Public speaking is the act of delivering a message to an audience, whether that is three people in a meeting or three thousand in a hall. You get good at it the same way I did, by understanding who is in front of you, building a clear message, practising it out loud until the delivery feels natural, and speaking often in small rooms before you ever face the big ones. It is a learned skill, not a gift a lucky few are born with.
I know that because I was not one of the lucky few. Growing up, I was the shy girl who dreaded being called on in class. The first time I held a microphone, at a church programme, my hands shook and my voice nearly left me.
Eighteen years later I have hosted presidential galas and trained over 30,000 people to speak, and I can tell you plainly: every bit of it was built, one nervous attempt at a time. If you are starting from zero, you are starting exactly where I did. This guide is the road I wish someone had laid out for me.
What public speaking actually is
Strip away the fear and the fancy word, and public speaking is talking to a group of people on purpose, with something you want them to understand, feel, or do. That is it. The lecturer explaining a concept, the pastor preaching on Sunday, the bride’s father giving a toast, the manager presenting last quarter’s numbers, they are all doing public speaking, whether they call it that or not.
Public speaking (definition): the practice of delivering a structured spoken message to a live audience, in person or online, with the goal of informing, persuading, inspiring, or entertaining them.
Here is the part most Nigerians miss. You already speak in public more often than you think. We are a country of speeches. There is a stage in front of you almost every week:
- Church and crusade grounds, from the welcome address to the vote of thanks
- Weddings, naming ceremonies, and burials, where someone always has to say a few words
- Corporate AGMs, conferences, and product launches
- NYSC camp activities and CDS presentations
- Classrooms, lecture halls, and seminar presentations
- Boardroom pitches and team meetings
- Association meetings, old students’ gatherings, and town unions
- Political rallies, campaigns, and community town halls
The skill is not learning to do something brand new. It is learning to do something you already do, on purpose and well.
Why learning public speaking is worth it
I want to be honest about the payoff, because it is bigger than most people realise. The ability to stand up and speak clearly is one of the most valuable skills you can own in Nigeria today, and the data backs that up.
In a survey of employers, more than three quarters named communication as a critical attribute they look for in new hires. Communication, again and again, sits at the very top of what gets you hired and promoted.
Think about what that means on the ground here. The colleague who can present well gets handed the client, while the one who mumbles watches it go to someone else. Speak up well in meetings and you are remembered when promotions are decided. An entrepreneur who can pitch closes the deal a shy one loses, a minister who can preach grows the church, and a candidate who can move a crowd wins the room.
Your voice is one of your most bankable assets, and most people never cash it.
And yet most people leave it on the table because of one feeling: fear. Research has found that around 77% of people experience a fear of public speaking (Heeren et al., 2013, NIH). So if the thought of standing up makes your stomach turn, you are not the exception. You are the rule.
The difference between the people who speak anyway and the people who stay silent is not the absence of fear. It is that one group learned what to do with it.
The core skills of public speaking
Good speaking is not one big talent. It is a handful of smaller skills, each of which you can practise on its own. Master these and you have the whole craft.
Know your audience
Before you think about what you will say, think about who you are saying it to. What do they already know? What do they care about? Why are they in the room? A talk that lands with a hall of CEOs will fall flat with a youth fellowship, and the other way round.
When you shape your message around the people in front of you, half the work of connecting is already done. Speakers who skip this step end up talking at people instead of to them.
Structure your message
A clear talk has a simple shape: an opening that earns attention, a body that delivers a few solid points, and a close that lands the message. Most beginners try to cram ten ideas into one talk and lose the audience by the third. Pick one core idea. Build two or three points that support it. Open with something that grabs, a short story, a surprising fact, a real question, and close with something they will carry home.
If you want to go deeper on this, I have a separate guide on how to write a speech.
Master your delivery
How you say it matters as much as what you say. Pace is the first thing to fix. Nervous speakers rush; rushing makes you harder to follow and easier to lose. Slow down, and let your words breathe. Vary your volume and tone so you do not drone. And learn to love the pause. A few seconds of silence after an important line gives the room time to absorb it, and gives you time to breathe.
The pause is one of the most powerful tools a speaker has, and beginners are the ones most afraid to use it.
Use your body and your presence
People read your body before they hear your words. Stand tall, plant your feet, keep your shoulders open, make eye contact, and let your gestures support your point instead of fidgeting. You will sometimes see the claim that “55% of communication is body language,” drawn from Albert Mehrabian’s research. Read that carefully: his figures were about how we communicate feelings and attitudes specifically, not every spoken message, so do not over-read them.
How you carry yourself shapes how your message lands, so carry yourself like someone worth listening to, and your audience will treat you like one.
Manage your nerves on the day
Every speaker feels something before they go on. I still feel a flutter after eighteen years. The trick is to calm your body so the nerves do not run the show: slow your breathing, with a long exhale, reframe the racing heart as energy rather than dread, and fix your eyes on one friendly face for your opening lines.
Nerves are not a sign you should not be up there. They are a sign you care. (For the full playbook, see my stage fright guide.)
Tell stories, do not just list facts
This is the skill that separates the speaker people remember from the one they forget. Audiences are wired for story. In a set of Stanford studies, after a round of pitches only about 5% of listeners could recall a statistic, but 63% remembered the stories.
Wrap your point in a real example, a moment from your life, a picture the audience can see, and it sticks. Read your facts as a list and they evaporate before people reach the car park.
Read the room and handle questions
A talk is a conversation, even when only one person is speaking. Watch the room and read it as you go. If they are leaning in, stay the course; if they are drifting off, change your pace or take a fresh angle.
