104: {Interview} Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking with Harriet Bratt

Are you interested in public speaking? Imagine yourself on stage or on being a guest speaker on a podcast.

In this conversation, Harriet Bratt shares her journey from coaching to becoming an impactful speaker. She discusses the importance of overcoming fear in public speaking, the logistics of starting a speaking career, and the significance of creating one's own platform. Harriet emphasizes the need for emotional connection with the audience through storytelling and engagement, providing practical tips for aspiring speakers.

takeaways

• Public speaking is a skill that requires practice and structure.
• Fear of public speaking is common, but it can be overcome by taking action.
• Focus on your audience rather than your own fears when speaking.
• Craft a powerful message that clearly defines how you help others.
• Networking is essential for finding speaking opportunities.
• Creating your own platform can amplify your voice and reach.
• Storytelling is a powerful tool for connecting with your audience.
• Engage your audience with questions and interactive exercises.
• Confidence comes from being willing to try, not from perfection.
• Internal communication influences external communication and results.

Harriet is a powerhouse speaker and mentor on a mission to help ambitious entrepreneurs own the stage, elevate their income, and make serious impact - whilst having a lot of fun along the way. It is one thing to speak - another to IMPACT!

With her Warriors approach to mindset, public speaking, and business growth, Harriet supports you to step fully into your power and turn information into unforgettable messages.

Having provided keynotes and ran live events for thousands around the world,  plus training hundreds of speakers - along with her online membership Impact  Harriet empowers female entrepreneurs to play with fear, confidently captivate audiences, and create magic on both live and virtual stages.

When she’s not teaching others to keep their fire burning & continue to inspire, you’ll find her outdoors with her dogs, embracing travel, or dancing around the house.

If you’re ready to amp up your impact, income, and speaking game, she’s here to get you there with flai

Transcript

Caroline (00:01.228)
Welcome Harriet.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (00:03.258)
Hello, pleasure to be here Caroline and to of course everyone that is listening.

Caroline (00:09.368)
So tell me about where you are now and how did you get there?

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (00:14.832)
Right now I'm in my house and I came by car. No, I play I play So, of course, I'm sure you you shared in in the intro that I'm an international speaker and I support people with their Speaking not just to speak but to really make that impact and of course like with anyone Developing their business mastering their skill. It's absolutely been a journey

In a very quick nutshell, I started as someone who had a real passion for speaking. I was really excited to share and I was fairly clear on what I wanted to speak about, especially when I understood this whole public speaking world. But I had no idea how to monetize, how to build a business, where to get gigs. I had no idea that speaking was a skill. You know, I thought it was just...

words come out of your mouth, but actually there's structure, there's storytelling, there's facts, there's statistics, there's teaching content, et cetera, et cetera. The list goes on. So I really spent a lot of time learning, developing myself, speaking on stages around the world, having these incredible opportunities to get a lot of experience in what I wanted to speak about, keynote speakers, running events, et cetera, et cetera. And then at the time I was doing coaching and I realized that

You know, I love coaching for every single coach out there. You're doing something amazing. And there's so many different ways that this can be in and so many different modalities, et cetera, et cetera. And for me, it was NLP. I was supporting people in mindset coaching and NLP one-to-one. And I just realized like, this isn't my strength. This isn't what I shine at. And if I was really honest, I'm not really enjoying that. And I want to just take a moment.

you I'm sure you felt this, Caroline, for anyone listening. Sometimes it's easy to kind of get into that routine of just doing what we're doing without pausing to see if actually it's really working. Is it effective? And are we enjoying what we're doing? Because that is one of the reasons that we become entrepreneurs. And that's when I really pivoted and I realized, okay, coaching isn't for me, but I think it is so powerful and everybody can benefit from it. So how can I support that?

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (02:30.166)
What am I good at? What do I enjoy? And it was speaking. I love speaking and I'm very good at it. And like I say, I spent a long time really getting a lot of experience and mastering the craft in many different environments. So then I realized there's so many people speaking, but unfortunately they're not speaking in a super impactful way. So my mission became, okay, let's support these people with incredible information to really get it across in a powerful way. So in a nutshell, that's kind of where I started and how I ended up.

where I am now.

Caroline (03:02.232)
No, I love that story. So, okay. You went from coaching to transition to speaking. Let's say someone's listening to this podcast and wants to get started in their speaker career. Where do you start?

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (03:16.376)
Do you mean in terms of, cause I think one of the biggest reasons why people don't get started is actually fear. It's a limiting belief. It's a story that they're telling themselves. It's an experience they had with the, excuse me, when they were younger, that they're now leaning into as an adult. So do you mean from that perspective or do you mean in terms of like crafting your content, getting speaking opportunities, et cetera?

