The secrets of public speaking

Lessons from actors on how to give a good presentation

People who enjoy public speaking are luckier than they realise. A much-publicised survey from the 1970s claimed that Americans feared it more than death. In 2012 Karen Dwyer and Marlina Davidson of the University of Nebraska Omaha published a paper that tried to replicate the result. They found that things were less dramatic than that—but not by much.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “The secrets of public speaking”

From the May 24th 2025 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

The world’s top condom-maker is getting squeezed

Will Karex break under pressure?

Franchising has quietly made countless Americans rich

In the age of AI, running a McDonald’s may soon look a lot more appealing

Why you should (almost) always look on the bright side of life

The benefits—and dangers—of optimism

Can an Italian company disrupt Germany’s broken railway industry?

Deutsche Bahn could soon have a rival

A new mega-deal shows how AI has turned utilities into hot property

NextEra and Dominion must now win over regulators

How Star Wars went from space opera to soap opera

Disney turned its flagship film franchise into TV fodder. Can it go back to the big screen?