Mastering public speaking

What pros know that you should too

Mastering public speaking is something I worked hard at on my way up. And I can remember the exact moment that changed everything for me.

Two years into my coaching journey at TCI, which began in 2011, I approached founder Remi Pearson and said I wanted to be a trainer for her.

I wanted her to go, 'Really? Awesome. Go you!

And she turned around, said 'Nice. Work hard. And bridge the gap between who you are onstage and offstage.

How did I take it? I thought, 'That sounds hard. What does that mean?'

By saying "Yes" and figuring out how!

So when I decided I wanted to tackle mastering public speaking, the end result was being onstage or online as someone who could command an audience, and give and inspire.

But that end result didn't reflect my real life.

In my real life, I still had a lot of low self esteem and had a lot of problems around suppressing emotions and really crappy relationships.

One of the things Remi taught me was if you’re going to talk it onstage, you have to live it.

When Remi pointed it out to me, I got that being a master trainer wasn't just about the skill set but deciding to bridge the gap between who I was on and off stage.

At the the time, I would say: 'Don't look in my house, it's a shambles, don't look in my car' but out of the house I would look nice.

I didn’t keep the promises I made to myself, I let myself down, I didn’t pay my bills so I attracted people who didn't pay their bills.

Time to clean the closet. I couldn't start to do what I wanted until I was living 'above the line' values.

If I'm not doing it, I can't tell someone else to do it. That's being a hyprocrite, right? I'm not going to be that person. I'm not going to be that trainer.

That's unauthentic. We have to embody everything we talk about.

A mistake some people fall into is too say 'I've got to sort my stuff out and when that's sorted, I'll be a speaker.

Wrong.

We start the journey now and we're sorting the stuff in the background. We don't have to tell everybody. We're just doing it, showing up.

Get started today. Mastering public speaking, becoming a speaker, is about a lot more than speaking.

You got this. Find your voice.

MATT LAVARS

One of Australia's leading coaches, trainers and speakers, and head facilitator at The Coaching Institute. In between mentoring thousands of coaches and leaders all around Australasia and helping others build incredible culture, Matt is passionate about fitness and music. His healthy office lunches whipped up in five minutes are the stuff of legend

Matt Lavars life coaching
Matt LavarsThe Coaching Institute