What They Don’t Teach You About Public Speaking in Business School (Scottish Edition)
- Mark Westbrook
- Apr 8
- 4 min read
Across Scotland’s vibrant professional landscape—from Glasgow boardrooms to Aberdeen conference halls and Inverness community pitches—one skill consistently sets top performers apart: public speaking.
Yet despite earning degrees from respected institutions like Strathclyde, St Andrews, Heriot-Watt, or the University of Glasgow, many professionals leave business school without mastering this vital communication skill.
Why? Because public speaking is not simply about conveying information—it’s about connection, confidence, persuasion, and presence. Skills like these can't be taught through theory alone.
This post explores what traditional education leaves out and offers practical, expert-backed advice for professionals across Scotland who want to level up their presentation skills.
The Business School Gap: What Gets Missed in Public Speaking Training
Whether you're delivering a pitch in Edinburgh, leading a seminar in Dundee, or speaking at a rural development event in the Highlands, you might find yourself struggling with:
Nerves before high-stakes meetings
Disengaged or unresponsive audiences
Struggling to be heard or understood in large rooms
Poor use of voice or body language
Presentations that don’t land or inspire action
Business school sharpens your analytical and strategic thinking, but communication in the real world requires more than facts and figures. It requires presence.
Stage Fright: Scotland's Hidden Professional Obstacle
Scenario: You’ve rehearsed your presentation on the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh, yet when it’s your turn to speak, your body betrays you.
Stage fright is common and nothing to be ashamed of. It’s a fight-or-flight response triggered by perceived threat.
How to Overcome It:
Reframe the Nerves: Tell yourself, "I’m excited" rather than "I’m terrified." This simple shift, backed by research from Harvard, helps regulate anxiety.
Breathwork: Box breathing (inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4) helps ground your nervous system before going on stage at a local council briefing in Stirling.
Visualise the Win: See yourself succeeding at the Scottish Business Awards or a Highlands networking event.
Start Small: Try Toastmasters in your town or present to a small group in the office.
Exercise: Record a 2-minute self-introduction. Play it back and reflect on how you appear and sound. Repeat until it flows naturally.
Audience Engagement: Winning Hearts as Well as Minds
Scenario: You’re at a leadership summit in Aberdeen. You're halfway through your slides and the room has tuned out.
This isn’t about your content—it’s about delivery.
How to Overcome It:
Storytelling: Scots love a good story—personalise your message with an anecdote about a local client, a project in Glasgow, or an early-career failure.
Interactive Questions: Engage the room with thoughtful questions, even rhetorical ones, to keep minds active.
Voice Energy: Avoid sounding monotone. Vary your vocal energy just like a ceilidh caller keeps the dance alive.
Exercise: Add one local reference, one question, and one story to each section of your next slide deck.
Vocal Variety: The Art of Being Heard and Felt
Scenario: You’re presenting to a leadership team in Inverness. Your ideas are sound, but your delivery lacks punch.
Flat or rushed speech can kill even the best ideas.
How to Overcome It:
Self-Awareness: Record and analyse your delivery. Do you sound dynamic, or does your energy dip mid-sentence?
Play with Rhythm: Pause for emphasis. Speed up for excitement. Slow down for gravity.
Match Tone to Emotion: When discussing exciting growth or change, your voice should rise to meet it.
Exercise: Practise reading Burns or Stevenson aloud, experimenting with tone and tempo.
Body Language: Letting Confidence Speak Without Words
Scenario: You're giving a talk at a business event in Perth. Your words are strong, but your arms are crossed, and you avoid eye contact.
Your body may be sabotaging your message.
How to Overcome It:
Confident Stance: Feet shoulder-width apart, arms open. Don’t hide behind a lectern.
Deliberate Gestures: Use your hands to clarify and underline key points.
Eye Contact: Make real contact with different areas of the room, not just the front row.
Exercise: Film a one-minute speech. Watch it with the sound off. What do your gestures, posture, and facial expressions convey?
Organising Your Talk: Content Without Clarity is Noise
Scenario: You’re speaking at a Highlands and Islands conference, but you run out of time before reaching your main point.
This isn’t uncommon.
How to Overcome It:
Frameworks Work: Use "What? So what? Now what?" to ensure clarity and flow.
Signpost as You Go: Clearly mark sections for your audience: "Let me begin with..."
Clear Conclusions: Finish with impact. Don’t drift off with "and that's pretty much it."
Exercise: Re-structure your next talk using this framework and rehearse it with a timer.
Why Personalised Coaching Matters Across Scotland
From Fife to the Western Isles, professionals in Scotland face communication demands that classroom settings can’t prepare them for. Personalised coaching offers a transformational alternative.
Tailored Feedback: Address your specific habits and hang-ups.
Faster Growth: Apply techniques in real-time to real situations.
Authenticity: Find your own voice instead of mimicking others.
Whether you're pitching a business idea in Dundee or leading a policy roundtable in Ayr, one-to-one communication coaching can elevate your clarity, confidence, and credibility.
Take Your Speaking to the Next Level in Scotland
Thousands of professionals across Scotland are still held back by outdated habits because no one ever taught them to speak with confidence and clarity.
Now is your moment.
Let’s work together to unlock your full speaking potential.
Reach out to me today for a free consultation. No matter where in Scotland you're based—be it the Borders, the Central Belt, or the Highlands—I can help you speak with authority, inspire your audience, and lead with impact.
Mark Westbrook | Public Speaking Coach (Scotland) Helping Scottish professionals speak with clarity, confidence, and conviction.
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