Patricia Fripp Blog

As a professional speaker and speech coach, I am frequently asked, “Were you always this confident?” The answer is, “No.”

Confidence in public speaking doesn’t come naturally to everyone. It’s built over time through a commitment to learn, improve, get coached, review your presentations, and continuously stive to hone your skills. Even those with natural talent must know the proven principles and timeless techniques.

Fripp can help improve your presentations.

One of the most transformative benefits of developing good public speaking skills is the boost it gives to your confidence.

Boost Your Confidence and Credibility

Consider Will, a Staff Performance Engineer at a large technology company in Silicon Valley. Will’s story perfectly illustrates how mastering presentation skills can transform one’s confidence. Like many brilliant technical experts, Will invested years developing his skills and then found himself thrust into the spotlight, needing to present to colleagues and superiors.

I felt like a proud parent when Will wrote, “Four months ago, I attended your presentation skills Masterclass. It was eye-opening. I just wanted to let you know how beneficial that class has been. I’ve been a very anxious public speaker for as long as I can remember. After your class, my anxiety magically melted away. Recently, I delivered an hour-long talk to my twenty-five-person team. The audience included management, a director, and our Technical Director.

I help high-tech companies with product launches and customer user conferences to highlight the value of their technology. It is a privilege to assist brilliant technical presenters in better understanding how to talk like real people speaking to real people. Their presentations need to simplify the complexity of technology without ever using the words basic or simple because if it were, why would they charge the price they do? Many love their busy, complex slides. My job is to help them understand that their visual aids may cause cognitive overload.

What is Cognitive Overload?

Cognitive overwhelm occurs when our brains are bombarded with too much information at once, making it difficult to process and retain anything. In public speaking, this often happens when a speaker overloads the audience with data, complex visuals, or rapid speech.

My brother Robert Fripp played guitar on David Bowie’s Heroes.

When my brother and I delivered our presentation, How to Be a Hero for More than One Day, I asked him, “How can we become heroes?”

He replies, “By performing acts of quality.”

The next logical question is, “Why is an act of quality important?”

When crafting unforgettable presentations, the best stories often come from your life experiences—the stories you tell your friends.

What captivates your friends will also captivate your audience.

Think about the last time you shared a story with a friend. Perhaps it was a funny memory from your childhood, a lesson learned from a challenging project, or an inspiring moment that changed your perspective. These stories resonate because they are genuine, personal, and relatable. Your audience, like your friends, connects with authenticity and emotional honesty.

Why Personal Stories Work

Relatability: Personal stories are relatable. When you share a story from your life, your audience can see themselves in your experiences. They find common ground, which builds a connection.
Authenticity: Audiences crave authenticity. Sharing a story from your own life comes across as genuine and sincere, which helps build trust and rapport with your listeners.
Emotional Impact: Personal stories often carry a strong emotional punch. Whether it’s humor, sadness, triumph, or failure, emotions are powerful tools for engaging an audience and making your message memorable.

It never ceases to amaze me that intelligent, well-educated, and ambitious professionals frequently overlook developing the number-one skill guaranteed to position them ahead of the crowd: the ability to stand up and speak eloquently in public, or at least stagger to their feet and say anything at all.

What terrifies so many about public speaking? Most likely, it is because we do not want to look, feel, or sound foolish in front of others. This fear can be paralyzing, but it is also conquerable.

I frequently hear, “I am a terrible public speaker.” To which I reply, “No. You are an untrained speaker.” My second comment is always, “Stop telling yourself what you do not want. This is reinforcing what you are going to change.” You improve what you focus on. I tell my coaching clients, “You have invested your entire career training to be a competent CPA, engineer, nurse, dentist, financial advisor, or content expert. Now it’s time to invest in becoming a competent speaker.”

The Importance of Public Speaking Skills

Do you aspire to be an outstanding public speaker? Here’s a secret: great public speakers are made, not born.

My Journey to Becoming a Speech Expert

Patricia can help you become a great speaker

My clients will tell you I have a unique superpower: I can listen to what people say and instantly tell them how to improve their words or delivery. However, Trust me, I wasn’t born with this ability. It took decades of multifaceted study, practice, and learning from some of the best speech coaches in the world.

