Beat your public speaking fears
Hey, I’m Richard! I work with performers and speakers to overcome their fear and anxiety so they can express themselves with confidence, authenticity and impact.
Do you experience any of the following just before you’re about to go on stage or speak at a meeting, networking or training event?
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Sweaty palms
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Dry mouth
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Increased heart rate
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Butterflies in the stomach
If you do, it’s perfectly natural! It’s your body putting you on high alert. The modern day equivalent of hearing a twig snap and sensing a sabre tooth tiger waiting to attack you in the undergrowth.
It’s how you react next, though that’s key. Often people will experience one (or more) of these three things:
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have the urge to run away or hide from sight (“flight”)
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take on an argumentative or defensive attitude (“fight”) or
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feel frozen, unable to move or think straight, like a deer in the headlights (“freeze”)
The work I do with clients is designed to reduce the severity of these fight, flight or freeze reactions so that, rather than getting hijacked by them, you can show up in stressful situations with confidence and more like your naturally relaxed self.
Through working with me over time, you will either experience these reactions less often, with less severity or be able to recover from them more quickly when they do show up.
Who I work with
I work with artists, purpose-driven business owners and change advocates. These include musicians, actors, improvisers, coaches, healers, mental health support practitioners, not-for-profit representatives as well as individuals with a personal cause they want to raise awareness of on a variety of stages.
My background
Although I am an accomplished trainer, musician, improviser and speaker, it wasn't always that way. Indeed, when I was child I was painfully shy. For part of my first year at school, I couldn't even speak out loud in class and had to whisper into the teacher's ear. Being bullied at school in my teenage years also taught my nervous system that it is safer to hide from than be in the spotlight.
As a consequence, for much of my early career I was terrified of the idea of speaking up in meetings or giving presentations. But then not long after I qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC, I started getting involved in training the new joiners and found I had a real passion for making a difference to them at this crucial point in their careers. I threw myself into giving presentations and while it was terrifying at first, it slowly got easier and easier. 15 years later, I retrained as a coach and decided I wanted to help others find their voices and the courage to speak up too.
During the ten plus years I have been coaching, I've found and honed various somatic techniques that, had I known about them before, would have made my development as a speaker and performer so much easier. These are the techniques I now use with my clients. See the 'coaching' page for more details about how I work.
