Be heard at the back of the room, the first time you say it.

By the third sentence I am out of air and my voice goes thin.

People tell me I talk too fast, and slowing down makes me sound bored.

In a noisy room or on a bad line people keep asking me to repeat myself.

After a full training day my voice is gone by Wednesday.

I have the point, but by the time I find the gap someone else has said it.

I know I can do the job, but in interviews I ramble and undersell it.

The talk goes fine. Then the questions start and I lose it.

I spend days on slides and the talk still has no shape.

My hands shake, my mouth dries and my mind goes blank.

My talks are accurate and nobody remembers a word of them.

I get five minutes with the decision-maker and spend four of them on background.

I have been asked to give the conference talk, forty minutes, on a stage.

I know my subject, but a full day of teaching it to adults is something else.

On video calls I feel flat, and in recordings I look like a hostage.