Caroline (03:41.784)
Let me back it up. Let's do the mindset first because you're right. That's the number one thing that people say, hold it back. They think that they don't have anything that other people want to say or that they can teach. And I'd love to hear your thoughts around that. How do you overcome that part?

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (03:58.378)
Absolutely. I think many people, probably a lot of your listeners will have heard that public speaking has kind of been crowned as the number one public speaking fear. In fact, Carol and I were just talking about this and there's a joke that says people would rather be in the box at the funeral than standing up and giving the eulogy. So I don't know how true that is, but what is true is public speaking brings fear to so many people. But what I love to say first is

Let's just break that down slightly. Because the fear of public speaking comes under a huge umbrella. There's many different nuances to it, right? A fear of making a mistake, a fear of failure, a fear of judgment of what your audience thinks, a fear of being challenged and asked a question that you don't know the answer to, a fear of imposter syndrome. What if I don't know my content well enough and someone knows more than me, et cetera, et cetera. So it's actually many different fears. So what we really need to...

to do is identify which is the fear that is holding us back. But at the same time, never let that stop you. Having fear doesn't mean that you can't do something and it certainly doesn't mean that you can't try step number one. The best way to overcome fear is by doing. know, Caroline, I'm sure with you and your awesome journey in building this fantastic podcast, you had moments of fear, of challenge.

And it wasn't about getting rid of that fear. That fear shows up again and again. It's one of the most human instinctive parts of us. And in certain situations, it's very beneficial. But when it's that story that's holding you back, we need to just take that breath and learn, okay, feel the fear, but take action anyway. Feel the fear, but speak up anyway. Feel the fear and know.

that it's gonna be hard, it's gonna be challenging, I'm gonna be nervous, I'm probably gonna make a mistake. I like to call them mustaches, not mistakes, because you need to make mustaches in your journey of progression as a speaker, as an entrepreneur, in relationships, et cetera, et cetera. So really, although it is scary, my number one tip is to feel the fear that speak up anyway. But a really supportive tip that helped me. Fear is in our minds. Fear is us going,

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (06:13.998)
my God, what if I make a mistake? What if I forget what I'm going to say? What if I trip up the step on the way to the stage, right? There's so many different things running through our mind, but that's us focusing on us. Now I truly believe that the most powerful speakers, the most impactful speakers are the ones that are completely focused on their audience. How do I help? How do I serve? How do I make a difference? And for those of you listening that would like to progress with your speaking, start asking yourself those questions.

And notice the difference in how you feel. As amazing as our minds are, they cannot process both a positive and a negative at the same time. So you can either be in your head thinking, I don't know if I can do this, or you can be in your heart thinking, how does my message make a difference? I might make a mistake, but how does my content serve and help and bring value to the people who are listening? And when we're in that state,

you're in faith, you're in service, you're not in fear. And then it's just a constant case of progression, like with anything, right? I'll just wrap it up with this last example, learning to drive. It's such a generic example, but I think it's one that people can relate to, right? Take yourself back to that first lesson, yes? And I know we're in different countries, so it's on different sides of the car, but think about...

you know, the gear stick, the three different pedals, the mirrors, you've got to check your mirrors all the time, the indicator, the washer if it's raining. There were so many things and it was overwhelming. It was scary because there's fast cars coming behind you on your right side, on your left side, et cetera, et cetera. But now you drive without even thinking about it. Yeah. How many of you have driven from A to B and you got there and thought, I was absolutely thinking about something else there, but I'm still here safely because

Even though it was overwhelming, even though there was some fear, even though there was nervousness about learning to drive, you did it anyway. And then you kept on practicing and progressing and repeating. It's the same with your speaker journey. Feel the fear, focus on your audience and continue to speak up with your message.

Caroline (08:21.582)
I freaking love that you just went there because I cannot tell you how many meetings I've had with women or encounters where they like, they want to know how to get the, have the best LinkedIn account or have the best podcasts. And I'm like, you have to just first start doing the content, putting yourself out there. And I feel like a lot of people, they like to see the highlight reel and they like to see, you know, Harriet on the international stages and on the podcast and they see your.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (08:41.816)
Absolutely.

