Public Speaking Can Suck - The Question is Do You Suck at Public Speaking

I’ve never had a problem speaking to a room full of people I knew to a degree. However, just as many of you I had a problem speaking to people I didn’t know. When you think about it for any of us it is a very irrational fear. That is unless you’re looking to overthrow a country and staging a coup. If that were the case those people have a reason to be nervous because their life is actually on the line.

One of the biggest reasons for “stage fright” is fear of failure. The problem is we need to know what failure feels like so we can better understand success when it comes. With that being said, practice of self-comfort is one of the greatest assets you can have. You don’t need to speak to thousands in a huge arena to practice. Have you ever been told a story about something that happened from different perspectives? Although there is just one truth in what actually happened some people can add more life to better build around it. Let’s just say storytelling is like your favorite food. If the story isn’t good enough from start to finish you will lose people. It’s just that simple. 

There are two ways to become better at public speaking. One way is what I’ll call the big jump and the other is the slow builder.

Here’s a funny story of my time in the military. I was changing my job and had to do what’s known as a reclass to obtain the new specialty. So most of the people there are lower rank than myself. Regardless, one day myself and the other sergeant are in a room of about 200 people. We’re just burning time as there was nothing to do and someone walks in demanding to speak to the highest-ranking people. My friend and I were told we had to lead a televised press conference. Oh, yeah we had to be there in twenty minutes and it’s not a big deal but it was. We get there and every local media outlet was there as well as a lot of the parents of soldiers that just entered bootcamp. Neither of us had taken on something like that with no time to prepare. I’ll just say we jumped from the plane, hit our target altitude, and landed without injury.

The other means of becoming a better public speaker becoming a better conversationalist with anyone and learning to gauge as well as keep their attention. Imagine being in Time Square of New York City and you need to get a message out to particular people. You only have a very short window and no one cares unless you make them. You need to make whatever you’re saying relatable. You also have to sell sensationalism and other key elements but that should sum it up for now. 

At the end of the day if you know your material inside and out, aren’t a robot and can tell a good story you have nothing to worry about. I’d like to recommend anyone who wants to take it a step further that they should take improvisational classes. The classes are meant to show you it doesn’t matter what happens. The only thing that matters is that you know how to properly guide the energy or direction you want to work a room. Whatever style works for you just know there is hope yet. I also chose the tag of freedom because without the ability to speak, and speak so that others can hear ask yourself who's really listening?

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