Does the thought of showing vulnerability on a stage in front of thousands make you feel uncomfortable? That might mean revealing something personal, admitting you’re nervous, or even just pausing to take a sip of water. Too often, people spend hours preparing content, but skip preparing how they’ll deliver it. The result? They sound robotic—like certain American newscasters with inflection that borders on psychopathic detachment.
When the Delivery Doesn’t Match the Depth
Yesterday I was working to help a client get ready for an upcoming talk in London. Her script was polished. I could tell she’d done some media training. But when we ran through the talk, it left me feeling flat. She was telling vulnerable stories—from getting ostracized from her community in LA to her brother’s suicide—but without vulnerability. Her voice never shifted—every line delivered in the same flat melody. “Your talk is too tidy,” I said. “You’re not giving us a range of expression in your tone and voice, even when you’re talking about really hard stuff.”
Congruence Builds Trust
When our delivery doesn’t match our words, we lack congruence. And that creates a trust gap. Or worse, apathy. Psychological research shows that when listeners are immersed in a story—experiencing focused attention, emotional engagement, mental imagery—they’re more open to the message and align beliefs with the narrative. It’s not just the story we tell; it’s how we tell the story.
Don’t Just Share a Story—Inhabit It
The job of the presenter is to get the audience to care about the topic. Make them feel something, then you can deliver a message. I like to say, use storytelling as a Trojan Horse—invite them in with emotion, then deliver your message. But telling a story as if you were reading a menu isn’t enough. You have to be present in the story when you’re telling it. That might mean scrunching up your face to express frustration, raising your voice to demonstrate anger, or throwing up your hands to show you give up. You experience a range of emotion in your life. Why would that change when you get on a stage?
You Are Not a Robot
After a few hours of working together, her talk started to come alive. She was getting fluent with the stories—inhabiting them with her body and allowing herself to feel them again. She seemed uncomfortable as she held a copy of her talk in her hands. But we kept going. Because that discomfort is exactly where she needed to be for the audience to follow her. Remember: you are not a robot. If humans can beat AI at anything, it’s being emotional. And bringing that emotion into your public speaking is what will take you from being a good presenter to a great one.
THE BIG PRINT:
The audience wants to hear from a human being, not a robot.
How to Make Your Story Land
1. Don’t memorize—internalize
You don’t need to recite your story word for word. Instead, know the emotional beats—the key moments that matter. When you internalize the arc, you stay connected and adaptable. That’s what brings a story to life in the moment.
2. Practice out loud—not in your head
Rehearsing silently gives you a false sense of readiness. Speak the story aloud, notice your tone, pacing, and where your energy drops. This is how you train your voice and body to deliver with presence and confidence.
3. End with meaning
Don’t just tell us what happened—tell us what it taught you. Your story needs a “so what” that connects emotionally or intellectually to the message you want to leave behind. That’s the part your audience remembers.
TAKE IT FROM… Natalini Joy, friend and superstar public speaker.
Natalini regularly speaks on massive stages. She says she’s never had people remember what she’s said more than when she came close to tears on stage at COP28. She was sharing about why she’d decided to quit her work with refugees. She said she just couldn’t take the heartbreak anymore. Her voice cracked. Her body contracted. She stood raw and real on that stage. And people are still talking about that moment five years later.
I’ll be interviewing Natalini about how to be vulnerable on stage in this month’s Public Speaking DOJO on July 3. Here’s the link to register for free: https://abracadabra.rebecca-williams.com/dojo_july
What would shift if you let yourself be that honest next time you speak? What would your audience remember—not just about your story, but about you?
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