I chose to see my introversion as a superpower.

While some people may believe that being an introvert puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to public speaking, I couldn’t disagree more.

I started getting serious about improving my public speaking skills at 21.

It was the point in my life where I was unapologetically introverted.

I had lunch by myself almost everyday.

I made a conscious choice to avoid small talk unless I absolutely had to.

At work, I was known to frequently ‘disappear’ to my private retreats where I could just read uninterrupted.

So while other people probably saw me as anti-social, I chose to view myself as selectively-social.

I had to be.

I wanted to focus on achieving my goals. And I saw many people as distractions.

It was during that time when I first dabbled in Toastmasters. I learnt how to speak confidently in front of an audience.

In meetings, I enjoyed being surrounded by great speakers.

And I discovered something truly fascinating.

The majority of great speakers – they too, were strong introverts.

They didn’t speak much at the Toastmaster meetings. But when they took to the stage, they were vivacious virtuosos – exuding charisma and captivating audiences with their stage presence.

Just seeing them perform gave me an incredible boost of confidence.

These people were like me: ‘selectively social’.

But they killed it every time they spoke.

Then as if on cue, they would ‘disappear’ after their speech was over. In true introverted fashion.

Before long, I started doing the same.

As a coach, I get a lot of introverts asking me if I had any ‘secret tips’ to be great at public speaking.

I’m not exactly sure if they are ‘secret’, but I certainly have three strategies in mind that I’ve personally used. I found them to be extremely helpful.

For this article – I’m going to skip past cliches like ‘practice, practice, practice’ or ‘imagine your audience in their underwear’.

You can’t depend on cliches or conventional wisdom to attain peak performance.

Try these instead:

3 Strategies To Master Public Speaking As An Introvert

Strategy #1: Focus on perfecting your technique.

There are many ways to build confidence in public speaking.

There’s habituation – which is a form of exposure training. You just keep putting yourself out there – again and again – until you get used to it.

This is a great way… if you’re an extrovert.

Sure, you can build confidence through sheer repetition. But if you’re an introvert, you might find it extremely draining.

The thing about introverts – we tend to spend more time in our inner world than the outer world.

We’re much more prone to thinking and planning than actually speaking. It’s how our brains are wired.

In 2012, Professor Randy Buckner of Harvard University conducted brain scans of introverts and extroverts.

He found that introverts tend to have a larger portion of gray matter in the prefrontal cortex – the region of the brain associated with abstract thought, planning and decision-making.

So if you want to get good at public speaking, you should be ruthlessly capitalizing this natural advantage.

A more energy-efficient way to build confidence as an introvert is to focus on perfecting your speaking technique.

Hone your ability to out-plan, out-prepare and out-perform your competition.

This means investing time to write and craft great speeches, designing amazing slides, getting your voice or gestures on point or using rhetorical devices to increase the impact of your message.

Be deliberate in improving every aspect of your speech – the message, the structure, the delivery and the language.

When you get up on stage to speak, your confidence comes from thorough preparation. This can be a satisfyingly reliable source of confidence for you to tap on.

Strategy #2: Obsessively study and mimic great speakers.

One of the best things I used to do early on as a newbie public speaker was to watch videos of great speakers… and play pretend.

I remember telling one of my friends I was ‘studying tape’, which was what professional boxers did when they prepare for fights.

Professional fighters would watch videos of their opponent’s matches to study their habits in the ring, so that when they face them, they would be able to anticipate their movements and come up with a sound game plan to defeat them.

I found that ‘studying tape’ for public speaking was really useful as an introvert.

Observing my favourite TED speakers, I’d copy their movements, their voice and sometimes even shamelessly use their quotes in my own speeches.

Then I’d pretend I was giving speeches to a massive audience, imagining myself giving masterful monologues that get the crowd moving.

As I saw improvements in my performance, I discovered that it was really effective to adopt a playful attitude when improving a skill, and not take yourself too seriously.

This ‘make-believe’ strategy worked wonders for me.

Of course, once you get better at public speaking, you’ll develop your own original style and no longer need to ‘copy’ your heroes.

Strategy #3: Develop a long-term relationship with an experienced mentor.

Here’s the first (and most humiliating) public speaking mistake I made as an introvert – I rehearsed on my own.

I was 15, and it seemed like a great idea at the time.

I memorized my script, practiced a gajillion times… and gave the worst speech in my entire life.

It was my first biggest lesson for public speaking: to give a great speech, you need to practice with feedback.

This feedback should come from a trusted, experienced source – someone who can give both positive encouragement and constructive criticism.

Not from your well-meaning friends or family (unless they’re experts).

Having a presentation skills coach or mentor invariably accelerates your progress in public speaking.

You ‘test’ your speech and (adorably) embarrass yourself in front of them, so that you don’t potentially humiliate yourself in front of your audience.

If you’re giving an important pitch to stakeholders or investors, this could make a million-dollar difference.

Your mentor may not have to be a public speaking expert, but he or she needs to have a decent amount of successful presentations under their belt to give you effective feedback.

It’s ironic for me to say this, but even reading articles titled ‘An Introvert’s Guide to Mastering Public Speaking’ is nowhere near as effective as getting an actual coach or mentor to give you the kind of personalized strategies you need.

Sure, as a public speaking coach myself, I’m definitely biased.

But that’s only because I’ve experienced first-hand the profound effect having a mentor or coach had on my progress as a speaker.

—

When it comes to public speaking, I firmly believe in the introvert’s advantage.

But regardless of whether you’re an introvert or extrovert – know that each personality has their own unique advantage.

Seize those advantages and continue to hone them over a long period of time.

That’s a sound recipe to master anything – not just public speaking.