Michele Ruiz as Emcee for MABF Scholarship Gala

Effective speaking skills can be especially valuable when you are called upon to make a presentation or speech as an entrepreneur and a leader of your company. I was the Emcee for a scholarship event for law students this past weekend. And I remembered back to when I first started speaking publically and how that felt.

The audience files into the room. Important people are sitting right up front – your clients, boss, people you want to impress. As someone introduces you, and you walk toward the stage it’s hitting you. The nervous stomach, the sweaty palms, the shaky hands. As you open your mouth, you voice starts to quiver. Sound familiar. It happens to the best of us. My public speaking experience started in front of millions – live TV news in Los Angeles – everyday!  The stagefright would be paralyze me. I could barely speak and when I did my words got jumbled. It was awful. God awful. For months, every day, as I would make my way back to the TV station from a live report I was convinced I would be fired that day.

Fortunately someone saw some potential there. I went on to have a successful news broadcasting career, and now I’m a regular public speaker.  I learned how to overcome stagefright. Here are the best tips I ever received on how to deal with the nervousness, speaking publically and connecting with my audience.

Watch Michele’s Vlog: Public Speaking: 3 Tips to Overcome Stagefright and Connect With Your Audience

What is the most memorable public speaker you’ve ever seen and why? Please comment below.

I’m a former news anchor/reporter turned entrepreneur. I blog about my Life as a Latina Entrepreneur which includes being a Mom, a Latina woman in the business world, and an entrepreneur. I share tips, know-how, lessons I’ve learned and insights I think may be helpful as I launch my next company. Hope you’ll join me! You can follow me on my website MicheleRuiz.com, on my Facebook Page , Twitter (@micheleruiz01), LinkedIn and YouTube vlogs.