Caroline (08:51.66)
you know, 10 year journey and they compare it to their one month journey.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (08:56.788)
Exactly, exactly. And I think it's good to have that vision, you know, it's good to get excited about where you want to go. But I also recommend doing that when you're feeling good. You know, a lot of people are beating themselves up about wanting to be up here, but I'm only here. Like if you're in an excited state and you're visualizing and you're thinking about it in a positive way, yes. But then come back to that loving acceptance of exactly where you are. And I always say,

No matter what your communication, whether we're talking about day to day conversations, whether we're talking about impacting from live or virtual stages, it all starts here. It all starts with your internal communication, whether you're building a LinkedIn account, whether you're building a podcast, how are you talking to yourself when fear shows up, when challenge shows up? How are you talking to you? Yes. Mentors. Yes. Tribe. Yes. Programs and courses that support you with progression. Yes. To all of that. But ultimately, how are you speaking to yourself?

because how you speak to yourself will determine how you act, what you do, and of course that determines the results that you'll get.

Caroline (10:01.954)
that you brought up the taking action piece too, because I can't tell you how many conversations I've had around that topic. And they're like, well, how did you do this? I'm like, I just took action. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know what I was doing with this podcast. I didn't know what I was doing speaking last year. I didn't know what I was doing with LinkedIn. And you just have to try.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (10:20.682)
Yeah. And be brave enough to understand that, you know, people talk about overcoming fear and feeling confident and having the courage, et cetera. But that's exactly what it is. It's feeling the fear and acting. It's not feeling confident in everything you do. It's not getting it perfect. And perfect doesn't exist. We all know that. But it's allowing yourself to be brave enough to try. I think it's Mel Robbins. Her definition of confidence is being willing to try.

And that is just so powerful. And it's also what leads to feeling confident in something, being willing to try and then taking the action on it.

Caroline (11:00.512)
messy middle. love the messy middle and. Okay. So switching from mindset to ask actual logistics. So let's say someone's listening to this podcast and they want to start speaking or get on podcasts as a guest. What logistically does that look like on a, from the backend? Do they need to start soliciting events or host or podcast host or start putting content out there? What does that look like?

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (11:03.03)
Bye.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (11:30.934)
Well, I'm going to kind of go in and out of what I like to call the five pillars. We've just been speaking about number one, which is a warrior's mindset, a speaker's mindset. I think that's important no matter where you are in your journey. Number two is having a powerful message. Number three is crafting compelling content. Number four, of course, is your delivery. How do we take that content and the words that come out of your mouth and not just let them land in the room, but let them penetrate the hearts of your audience? And then number five, how do we actually monetize that business?

So I'm going to kind of go in and out of these a little bit, but for me, and especially if I was restarting or really looking at scaling my business as a speaker now, I would want to check that I am clear. I know my message. What do you speak about? How do you help people so that as, and when you are reaching out for these speaking opportunities, these gigs, you're in networking conversations, you're chatting in friends, you're on a podcast, et cetera, et cetera. You can be very clear.

on what you speak about and how you help people. And unfortunately, well, it's not unfortunate. It just is what it is right now. It's amazing that there are so many people out there doing this. But because there are so many people out there working with Mindset, working with coaches, working as entrepreneurs, building businesses, et cetera, et cetera, what's gonna make you stand out? Like let's use Mindset as an example. Every single day I go on Facebook, I probably come across a new.

mindset coach, right? Mindset coaches are everywhere now. And that doesn't mean that I don't agree with that. I think it's amazing. I think it's so powerful. But what's going to make someone choose you? And when you can get specific rather than, you know, just saying for me as a speaker, I'm a speaker trainer. Well, how specifically I help people with their impact, their impact in their income. That is my zone. That is my area. That is where I'm really able to support people.

So it's clear on the result that they're getting. With mindset, what result are you providing people? Because again, there's so many different areas, so many different ways that we can improve our mindset. So get really clear on what your message is and how it helps. And also, bonus tip, doesn't hurt to make it a little bit sexy, a little bit catchy. Yeah, make it stand out.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (13:46.072)
There not too long ago, I was in a network meeting and there was a guy, we were kind of all pitching our different presentations and talks and it was an opportunity for event host to book speakers. And he pitched his talk and he gave the title of the talk. And he just said, the title of my talk is, you've got a big butt.

Well, I'm imagining in the same way that Caroline just has and probably you guys listening, like you've either laughed or you've taken a moment to think like, did I hear that right? Like, what did he just say? And why am I using this example for exactly that reason? It's catchy, it's interesting. You want to know more about it. And then he went on to explain that for him, he talks to no more buts, only doing. So it's about getting rid of your excuses and taking action.

Right. But the title of his talk was catchy. It was engaging. There's a lot of people out there talking about mindset and taking action, but there's not people out there getting really specific with talks that you've got a big, but how to overcome your excuses and take action no matter what you see my point. So, so get specific and get clear on what your message is. And then, you know, these are things that people are going to have heard. But my question is, are you doing it? Right.

