Public speaking is a skill that every
entrepreneur must master. If giving
a speech fills you with fear it can be
hard to represent your business
well. Fortunately, Richard Branson
has some advice…
It might come as a surprise that the Virgin
Founder is not a fan of public speaking. “I
loathe making speeches, and always have,”
he admits in a recent entrepreneur.com
blog. “I deliver a lot of them these days, but
it’s almost as true today as it was when I
first spoke in public as a student some 50-
odd years ago.
“Back then, my school was having a contest
in which we had to memorize a short
speech and present it to the other students.
If we stumbled at any point, we were
“gonged,” which ended the speech. I
remember being scared half to death when
my turn came and I had to stand in front of
my classmates; I still break out in a cold
sweat just thinking back to the excruciating experience.

But it’s not just the nerves that affect him,
the Virgin Group founder says that he’s
never particularly enjoyed public speaking.
“As is the case with everything else that I
haven’t particularly enjoyed doing, for a long
time I didn’t do it terrible well,” he admits.
“Over the years, however, I have become
much more practiced at giving speeches,
though it still makes me a bit nervous.”
Fortunately, Branson has picked up some
advice and inspiration from brilliant writers
and public speakers. Here’s what he has
learnt…

Use your imagination
The late Gavin Maxwell, the author of “Ring
of Bright Water” and other novels, once
gave me some wonderfully helpful advice on
speechmaking. His technique requires
practice, but it can be effective.
Here it is: When you need to speak in front
of a crowd, close your mind to the fact that
you’re on a stage with hundreds of people
watching you and instead imagine yourself
in a situation where you’d be comfortable
speaking to a group. For example, imagine
that you’re in your dining room at home,
telling a story to friends over dinner. I know
it sounds a little corny, but try it. This trick
has certainly removed some of the anxiety
for me.

Practise, practise, practise
I am a huge fan of Winston Churchill, who
is universally recognized as one of the
greatest orators of all time. However,
Churchill only achieved this status after a
lot of hard work. The former British prime
minister claimed in his memoirs that he
averaged an hour’s preparation for every
minute of a speech.
Like Churchill, I found that if you practise,
practise, practise, then practise some more,
that will gradually mitigate the fear of
public speaking, no matter how debilitating.
Repeat the speech until you are even
hearing the phrases in your dreams, and it
will be much easier to deliver.
Churchill also once said: “A good speech
should be like a woman’s skirt: long enough
to cover the subject and short enough to
create interest.” Take this advice to heart.
Even highly gifted speakers like Churchill
would never ask an audience to listen for
more than 25 minutes or so. Extending a
presentation beyond half an hour will
stretch any group’s attention span.

Prepare
Mark Twain, who along with Ernest
Hemingway is one of my favorite American
authors, was also a highly acclaimed public
speaker and, like Churchill, enjoyed
speaking about speaking. Twain was aware
of the common misperception that in order
to be a great speechmaker, one must be
good at speaking off the cuff. Twain
addressed this in 1899 when, speaking at a
dinner given in his honor at London’s
Whitefriars Club, he said: “Impromptu
speaking – that is a difficult thing . I used
to begin about a week ahead, and write out
my impromptu speech and get it by heart.”

Another piece of astute advice from Twain,
which I have mentioned before, makes me
feel a lot better about my own qualms. He
once insisted that “there are only two types
of speakers in the world: 1. The nervous. 2.
Liars.” So if you’re nervous, you’re in good
company.