Before I realized my destiny was to become a speech coach, I was a dedicated student, taking screenwriting, public speaking, and comedy writing courses. Over thirty years as an in-demand speaker and thousands of presentations later, I refined, adapted, and adjusted the techniques I had learned. This journey led me to coaching executives, engineers, sales teams, and other speakers.

You Can Learn to Be a Great Speaker Too

You are not born a good public speaker; you learn to become one. While some people may find it easier to speak in public, even those with natural talent need to master the principles that save time in preparation, maximize impact, and ensure consistency.

How often have you wondered where the magic begins in crafting a presentation that captivates, informs, and inspires? Consider yourself the chemist concocting a potion that will enchant your audience. Let’s dive into the three essential ingredients that transform your presentation from ordinary to extraordinary.

The Content: Your Main Ingredient

Think of your content as the primary ingredient of your potion. It’s the essence of what you wish convey. This is also how you choose to say it. Just like selecting the finest herbs for a potion, picking the right content involves understanding your message and how it fits the needs and expectations of your audience.

The Structure: The Magic Formula

Once you have your main ingredients and the ideas in your presentation, it’s time to stir them into a coherent structure. This is your magic formula, the blueprint that guides how you arrange your thoughts. Create the flow of your ideas that takes your audience on a journey.

From the captivating opening to the memorable close, your structure supports and amplifies your message. A good structure makes your content more understandable, impactful, and easier for you and your audience to remember.

It’s a common misconception that only novice public speakers feel nervous before high-stakes presentations.

However, even seasoned speakers experience jitters and anxiety before taking the stage. The adrenaline rush can be overwhelming, and it’s important to remember that nerves are a sign of caring deeply about the message you want to convey. So, embrace your nerves and use them to deliver a powerful and impactful presentation.

It’s a human reaction, not a professional flaw. As a speech coach, I give my clients the advice they need to transform nervous energy into presentations that captivate their audiences.

Adopt a Growth Mindset: View each opportunity to speak as a chance to grow and learn. This perspective shifts your focus from fear of failure to the excitement of personal development.

As a keynote speaker, I used this example when clients asked me to help them boost retention and remind their associates that “the grass looks greener” elsewhere.

Remember how exciting it was when you first fell in love?

Your heart somersaulted every time you met the one you loved. The two of you sat up talking all night and never ran out of something to say. You always seemed to have so much energy. The thrill of falling in love is tremendous.

Soon enough, reality set in, and you had to start working to make the relationship succeed. That’s good, of course. It’s how you truly grow to know and love the other person.

In many ways, a new job is like a love affair.

The first stage is excitement, which can last from an hour to many years. You think, “This job will pay me more money than I’ve ever earned. The clients will be wonderful to deal with. I will expand my knowledge and enjoy exciting experiences.” The novelty of the job keeps your energy high. You are happy because you feel productive and are satisfied with contributing to your team.

Then, the second stage, reality, sets in.

You still enjoy your work; however, you begin to notice some of the irritants and difficulties. Deadlines seem endless and impossible. It becomes harder to arrive early or stay late. You used to love the camaraderie; now it seems an effort to go in three days a week. The novelty starts to wear off. And, like love, your job has a third stage, too… disillusionment.

Long before the world shifted to remote work, I championed the effectiveness of virtual meetings for coaching and training top professionals. The goal is simple: connect deeply and persuasively with your audience, no matter where they are. Improve your presentations

Here’s how you can enhance your virtual engagement:

Set the Stage: Always ensure your background is neat and professional—this frames your environment and professional image.

Visibility Matters: Activate your webcam! Make eye contact by smiling directly into the camera, crafting what I call “energetic intimacy.”

Stay Hydrated, Stay Refined: It’s natural to need a sip of water during discussions. However, opt for a more elegant solution than a bulky water bottle. My top suggestion? Use a straw! It’s not just about avoiding awkward angles (nobody wants the “up-the-nose” view). It’s about maintaining poise and professionalism without interruption.

Expert Advice about Presentation Skills
from Patricia Fripp

Want to Become Confident in Your Public Speaking Skills? This is How

Do You Know How Your Visual Aids May Harm Your Audience Members?

Why Is an Act of Quality Important?

My brother Robert Fripp played guitar on David Bowie’s Heroes.

He replies, “By performing acts of quality.”