How To Be More Confident

In the stunning Barclays Latitude Club I feel honoured to be a part of the buzz of energy around me and eager to learn how to build my confidence. Hosted by the talented Joy Burnford, the session started with some hard hitting facts:

73 % of women lack confidence
40% fear public speaking
48% want coaching to build up their confidence
43% of women fear asking for a pay rise
34% are nervous about networking

We had a session to determine what the main things we fear about public speaking and the themes were:

• Not being taken seriously
• Feeling warm, hot, sweaty
• Mind goes blank
• Can’t answer a question
• Audience isn’t listening/engaging
• Going off on a tangent
• Being put down – especially by senior management

We then discussed tips to overcome these inhibitions and the key themes were:

• Have a go!
• Practice make perfect
• Learn new things and stimulate your brain
• Push yourself
• Just say YES
• Take opportunities and figure out how to deliver later!

Joy introduced us to the 5 P’s that will help us boost our confidence:

Body Language – It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it

Did you know that 55% of what we say is in our body language? 38% is our tone of voice and only 7% is what you actually say! So body language is pretty important eh?
It’s all about creating that open, strong posture. You’ve heard it all before; don’t hold anything in your hands if you’re going to fidget! Instead speak with your hands, now I’m not saying go full Tony Blair but just think about the positioning of your hands. Palms down = power and palms up = open

Your posture is so important when presenting. Stand with your feet hip width apart and really ground yourself as it helps with balance and clench your buttocks! It really works!
We broke out into groups to practice confidence building. Joy gave us a task to talk about our career goal for this year and what steps we’re going to take to achieve it. We regrouped and shared our main learnings:

• Be yourself
• We can do it
• Be the king even if you are a woman
• Take what is yours

The learnings from other groups were equally as powerful and encouraging:

• Pace yourself
• Eye contact
• Structure
• Humour
• Fake it til you make it
• If you’re passionate about something – display it

Closing thoughts

So it seems there was definitely a confidence boost in the room by the end of the session. It also made me think that it’s important to let your colleagues know that you support them and create that safe environment for everyone to confidently speak up in and grow together.

If you’re not a member of WIBF sign up now! It’s only £66 per annum and this will not only give you access to the mentoring scheme but also included in the price is access to the exclusive workshops we hold in Birmingham and nationwide.