Women in Business Fall 2017

24 | WOMEN IN BUSINESS—FALL 2017 PUBLISHED BY BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER
SPEAKING
Do you suffer from glossophobia (fear of public speaking)?
Time to conquer it to get ahead in your career (and in life)UP
HAYLEY WOODIN
NARGES
NIRUMVALA
CEO,
EXECUTIVESPEAK
COACHING
INTERNATIONAL
I think public
speaking, for
anyone, takes
a tremendous
amount of
courage. So don’t
expect to not
experience fear
Set aside snakes, forget flying and disregard the dark – the
top fear for many professionals is public speaking. For some,
glossophobia (as the condition is officially known) is even
more terrifying than dying. It may sound far-fetched, but not to
those whose careers force them to fight through the phobia.
“I still am terrified before I go onstage. My heart’s pounding.
I’m sweating so I always have clinical-strength
deodorant on,” quips Narges Nirumvala, CEO of Vancouver-based
ExecutiveSpeak Coaching International.
“I think public speaking, for anyone, takes a tremendous
amount of courage. So don’t expect to not experience fear.”
Nirumvala faced her own “do or die” situation about
seven years ago. After being fired from a menial job, she
spent months in “complete obscurity and unemployment,”
unable to secure even a minimum-wage position. As she
turned toward social assistance, her husband suggested
she leverage her talent as a communicator and venture
out on her own. Today, she has hundreds of conferences
and group presentations under her belt as one of Canada’s
leading executive speech coaches and a paid motivational
speaker.
“I didn’t have an option. And often for my leaders, it’s the
same situation. They’ve been promoted, they are going
to be CEO in a year, maybe they’ve just become executive
director, maybe they’re going to be running for election,”
says Nirumvala. “All of a sudden it’s absolutely vital that
they can speak well in public.”
If you’ve ever been to a conference or listened to your
boss give a speech before you and your colleagues, chances
are you’ve witnessed someone fearful of public speaking.
Many who appear confident on the outside are scared
to death on the inside. Through training, practice and
learning from others, they’ve overcome it.
LEARN WHAT TO DO (AND WHAT NOT TO) BY WATCH-
ING OTHERSA turning point in Nirumvala’s career
was after watching a technology CEO give a very dull talk
at a human resources conference a few years back. “He
was boring people to death. It was awful,” she says. “One
woman had fallen asleep next to me; the other woman was
on her phone the whole time.”
Putting pen to napkin, she documented 67 mistakes
made by the speaker – insights later shared in her Amazon.com
bestseller Capture the Spotlight. Among them:
reading off a PowerPoint, speaking to a PowerPoint and
failing to share stories. “That’s how it started,” she says.
“I went to hear someone speak. He was terrible. I learned
so much.”
Reading, listening and taking notes are simple yet
powerful ways to collect insights and ideas to improve
your public speaking skills. There’s a plethora of content
available on websites such as YouTube or TED Talks, giving
professionals front-row access to the best presenters,
performers and speakers in the world. It will also help
you pick up on any new trends and see what works – and
doesn’t work.
“There’s no doubt that the expectations for an entertaining
speaker today is very different than it was,” says
Debby Carreau, founder and CEO of Vancouver-based
Inspired HR and chair of the Young Presidents’ Organization
Canada’s women’s network. “It really has shifted
and it’s also upped the game.”
Carreau’s advice for beginners is to start small and work
within your comfort zone. Then, start slowly pushing
the envelope by making and posting videos on channels
such as Facebook or Instagram and ask for feedback. She
also recommends people practise by reading their speech