I have been speaking at conferences for years but from memory always because I was asked – the very first time at extremely short notice when someone much more important was ill. However I have been pleased to do it because I am either talking about something ‘we done good’, or something I feel strongly about or something where I want to raise issues and see what people think.

 

These days I don’t so much get nervous as worry about getting all the points in and ensuring that there is some feedback.

 

My advice for newbies is  - if you feel you need to read from a script do so. If you can know it well enough to deviate occasionally that’s fine but it is more important to get the points across. After a while you will probably feel that you don’t need a script but even now if I use PowerPoint I will have some notes on paper as a backup – I do have a habit of going off at a tangent and need to bring myself back to the main track!