Now, I’m not naive. I spent a few years teaching public speaking to college freshman who were required to take it, so I heard the phrase “i hate public speaking” from many of my students. Fortunately, by the end of the semester, many of those same students decided that public speaking wasn’t so bad. Some of them loved it. A few even decided to become communications majors.

If you’re one of the many people in this world who “hate public speaking”, let me give you some advice: spend less time focusing on yourself and more time focusing on your audience. Spend less time worrying about your performance and more time worrying about how to best communicate your message to your audience. Don’t worry about how articulate you are, what you’re wearing, or how red you think your face is. Instead, think about how to make the most of the time you have with your audience. Think about how you can help the people in your audience.

Public speaking is a privilege. You have the complete attention of an entire group of people for 5, 10, or however many minutes you have to give your presentation. Time is precious. Return the favor and give your audience something worthwhile. Cherish the time you are given. You can’t do that if you are more focused on yourself than on your audience.

The ability to give an audience centered speech is a valuable skill. The world needs people to get up and speak, and if you have the courage to be the one to get up and fill that need, you can really make a difference…and the pay’s not bad, either.

If you are a student and want a better grade on your next speech, be sure to visit GradeMySpeech.com to have a former speech instructor grade your speech before you have to deliver it for real!