
xii
Imagine you’ve just finished an important piece of public speak-
ing. It went better than you could have ever dreamed. Your
audience are beaming at you and you know that you hit the nail
on the head. Everyone in the room leaves feeling more knowl-
edgeable, inspired and ready for action.
This is closer to reality than you might think.
Yet, if you feel anything like I did when I first started speaking,
it will seem like miles off. I remember watching those ‘natural
born public speakers’ – people who just appear to leap up on
stage and say the right thing at the right time. It seemed to me
like they had a magic gene that allowed them