By Honor Hawkins

Former banking executive Dave Soutter changed his college major to avoid public speaking, so he was pretty ticked when his boss signed him up to teach a finance course.

“When he asked if I had a problem speaking in public, I told him I’d be happy just never doing it,” says Soutter. “He said, ‘Well, that’s not a good approach,’ and threw me in.

“He told me speaking in public was a learned skill. I found that if you get up in front of a group of people a couple of times, it’s not life-threatening,” he says. “But it’s not fun either.”

Of course, if you are afraid of giving presentations or even just introducing a speaker, you know it can feel like you’re running into a burning building: your heart races, mouth dries out, head starts to spin, knees go weak and sweat starts to pour.

If you relate, you’re not alone. Fear of public speaking is a type of social phobia, a condition affecting more than 13% of Americans, men and women equally.

Public speaking anxiety can limit your lifestyle, but especially your career, according to Reid Buckley, founder of the Buckley School of Public Speaking in Camden and author of several books on the subject.

“If you can’t communicate well, if you can’t stand on your feet and talk, people immediately dismiss you,” says Buckley. “That is crippling for someone on the way up the career ladder.”

Since he founded the school 17 years ago, Buckley has helped a variety of professionals face public speaking fear, including a symphony conductor, a preeminent physician in his 80s and a former Russian spy.

One client, a contracting industry entrepreneur, “froze” for almost a minute during the first exercise; Buckley had to pull him off the stage. “About 95 percent of our clients come to us afraid of public speaking,” he says.

What causes successful professionals to tremble at the site of a podium and a few dozen chairs?

“Vanity,” according to Buckley. “They are thinking of themselves, not the message or the audience.”

To overcome your ego and speak with panache, Buckley suggests the following:

– Be sure you have something to say. You need to have a clear message that will benefit the audience. “If you don’t, just sit down,” he says.

– Commit to your message. Buckley says you must ask yourself, “How can I convey this message?” then commit “heart and soul” to doing so. Otherwise, you come across as a bore.

– Think tactically. Focus on persuasion. It’s important to plan your talk, of course, but center your efforts on rallying your audience to your point of view.

– Make adrenaline work for you. Buckley has been a professional speaker for two decades, and he still gets nervous before a big talk. “I know how to handle that and throw it behind my message,” he says. “If you don’t have adrenaline working for you, you’ll never perform well.”

– Laugh at yourself. A key part of overcoming vanity is being able to laugh at yourself, according to Buckley. “Once you do that, you can face anything,” he says.

It’s been more than 30 years since tongue-tied Dave Soutter was forced to face his fear. Turns out his pushy boss was right, though. The only way to lessen public speaking anxiety is to do it.

Since then, Soutter, now director of development for the Medical University of South Carolina Hospital and MUSC Heart and Vascular Center, has spoken in front of countless audiences, including several of more than 2,000 people. He has taken several public speaking courses, finding the local Dale Carnegie course to be most effective.

“If I hadn’t learned how to speak in public, it could have limited my career,” says Soutter. “That said, it still makes me a little anxious, but now it’s only mildly distressing.”

Honor Hawkins is a Charleston-based freelance writer.

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