That's the difference. know, Caroline just spoke about action and that is the truth. I'm going to share these tips. Maybe some of them are fresh. I love it. I love it if they are, but if they're not, just ask yourself, okay, I have heard this before, but I'm not switching off. I'm asking myself, am I doing it? Networking, having the conversations, reaching out. Caroline and I met through a message in LinkedIn.

We got on a call, we connected, we saw if there was alignment, we saw if we could benefit each other's audiences. Now I'm speaking on her podcast and she's also coming into My Tribe to give a session about LinkedIn, right? That was a very natural, effortless conversation in LinkedIn that turned into a speaking opportunity. So are you doing that? Are you reaching out? Are you making yourself available in one way or another? And I will also add this, please.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (15:56.13)
Do it in an authentic way. Even if you're using a level of automation, make your automated messages connect in a opening conversational way, not a direct pitch, not walking up to the bar and asking someone to marry them the first time you've ever met, right? Let's build relationships. Let's build connection. But ultimately that's one of the most powerful ways to get speaking opportunities.

There's also, course, like pay to play. There's a lot of different opportunities out there that range from 47 bucks to thousands of dollars and anywhere in between where you can pay an investment to speak on a stage, live and virtual stages. I can recommend these, but I've also had some real challenges with them. So my tips there would be do your research. Go and have a look at the event host.

go and see what their audience sizes are. You know, if it's a low ticket, I don't expect them to have a massive audience. But if they're charging me thousands of pounds, I need to know, like, am I able to make an offer? Am I able to get a return on my investment? How big is this audience? What are my visibility options? Can I get testimonials? Can I get coverage, et cetera, et cetera? I want to know exactly what is involved.

with this opportunity. So pay to play can be very helpful, especially if you're at the beginning and you're looking for speaker gigs, but do the research, do the research. Some people promise the world and unfortunately aren't fulfilling, but there are also some amazing people promising powerful platforms and they are delivering. Yes, so do the research. What would my final tip on speaking opportunities be?

I thought of some about getting on other people's stages, but I actually want to provide this one too. Create your own stage, create your own platform, right? If you want more tips on how to get on other people's stages, connect with me, reach out with me. I believe Caroline's going to share my links, but I want to encourage some of you that aren't already to create your own. Like look at what Caroline's done with this podcast, like outstanding. And that's given her a voice. It's given her a platform. She can speak.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (18:10.508)
consistently, regularly. She can choose how she expresses herself. She can choose what topics are discussed and shared. And if you want that sort of power in a platform, but also an ability to build a community where you can also share ongoing offers, create your platform. Whether it's a podcast, whether it's a YouTube channel, whether it's a masterclass, whether it's an online program, whether it's an online membership, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, create your platform.

And again, remember what we were just saying earlier about fear. yes, Harriet, but how do I do that? You you've heard Caroline's story. We said it earlier, feel the fear, but do it anyway. Set up that masterclass, record your first podcast. Just take that first step and build your platform as well.

Caroline (18:57.24)
I am so glad that you said that about giving back and number one, networking opportunities and number two, to your audience, because I think that's the one thing that people get wrong. And they get it wrong when they solicit me as a podcast host, you know, on Instagram, on LinkedIn, is they make it all about them and they make it all about what they can offer, how great they are, how, you know, all the accolades. I'm like, great, well, that's not what my community, my audience needs right now. So here's the application form.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (19:27.754)
Yeah, exactly. I think as well, especially with speaking, it's very easy to fall into that trap. Like, don't get me wrong, I had that feeling when I first started speaking on the biggest stages. It was a really nice ego rub, right? It feels good. And especially as someone that was building her own confidence, it felt good to have people come and say like, Harriet, that was amazing. Thank you so much, et cetera, et cetera. But it really wasn't very long, especially because I spoke a lot.

Caroline (19:30.679)
So how-

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (19:56.856)
I got a lot of experience at the beginning of my journey. I very quickly realized like it's not about the speaker. It's very easy to think it is, right? Microphone on me, spotlight on me, camera on me, depending which environment you're in, audience listening, you speaking, your content, et cetera, et cetera. But actually again, the most impactful speakers are the ones that every single word they're saying is about their audience. How can I really help?

And again, I think sometimes it's really important to adapt. People come in with such a fixed agenda, but actually it's not relevant in that moment. So how do I adapt to what my audience really needs right now, rather than just plowing in with what I want to say.

