The core of the advice I give to new speakers is this: first, decide you belong on the "stage" (or, these days, the Zoom call). You should be there. You are assuming a position of authority. Don& #39;t deny that or be embarrassed by it. 1/6

You are speaking and they are, for the most part, listening to you—and by their own free choice. Even if you feel like you don& #39;t belong or you can& #39;t deliver, the objective fact is that you& #39;re there and so are they. Your feelings matter, but they don& #39;t make this fact untrue. 2/6

And to what end are you there? To be admired? To be powerful, and visibly so? To subvert some dominant structure you don& #39;t like? You can choose those goals, but I daresay not many people are likely to share them. 3/6

I submit that you& #39;re there to serve the people listening to you. To give them something. To use your position of power on the stage to lift them up. Further: to show them something broken in their lives, take them through a journey in which you help them fix that thing. 4/6

That is, you want to make them the hero of their own story. To help them increase. If you had to decrease for that to happen, you would, although usually you just get to be you, sending them away a little better off than when they came to you. 5/6

So that& #39;s it. That& #39;s my speaking advice: you belong there, and you are there to serve the people in the room. 6/6