Conquer Your Fear of Public Speaking Through Laughter on Feb. 4

HADLEY — Death, spiders, heights, flying in airplanes. These are all things that people fear, just not as much as the most terrifying act of all: public speaking. A whopping 25% of Americans suffer from a deep fear of public speaking. But that number is about to shrink in the Pioneer Valley if award-winning speaker Angela Lussier and improv comedian Pam Victor have anything to say about it.

“If someone told me 10 years ago that I would be leading other people to becoming inspiring professional speakers, I would have told them to stop drinking the cuckoo juice and seriously questioned their craziness,” Lussier said. “However, I am doing this work now because I never gave up myself, no matter how hard each lesson has been.”

Added Victor, “I love using improv training to help anybody become more confident, creative, and authentic public speakers — and people.”

The pair are combining forces for “Authentic Presentation Skills Through Laughter,” an all-day public-speaking event on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 104 Russell St., Hadley. The day will begins with laughter as Victor applies the training of the Through Laughter program to public speaking using improv exercises to provide participants with the ability to lower the high-stakes feeling of public speaking while maintaining a cool head and authentic voice.

Once the culture of the room is changed to one of non-judgmental acceptance, Lussier will provide participants with the tools of the STAGE system (style, truth, art, group, energy), the exclusive approach she uses in her Speaker Sisterhood school.

Participants of Authentic Presentation Skills Through Laughter will arrive at the event with something to write with and on, a few ideas for their speeches, and nervous anticipation. They will leave with a test-run, five-minute presentation — and far less fear about giving it.

The event will run from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and costs $95. For more information and to register, visit www.happiervalley.com.

Lussier runs the Speaking School for Women to train creative, entrepreneurial women to become well-paid, in-demand speakers. She also is the founder of the Speaker Sisterhood, a network of speaking clubs for women; author of three books; and host of the Claim the Stage podcast. Her work has been featured on ABC, NBC, Forbes, and Entrepreneur.

Victor is the founder and president of Happier Valley Comedy, where she runs the Through Laughter corporate training program and a multi-level improv comedy school, as well as producing regular improv shows in Western Mass. She is the author of two books, host of the Conversations with Funny Feminists podcast, and travels the world teaching the “Zen of Improv.”