The next point is there just for that.

5. Cut your speech in half

You have to give a 5-minute pitch or a 10-minute presentation? Squeeze the script in half.

You won’t have time to say everything either way, because you know what your script doesn’t account for? “Um,” “uh,” “and,” and “well.” These filler words and the breaths you take between them account for 25% of your speech.

Don’t use them? That’s great. But then it means you replace the “uh” by pure, just-as-long silences.

The longer your speech, the harder it is to memorize. This creates more pressure to deliver it quickly, and less understanding for both you and your audience.

So, cut it in half. Take the time to articulate, breathe, and even forget a few things for a second or two.

Your audience will get more out of it and you will have a weight of your back.

6. Cut out the complicated words

Words like “intricate,” “baffled,” and “superconstitution” are too difficult to pronounce and too easy to forget. So, forget them entirely.

Remove them from your speech and replace them with simpler words.

Distill the script to what you would actually say at that cocktail party we talked about earlier. You’ll thank yourself for doing so.

7. Trick your mind

When you get on stage, your body panics. Your body is also a better communicator than you are; it will tell you exactly how it — you — feel. Sweaty palms, short breaths, pounding heart.

So, what can you do about it? Tell your body it’s wrong.

Because it is. You are not about to get eaten by a lion. It might be an important milestone or presentation, and a little stress is always valuable. But the kind of stress you get when you are about to get hit by a truck? No, that’s not good.

How do we tell our body it’s wrong?

We do things that we do when we are happy and safe: we smile, a bright Colgate smile. We have a casual chat with a friend or a fellow presenter. We breathe deeply.

Now your body will think you are getting ready for the spa, and forget about the lion.

8. Don’t interact with the crowd (at first)

Wait before you get all your knives and public speaking consulting cheat sheets out. You do have to look at your audience, and if you are a professional presenter, you’ll probably have to do more than that as well.

But if you have a choice, then don’t ask questions to your audience. Don’t wait for them to give you cues or answers. Focus on relying on yourself first.

Involving an audience raises the stakes. It means everyone has to do their part properly.

Except your audience doesn’t know their part, they don’t even know they have one, and they won’t be able to react on time as you need them to. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking, your script depended on their answers, and now you, too, don’t know what people expect from you.

So, stay in control of your presentation as much as you can. Keep you speech to you and the crowd as ears only.

9. Use the words in your slides

When you write your script, use the same words that are in your slides if you have them as part of your performance.

Why? First, because it will be easier for your audience to follow your train of thought.

Second, because you will likely see your slides when you present, either on a screen on the floor or on the lectern with you.

That way, if you have a short blunder and forget your next words, you have them right there. Your slides are like your second person whispering your lines from behind the crowd. Use them accordingly!

10. Jury’s questions or the famous “I don’t know”

Wow, you did it! You performed your whole speech; good job! Your client is impressed, your board of advisors is ready to invest more, and the crowd is cheering for you.

But that means the jury’s questions will also likely come. You’ve been preparing for months, but you still missed three nights of sleep for the almighty questions you wouldn’t know how to answer. And for sure it comes — it always does.

So, what do you do? You stay honest. But you do it with class and charisma. In these moments, the key lies in this magical phrase: “I don’t know, but I will find out for you, and we can plan a follow-up email/call/meeting to go over it.”

BAM: not only did you save the situation with initiative and flair, but you also got yourself a follow-up conversation with that stakeholder. How powerful is that?

A few concluding notes

Public speaking will never not be scary.

You will always get stressed before the big moment, but it doesn’t have to be paralyzing. You can be anxious and still deliver with class and expertise and get so much — opportunities, funding, and due recognition — out of it.

If this article helped, feel free to follow and reach out to discuss!