When Linda Söderlindh graduated in the 90s, she had her sights set on becoming a historian – an interesting subject where she would avoid speaking in front of people.

– I liked the idea of searching through archives and reading historical texts. But I didn't like the thought of standing in front of people and speaking, Linda recalls. 

At this point, Linda had begun to realize that there was a risk that she would have to teach and speak in front of an audience as a historian. Linda studied up to the C course in history, and then the idea was to take a term of something else. The choice fell on rhetoric.

– Halfway through the course, the university lecturer asked if I would consider teaching the subject. It was probably then that I realized I had found the right path. I thought rhetoric was difficult until I started studying it, realized it was interesting and that I was good at it. Then it suddenly became a lot of fun.

For the next three years, Linda and her colleagues worked to build up the academic subject of rhetoric and started one of the first rhetoric programs at the university level at Örebro University.

Rhetorical skills have become more important

Since 2000, Linda has taught rhetoric at the university. Since the need for communicative skills is great in most programs, a significant part of the teaching has come to include rhetoric in everything from teacher and law programs to engineering programs.

According to Linda, many students find it difficult and scary to give oral presentations. Her impression is also that it has become a more common element out in the professional world.

– Over the years, I have met many students who have considered dropping out of the program because they felt it was so difficult to speak in front of others. I never approach it with the mindset of completely curing the fear; instead, one needs to find different tricks to manage the nervousness and make it more manageable.

It's never too late to improve

Many students Linda has met have, as she has chosen to call it, a fear of speaking. Some choose to postpone the problem and panic-write their presentation at the last minute, only to not have time to practice what they are going to say. Then the nervousness usually makes itself known.

– When we become nervous, it is easy to focus on everything that goes wrong. The voice in our heads worries about whether it shows outwardly that we are sweating, if it can be heard that we are trembling in our voice, that we get stuck or lose our words.

She believes it is important for students to learn tools to manage their nervousness and receive guidance at an early stage so that it doesn’t feel like a shock when it is time to give an oral presentation.

– But it is important to emphasize that it is never too late to learn tricks to manage your nervousness. Everyone can become better speakers with the right guidance.

Use the tools correctly

Many seek help from tools in the form of presentation aids. If you are nervous, it can feel nice that the listener has something else to focus on, but if the text and images do not add anything significant, it is difficult to keep the listener's interest.

– Visual impressions are good in that the audience receives information in two ways. They are stimulated by the person speaking and there are incredible opportunities to reinforce the message by, for example, showing an image instead of simply telling. But long bullet points, too much text, and images that do not reinforce or clarify what the speaker is saying can make it difficult for the listener to absorb the information.

Therefore, she usually tries to teach students to use the tools more wisely.

– When the tools are used correctly, it can really elevate the level of a presentation. But it should be seen as just an aid, more like a crutch than a life-support respirator.

7 tips to become a more confident speaker

• Focus on the right things and don’t let your thoughts take over.
  Focus on questions like: What you want to say, who the recipient is, how you should speak to be understood by the recipient, and how you want the recipient to feel?

• Prepare yourself
  Prepare your material based on the information you have. The more prepared you are, the better the presentation will go.

• Dare to ask
  If your boss asks you to present something at the meeting, you have the right to ask for more information about the task. How long should you speak, how detailed, should you argue for something? Is the purpose to inform, inspire, or educate? A little more context can facilitate the task.

• Practice what you want to say several times, preferably one more time.
  A good trick is to film yourself while you practice. Then you can see how it looks and you can identify areas of improvement. Perhaps you have a close colleague or friend who can give you feedback?

• Don’t be afraid of your nervousness.
  Nervousness is natural; in fact, it is adrenaline, which is performance-enhancing. If we learn to manage our nervousness, it can become our strength instead of our enemy. A little comfort can be that nervousness feels worst on the inside. It usually doesn't show half as much as it feels.

• Set small goals for yourself.
  In a presentation, your goal may be to dare to look up from your notes more times than you actually feel you want to. Afterwards, you can pat yourself on the back for doing well. In the next presentation, you can focus on something else.

• Think of it as doing the audience a favor.
  They have set aside time to listen to you because they want to know, understand or learn something.