WORKSHOPS & SPEAKING

TAME YOUR STAGE FRIGHT!
Practical Strategies for Speaking, Performing, and Showing Up with Confidence

Available as a keynote, conference session, webinar, or customized workshop.

Whether you're stepping onto a stage, leading a meeting, giving a presentation, promoting your work, or simply trying something new, showing up can feel uncomfortable. As an author of more than 200 books, a performer, and a speaker, I've experienced that feeling from every angle. The good news? Confidence isn't something you're born with—it's something you build through self-support.

My own journey with stage fright stretches back to childhood. Over the years, I've learned how to move from anxiety and avoidance to confidently presenting as an author, speaker, and performer. Today, I combine lived experience, research, and practical strategies to help others navigate nerves, visibility, and performance pressure in ways that feel authentic and sustainable.

Sessions can be tailored for writers, illustrators, authors, educators, students, creative professionals, athletes, and organizations. Depending on the audience, topics may include:

• Managing the physical symptoms of anxiety
• Mindset shifts that reduce fear and increase resilience
• Practical preparation techniques that build confidence
• Personalized self-support strategies
• Finding confidence outside your comfort zone
• Navigating visibility, public speaking, and performance pressure
• Showing up more fully as yourself

Available as a webinar, conference session, keynote, or in-person workshop.

There's no single right way to build confidence—but there are countless ways to support yourself, take meaningful risks, and show up for the opportunities that matter most.

Credit: Courtney Bernado

BIO

Heather E. Schwartz is a children's author, performer, and professional development facilitator who helps writers, illustrators, educators, and other creative professionals become more confident speakers and presenters. She has spent more than a decade studying and performing improvisation, an experience that played a pivotal role in overcoming her own lifelong stage fright.

Heather is the author of more than 200 books for children, including Jenna Ortega: A Little Golden Book Biography (Penguin Random House, 2026) and The Muppet Movie: An Official Picture Book (Hachette Book Group, 2026). Her publishing work also includes collaborations with major publishers and brands such as Disney, Sesame Street, Scholastic, Little Golden Books, The Jim Henson Company, TIME for Kids, Mack Trucks, and Mayo Clinic Press Kids.

She has presented workshops for organizations including SCBWI and Hollins University's Graduate Program in Children's Literature, helping writers and illustrators navigate visibility, presentations, school visits, conferences, and other aspects of sharing their work with the world.

Heather combines lived experience, research-based strategies, and practical tools to help creative professionals manage anxiety, communicate authentically, and engage audiences with greater confidence.

"Heather’s presentation on work-for-hire writing was a unique offering at our conference. It was both educational and entertaining, providing professional insights, specific examples, and practical tips to help writers land work-for-hire assignments for themselves."—Lin Oliver, Executive Director, SCBWI