Last night I had to…scratch that….I got to, do some public speaking about my life’s experiences , which for me and probably everyone else in the world is one of my biggest fears. The night before I was asked to speak, I was thinking about what I should say and already getting the anxious feeling in my gut, but I didn’t get anything done. Then an hour before I spoke I tried to jot down what I wanted my message to be, but still I was all over the place. Since I was speaking about myself and I’ve done it numerous times, I just said fuck it all just go with the flow.
When I got there I was so anxious, there were about 70-100 people. I just started praying that I would do my best and be filled with serenity so I could speak better. I also started to think, if this was my last day on earth, what would I want to share with you and would I be nervous?…probably not. I probably would care too much if I knew this was my last day on earth what you were thinking of me, so that helped a little. To be honest I’m actually more scared of more intimate setting than a huge group because I don’t really have to look at everyone, I can sort of glance over and look to the back. One of my lifetime goals though is to become a great speaker and be comfortable up there, so instead of doing that, I looked around the room, making eye contact with different people.
Overall I thought I did OK. What I learned from that night is that if I want to improve in my speaking skills I must take the actions that were told to me if I want to be better at it..duhhh. So next time I will make an outline of what I want to say and practice it.
Here’s a great link to the toastmasters website, on 10 Tips for Public Speaking
Much Love,
Mike Walzman
1 Comment
December 2, 2008 at 5:44 pm
That is the cutest cartoon! LOL. And yunno what, I think this will help me a lot next time I have to do some public speaking: if this was my last day on earth, what would I want to share with you and would I be nervous?
Luv it!