Public Speaking Myths That Don't Work

Every few months a new public speaking tip goes round. Stand and do power poses. Hold a pen between your teeth. Take propanolol. Just project to the back of the room. You may have heard some of these before, but do they actually help you with public speaking.

Public speaking myths are kept alive because they are easy to repeat and they follow a trend that is already out there. These tips sometimes are sometimes too vague and more trouble than they are worth. You think that these tips are meant to help but do they do anything at all to improve your public speaking skills?

Where the myths come from

Anyone can claim they are a public speaker these days without any real qualifications, they’ve spoken on a few stages, they feel confident and they start teaching public speaking. But there is a skill to public speaking, an art form that does not only need to mastered but to know how the technique helps the person who is speaking and why it helps them.

Some of these public speaking myths are framed something that will help boost your public speaking so you can be articulate and confident straight away. We all know that nothing works overnight especially any skill that needs time for practise. That is why so much of these public speaking trends feel good for the shortest of time and works badly in the long run.

5 trending tips that do not deliver

1. Power poses

The idea behind power poses is to open yourself up to the possibility of receiving and you become this powerful person. You have the open body language and by doing a power pose, you look like a person who has authority. This is meant to be a confident posture for a couple of minutes before you present which changes how you feel and how the audience reads you. It seems to be catered more for Americans who are more outwardly expressive rather than Brits.

For some people it may work, for others it doesn’t. The reason why power poses don’t tend to work is that it makes the person feel more awkward if they haven’t done power poses ever before. And because they feel awkward, they will walk onto the stage feeling awkward. You should feel comfortable with how you stand and if this doesn’t align with you then don’t do it. Also doing power poses does not change how you structure an argument, how you open the speech, how you handle a question you did not expect or how you use your voice to engage an audience.

2. The pen between your teeth

This one is an interesting one that many people seem to know about. You bite down on a pen and then you start speaking. This public speaking technique would magically improve your articulation. The idea that you will sound more articulate when you have a pen in between your teeth does have its faults.

When you are speaking, there are three articulators you need to be aware of that needs to move in order for you to create sound, your tongue, your lips and your jaw. They all have to work together at the same time to create the words you want.

Whilst your tongue maybe moving to say the words, your lips and jaw aren’t moving in this exercise. We have to think of sound coming from our vocal folds or vocal cords and the vibration is shaped by our articulators, all three of them. Your tongue may be moving in this exercise, but your lips and jaw isn’t. If your jaw isn’t open the vibrations are stuck inside of the mouth. So even if you do this exercise, you still can end up mumbling or worse, you end up mumbling because of this exercise.

3. Beta blockers and propranolol

These come up constantly in conversations and it’s sometimes the first thing people think about to get rid of their nerves, when they have really bad anxiety with speaking. Beta blockers like propranolol is a medicine designed to block the physical symptoms of adrenaline and you feel as though you can speak freely.

But by taking this, it is only short term relief. It’s like taking the paracetamol or ibruprofen, it only masks the real issue. Nothing will remove the sensation of nerves, propranolol will not help you build the skill of speaking and it’s not healthy to have it everytime you need to speak in front of others. To work on your public speaking techniques, breathing work, mindset work and voice coaching will address how scared you feel with speaking.

4. Just speak louder

A lot of phrases to do with public speaking is so vague. It’s not precise enough for you to change that specific thing. If someone says to you “speak louder”, “breathe from your diaphragm” do you know exactly how to do this? Do you know what your diaphragm looks like and where it is?

Speaking louder is the most misunderstood instruction in speaking. Louder does not mean clearer. It means project your voice. A lot of people have the misconception that having a louder voice means to shout, pushing volume from the throat that tightens the neck muscles, which makes you sound strained.

Speaking with a louder volume is a precise science, to control the breath flow, the amount of air, from your belly, to send into the vocal folds and to then change the air pressure so you can create more vibrations.

5. Fake it till you make it.

This often is a catch 22. In some ways we need the confidence before we speak, but we also need to practice the speaking before we gain the confidence. And often if we aren’t able to practice enough, the confidence doesn’t arrive, so the advice is fake it till you make it.

Often, we feel that this advice is misleading in some ways as there is always a performative element to this, that you have to become somebody else to step into the shoes of who you want to become. Whilst this may work for some people, if you are genuinely authentic and a person who speaks your truth, no matter the judgement from other people, then you will find the confidence and become confident with speaking and you won’t need to fake it till you make it.

Confidence is a feeling that we have to experience in our body and at Speaking Voices we transfer that feeling from other times of your life into the public speaking, so you don’t have to fake it till you make it.

More public speaking myths worth retiring

Beyond the viral tips, there are other myths that still shapes how people think about speaking.

• Great speakers are born that way, only extroverts are good at it
• Get rid of the nerves, everyone will see how nervous you are
• Remove every filler word
• Visualise your audience naked
• You do not need to prepare, just wing it

Speaking is a skill that can be learnt, you don’t have to be a public speaker if you don’t want to be. You don’t have to get rid of all your nerves, nerves are normally. Fillers words are distracting if used regularly, but the odd one or two doesn’t hurt. If visualising your audience naked works for you, carry on, but the idea that we are all humans at the end of the day and there’s nothing to be scared of. Whilst not preparing might work for some, again listen to advice that works only for you.

How to spot the next speaking myth

Most speaking myths share three symptoms. They promise a fast, instant change with no practice. And they offer single use that it’s supposed to work for every speaker, every room and every subject.

Useful advice only becomes useful advice when you are able to use it. Everyone’s voice is different, everyone’s personality is different so it’s all a trial and error process. You only learn if it works by doing something. Take time to challenge the status quo and ask yourself does it work for me?

Work With Speaking Voices

Public speaking advice isn't one size fits all. What works for one person might not work for another.

Work with Emily Lee, who has a Master's degree in Voice Studies. At Speaking Voices, every coaching session is tailored to your individual needs, helping you develop the skills to communicate clearly and confidently.

Rather than teaching you to imitate someone else, we work on your voice, your articulation, your mindset and your delivery to help you find a speaking style that feels authentic to you.

Ready to develop your public speaking skills? Find out more about services and how personalised coaching can help you become a more confident speaker.