Caroline (20:42.766)
So I've got you and I want to get in the weeds with you a little bit here because I, I'm, I'm thinking about right now as we're having this conversation about feelings I've had as an audience member, when I've heard people speak on stages and that is the game changer of a good speaker and a great speaker. And so how do you trigger those emotions with your audience members and really connect with them? I mean, some of those speakers I've

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (20:57.4)
Cool, we're getting into it.

Caroline (21:12.622)
seen speak, I feel like I know them. Like we're friends afterwards. And it's like, how did they do that in 30 minutes?

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (21:19.744)
Yep. Again, many, many different ways, but to give like a couple of just powerful ones that people can take away and use straight away. And especially to go on the back of what we were just saying. It might be you speaking, but it's about your audience. So this is kind of two tips in one. Number one, how do we connect emotionally? Storytelling. Storytelling is the wonderful, beautiful bridge that connects us as humans, that connects emotionally, that allows us to understand

not necessarily the specific example or situation or circumstance that happened, but the emotions that people feel about it, right? So storytelling is the number one emotional connector. However, again, it's one thing to tell your story. I did this and I did that and I did this and this happened to me and da-di-da-di-da, me, me, me, me, me. That's one way of sharing a story which isn't powerful, isn't impactful. And to be honest, your audience will probably drift off.

and start texting on their phone. But if you think about your story, or more importantly, if I rewind and remind you about my pillar of the powerful message, if you know what your point is, either of your speech, if you're thinking about like a story to go with your entire speech, what is the message? What is the point of your talk? And therefore, what is the most relevant story that amplifies that particular message?

Or if it's a story within your talk, say for example, you are providing a piece of value, you're providing a piece of content, you're providing a teaching point, you provide the teaching point and then you give a story to back it up, to give an example, because people remember stories and they connect and they're more likely to remember the message, the teaching point. As Brown always says, never share a point without a story and never share a story without a point.

So it might be your story, but what is the message for your audience? And last tip connected to storytelling, again, engage your audience. Don't just talk for five to 10 minutes. If you go into an emotional moment, you know, I felt sad, I felt lost, I felt alone. Can anybody else relate to this feeling? Just asking that question is engaging the mind, yes? Even if they don't answer, when someone's asked a question, they answer.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (23:37.974)
So now you've just broken up your story and you've brought your audience into it just by that moment of engagement, by that little question. Has anyone heard this before? Has anyone ever felt like this? How many of you have struggled with this in your business? Has anybody ever celebrated this win and then found this art, right? There's so many ways that we can ask questions connected to our content, connected to our message, but what they're actually doing is engaging your audience and keeping them in with what you're sharing.

The other one, and last tip I'll give unless you want more, is have exercises, have interaction, you know, and that'll be different for everybody. Maybe it's a meditation, maybe it's a visualization, maybe it's a written exercise, maybe it's an exercise where they get up and do something. Maybe it's an experiential breakthrough like I do within my events, many different ways, but have interaction and don't make it cheesy.

and also don't force it upon them, right? Facilitation is everything, but get them doing something. I heard it was actually Hicks always shares, words don't teach. Like people do remember words, they do remember a message, but they don't remember everything you say. Mayor Angelou says, they don't always remember what you say, but they will always remember how you make them feel. So think about how you're making them feel and then remember that words don't teach.

So what experience can you provide during your presentation, during your keynote, during your workshop, masterclass, et cetera, et cetera, that provides an interaction from your audience and gets them experiencing what it is that you're talking about rather than just listening to your information. And I think those would be my biggest tips of how to not just speak from stage, but actually really connect with your audience and take your impact to the next level.

Caroline (25:30.84)
So good, so what is lighting you up with some of the clients that you're working with right now?

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (25:35.998)
We are literally jumping into a program that is an amalgamation of both a course that I ran and a membership. I ran it as a membership for a long time and then found that I wasn't enjoying being tied down every single week. It didn't suit kind of my lifestyle and my schedule. So I then put it into a course. It was an eight-week course. And that made me realize that's not long enough to really support people with their speaker journey. So hearing the client's feedback.

hearing their response, hearing their results from kind of both of those different programs. I've now been able to kind of put my hands together, as you say, and bring the membership, bring the course together and relaunch that. I'm super excited for what people have already received from it and of course what it will continue to provide for others.

Caroline (26:26.658)
So amazing, I love the work that you're doing. So as we wrap up, how can our listeners find you?

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (26:32.47)
My website is harrietbratt.com and then I'm on the usual Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram as Harriet Bratt Speaker.

Caroline (26:41.24)
Thank you.

Harriet Bratt 🔥 (26:43.18)
Thank you so much, Caroline. Love the work that you are doing and it's just been a pleasure to be here with you and your audience.