There's an amusing paradox: companies invest millions in strategy, products, and technologies, yet still underestimate one of the most powerful marketing tools—public speaking. Creating a great product is fantastic, but what's the point if no one is out there speaking for it?
Advertising comes in many forms, but it can't capture the complexity of products you build. When someone from your company takes the stage and talks about what you do and what you create, your company feels a little more... human and a little closer.
While some companies invite expensive celebrity speakers, others quietly cultivate their own talents. This approach earns more market trust, captures audience attention, and saves money. There's a catch, though: every company has experts, but not every company has speakers.
Why? Well, there's a huge difference between the mindset of "I know this stuff" and "I'm ready to talk about it on stage". Being an expert matters, but sharing that expertise can be challenging.
By the way, my name is Yulia. I'm a Staff Development Manager at PVS-Studio, where we build a static code analyzer. To learn more about the advantages of our product, click here.
In this article, I'll walk you through a case study on helping future speakers who are ready to share their expertise, yet are held back by something. I'll also cover challenges we encountered while preparing these speakers and lessons we learned along the way.
Some background info
One of PVS-Studio's core values is educational marketing: we regularly publish articles, share our expertise, and discuss our actively developing product. As the company grows and the product evolves, the number of events keeps increasing.
At this point, a perfectly reasonable thought might pop into your head:
"Either you have a staff of a million people, or you're immortal and just sitting around showing off."
As I mentioned earlier, there's a catch. At first, the company's situation looked perfectly fine: we had in-house developer experts who could pitch the product on stage. These were our developer advocates, one of the company's founders, Andrey Karpov, and a few other brave souls.
We're a relatively small company, with fewer than 100 employees. For a long time, our regular speakers were enough. This remained true until the number of events began to grow. It was only then that we realized not every team had people ready to speak publicly.
It's important to emphasize this: expertise wasn't the problem. People knew the product and the processes inside out and could answer almost any professional question. Yet, as soon as a speaking request came up, everything stalled. It wasn't a blunt refusal or pushback, but rather a pause. Some would say, "I'm not really into public speaking." Others tried it once and never wanted to do it again.
The problem we faced
The thing is that an expert and a speaker are two different roles, and switching between them proves unexpectedly difficult for many people. Our product is complex: first, a speaker has to understand it, and then they're expected to explain it in a way that makes sense to others.
At some point, we realized that we had only two options.
The first one was to hunt for natural-born speakers—persuade them, motivate them, and reward them. But this approach quickly circles back to the same people and fails to solve the core issue: we need new speakers, not more risks of burning out the existing ones.
The second option was more time-consuming but far more sustainable: grow speakers from within the company. It's not about forcing or pressuring people; It's about creating an environment where they can try it out and decide for themselves if the role is right for them.
Step one: Learning how to speak
We started with a public speaking training. From the beginning, we set the tone: this wasn't a course in "oratory" or a charisma workshop. Think of it as a toolkit for experts who need to explain their ideas clearly.
We focused on simplicity and clarity, and a few things proved especially useful.
- Most first-time speakers try to fit in too much information. We set a hard rule right away: one talk—one core idea.
- A clear presentation structure works better than improvising on the spot.
- The opening is a task of its own. We paid close attention to the first few seconds, focusing on how to start without freezing up or losing the audience's attention. Once the opening works, everything that follows gets easier.
- Working with real mistakes is essential. We reviewed overloaded slides, addressed monotone delivery, filler words, and worked with fear of pauses.
The training ended with a final test: a real talk. We didn't make it overly dramatic—participants could present to their own team, another department, or at any event that fit. This was when we encountered the final boss—not managers or deadlines, but fear.
Pitfalls
During the assessment stage, we saw that people had a good understanding of the material and were well-prepared. However, some tried to postpone or avoid their talks altogether, while others became extremely nervous, which was difficult to manage. What did that tell us? That's right—they wouldn't want to experience that again. That's the core of the issue.
We were facing not a simple lack of skill, but the overall fear of public speaking, which completely blocked the skill. No matter how clearly we explained the "right" speaking techniques, we couldn't make any progress until we addressed the fear.
Step two: Focusing on the mental state, not the speech
We ran a separate training session to help people overcome their fear of public speaking. Dear readers, a quick note: since I'm not a psychologist, I focused entirely on what I could control. I studied the topic, tried out practical tools, and shared what worked with the participants. To illustrate the point, I've included some slides from my presentation :)
From the start, it was important to clarify that fear is neither a weakness nor a whim. It's a normal reaction to a situation that the brain perceives as dangerous.
