Speak to Inspire founder Huib Hudig was interviewed by Editie NL on RTL for an item on blackouts. This in response to singer Suzan forgetting her lyrics during the Eva Jinek broadcast. An extremely unpleasant experience, which he himself has experienced at times. He was standing in the BNR studio and was suddenly completely lost. "Where was I actually? What was this interview about? Fortunately, I came to my senses in time and no one noticed."

At Speak to Inspire, we encounter this regularly among speakers we coach: the fear of blacking out. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do that really help.

1. It works well to write out (most of) your text. That way you make choices about what you're going to say so you don't wander off on stage and the words bite into your brain.

2. Take the time to practice well in advance. Preferably also once in front of an audience or other person. That way you will gain more confidence and maybe even feel like doing it :)

3. Perhaps the most important thing: make sure you have the text or keywords on a card or piece of paper with you. The thought that you can fall back on something usually ensures that you don't have to use it at all.

Huib himself always takes his notebook with him when he is on the radio or TV. And he's never had a blackout since then....

In addition, of course, it helps to take presentation training. That way you become familiar with being on stage. We do exercises for creating and memorizing speaking texts. In addition, we work on a relaxed mindset through meditation and breathing exercises, among other things, which yields great results.