The confidence bible: what trainers say

Building confidence in public speaking is the goal of most of my trainees. Here's a roundup of tips on building confidence and battling your speaking fears from some of the best speaker coaches who blog on the topic. I'm hoping this small "confidence bible" of tips will get us all ready for this week's Step Up Your Speaking coaching session, where Stephanie Benoit will work on just that as her first priority,

• Lisa Braithwaite's Speak Schmeak blog confronts what if your worst public speaking fears came true? and answers the question that holds back many fearful speakers: Is public speaking a talent or a skill?


• Dana Bristol-Smith's Speak for Success blog asks what is fear holding you back from?


• Andrew Dlugan's Six Minutes blog tells you what you should be doing instead of rehearsing at the last minute (a bad habit of the nervous speaker) and gives you 5 habits that will help you achieve your speaking resolution.


• Olivia Mitchell's Speaking About Presenting blog offers 15 baby steps to overcome your fear of public speaking and suggests you use your fear of public speaking to improve as a speaker.

You can find all my posts on fear and public speaking here, but two fan favorites ask Do you overprepare for speaking? and what to do when the speaker needs to catch her breath, on why you may experience the fight-or-flight response when you start speaking--and what to do about it.