Understanding how things work
The training begins with a brief introduction to the origin of fear. The key message is simple: if we know our "enemy," we know how to deal with it. Another important note: we didn't try to fight the fear; we learned how to channel that energy in the right direction.
Next, we looked closely at what happens to the body during a public presentation:
- why the heart races;
- where the shaking comes from;
- why the voice can falter.
Managing thoughts
Most fears live in one's mind, not in the presentation hall. We learned to identify automatic thoughts, such as "I'm going to embarrass myself now," and to question their validity not by replacing them with positive ones, but by making them feel less catastrophic. For example, here's one way to deal with the fear of forgetting something:
And here we analyzed the decatastrophizing technique:
Here-and-now tools
We set aside a section for what you can do right before stepping on stage: breathing exercises, light physical activity, voice work, and ways to focus your attention. Our goal was to regain a sense of control rather than trying to eliminate fear entirely.
The body as an anchor
We spent a lot of time working on posture, body alignment, and gestures. When the body feels stable, the mind finds it easier to stay steady, too.
Gradual exposure
No one stepped in front of a large audience right away. We extensively practiced with each other, tried out different psychological techniques, and built our talks step by step.
At the end of the training course, participants received supporting materials, including a reading list, videos, and apps to help them continue practicing. They also got a self-calming checklist to keep close at hand:
The final milestone was giving a talk in front of an unfamiliar audience. Fortunately, there are always plenty of opportunities to speak.
What has changed?
After the talks, I met with the training participants individually to ask for their feedback: while their fear hadn't disappeared, they had learned to manage it. To me, the nicest part was seeing that fear turned into excitement. Watching them reflect on their performances afterward was genuinely rewarding.
Over time, a consistent group of internal speakers emerged. We're not finished yet, but we're making progress. The main issue is becoming easier to tackle: now we have more people ready to speak up. Even experienced speakers wanted to join these training sessions to enhance their skills (yeah, here I'm bragging a bit).
To avoid unfounded claims, here are a few real testimonials:
Valerii Filatov (experienced speaker)
"This training provides beginner speakers with solid support as they learn the art of engaging an audience. To a seasoned speaker, many of the covered points may seem obvious and self-evident. However, a clear understanding of these fundamentals comes only with experience. Introducing someone new to public speaking to this environment early on becomes an important step in recognizing their future areas for growth."
Vladislav Bogdanov (beginner speaker)
"Personally, I found the training engaging from the very start because I've always been really afraid of public speaking. I'm glad I took part because the program was clearly and thoughtfully structured. The training delves deeply into the roots of that fear and incorporates various techniques, practices, and mindsets into a single framework. As a result, you don't just believe these tools can help; you understand how they work.
Nikita Sviridov (beginner speaker)
"I completed a training program focused on overcoming the fear of public speaking. Before that, my voice would crack and I'd start to hyperventilate as soon as I stepped in front of an audience. The training provided hands-on techniques for managing anxiety, working with your voice, and quickly calming yourself before a talk. I recently tested them during a webinar. The breathing exercises beforehand and the voice work during the talk were genuinely effective! Even though I was still nervous, my voice stayed steady and confident."
Some closing words
As I wrote at the beginning, companies can invest years in products, strategy, and technology, yet still appear faceless if no human voice emerges. Having a strong technical background behind your talks is great, but if people can't follow it, you may appear distant and cold.
Working with internal speakers made one thing clear: public speaking isn't about the stage or the spotlight. It's about the right to be heard. It's an opportunity to take a step forward and say, "This is what we do, and this is why it matters." And if that right doesn't exist within a company, no marketing tool can replace it.
A company's voice doesn't emerge on its own. It's made up of real people's voices—imperfect, sometimes doubtful, not always confident, but real. The safer the environment, the more of these voices can be heard.
Investing in tools such as public speaking yields tangible results: increased brand recognition, stronger internal expertise, influence over your target audience, and a community interested in your area of expertise. When employees start talking, the company turns into something more than an abstract brand—it comes alive and becomes relatable.
At some point, a company evolves from being just products and processes to becoming a stage. So, the question isn't who will step onto it first, but rather whether we can create a safe environment where people want to get up and speak.
What's your company's approach to public speaking? Have you ever experienced a fear of giving a talk? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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