Introduction

This guide is going to help you manage that fear, and get better as a speaker too. You still need to practice what you learn. A book can't practice for you. A written guide can tell you what to practice and how to practice it.

A brief note on language: This is a guide to public speaking, a topic that covers lots of scenarios.. For purposes of streamlining communication, I will refer to all of those scenarios as speeches unless there is a need to be specific.

You can technically start where you want, but the guide is organized in a logical order. You will learn more about the importance of communication skills first. Then, there are two sections on how to prepare for a speech, a (long) chapter on delivering the speech, and finally a section of advice on handling specialized speaking tasks.

Throughout, there are tips, resources, and a couple of action steps to help you along the way to becoming a better speaker.