When questions come, listen fully before you answer, and if you do not know something, say so plainly rather than bluffing. Audiences forgive “I don’t have that figure, let me find out” far more easily than they forgive a confident wrong answer.
Where and how to practise public speaking in Nigeria
Reading about speaking will not make you a speaker any more than reading about swimming will keep you afloat. You learn this in the doing. The good news is that the practice grounds are all around you.
Start small
You do not begin on a conference main stage. You begin where the stakes are low and the faces are friendly. Volunteer to give the vote of thanks at a function. Offer to present in your next team meeting. Take the welcome address in your church unit. Say a few words at the family event.
Each small rep teaches your nervous system the most important lesson there is: you spoke, and you survived.
Join a speaking group
Nothing accelerates you like a room built for practice.
Many churches and campuses have drama, presentation, or speaking units that do the same. Surround yourself with people who are also working on the craft, and you will move faster than you ever would alone.
Record yourself
Your phone is a free coach. Record your practice talks, then watch them back. It is uncomfortable the first time, I promise you it is uncomfortable for all of us, but you will spot in two minutes what someone could spend an hour describing: the rushing, the filler words, the habit of looking down.
You cannot fix what you cannot see.
Get honest feedback
Practise in front of someone you trust to tell you the truth, not someone who will only clap. Ask them one specific question: “What was the one thing that pulled your attention away?” Honest feedback, acted on, is the fastest route to improvement there is.
Take a structured course when you are ready
There comes a point where self-teaching gets slow, and a guide who has walked the road saves you years. That is the work I do. My public speaking and MC courses take you from guesswork to a real method. If you are a complete beginner who freezes up in meetings and introductions, the Prepare To Speak Beginner Edition was built for exactly that starting point.
When you are ready to build the full skill, the VIPS Framework takes you through Voice, Idea, Presence, and Stage step by step. And if you would rather have eyes on you directly, I offer one-to-one speaking coaching.
A simple 4-week beginner’s practice plan
If you want a place to start today, here is a plan you can run on your own. It is a starting cadence, not a finish line, but it will get you moving.
- Week 1, get comfortable on camera. Each day, speak for two minutes to your phone camera about something you know well, your work, your faith, your weekend. Do not script it. The goal this week is just to hear and see yourself talk without flinching.
- Week 2, structure a short talk. Build one five-minute talk with a clear opening, two points, and a close. Deliver it to one person, live, and ask them what stuck.
- Week 3, speak in a real low-stakes setting. Take one genuine opportunity, a meeting contribution, a church unit, a family gathering, and speak. Real rooms teach what your bedroom cannot.
- Week 4, get feedback and repeat. Ask someone honest for one thing to improve. Fix that one thing, then run the cycle again. Improvement is just this loop, repeated, for as long as you care to keep growing.
Common mistakes beginners make
Most early stumbles come from the same handful of habits. Spot yours and you will improve overnight.
- Memorising word for word. When you recite from memory, one forgotten line derails the whole train. Know your points, not a script.
- Speaking too fast. Nerves push the accelerator. Consciously slow down; you will feel slow and sound just right.
- Apologising for your nerves. “Sorry, I’m a bit nervous” hands the audience a reason to doubt you. They usually cannot tell. Do not point it out.
- Reading your slides. Slides support you; they are not your script. Talk to the people, not the screen.
- Cramming in too much. One clear idea well delivered beats ten ideas half delivered.
- Copying someone else’s style. Study great speakers, then sound like yourself. Audiences trust real over polished-but-borrowed.
A few of these wear a Nigerian costume. The endless “all protocols duly observed” greeting that eats your first three minutes, the worry that your grammar must be flawless, the fear of code-switching between English and your language. Relax. A room connects with a speaker who is clear, warm, and real, far more than with one who is grammatically perfect and stiff.
Frequently asked questions
How do I start public speaking as a beginner?
Start small and start now. Pick one low-stakes setting this week, a team meeting, a church unit, a family event, and volunteer to say a few words. Prepare a clear opening and one or two points, practise them out loud, and deliver. Then do it again next week somewhere else. Confidence is built through repetition, not waiting until you feel ready.
Is public speaking a skill or a talent?
It is a skill, which is the best news in this whole article. A few people are naturally outgoing, but every strong speaker you admire built their ability through practice, feedback, and time. I was a shy child who froze at the microphone. If it were pure talent, I would not be where I am. You can learn this.
How can I improve my public speaking skills on my own?
Record yourself speaking and watch it back, read your material out loud rather than silently, study speakers you admire and copy their habits rather than their personality, and grab every small chance to speak in real life. Self-practice takes you a long way. A course or a coach takes you the rest of the way faster.
How long does it take to get good at public speaking?
You can become noticeably more comfortable in a few weeks of steady practice, and genuinely capable within a few months if you speak regularly. Mastery is a longer road with no real finish line, even seasoned speakers keep refining. The encouraging part is that the early gains come fast, so you feel progress quickly.
How do I speak in public without fear?
You will not remove the fear entirely, and you do not need to. You manage it. Prepare until your material is automatic, slow your breathing before you go on, reframe the nerves as energy, and focus on serving your audience rather than on how you look. The fear shrinks to a manageable flutter and stops controlling you.
Your voice is worth building
If you take one thing from this guide, let it be this: public speaking is a skill, and skills are learnable. The shy student I once was is proof. You do not need to be born bold, eloquent, or fearless. You need a clear method and the willingness to speak before you feel ready, again and again, until ready is where you live.