When people ask me why I became a public speaking coach, I answer “fear.” I love to help people overcome their fear of public speaking. It turns out, these potentially terrifying experiences have been some of the most fun I’ve had in my career. A path that has always included the thing I once feared most – public speaking. Now, many years later, I look back and see the path that I created for myself. That was a painful lesson for me.īut I just kept practicing. After the presentation, the sales rep who brought the client gave me an earful, which I deserved. I will always remember one particular presentation at our executive briefing center, when I had made the fatal error of not preparing fully. I stepped up to as many public speaking opportunities in my job as I could. I joined Toastmasters and got coaching on a weekly basis. I learned more concepts, picked up some techniques.Īlthough I was in technical roles when I began my career at Hewlett-Packard, I continued my efforts to master the art of public speaking. Somewhere along the way, though, things became slightly less terrifying. The class gave me the opportunity to be terrified not just once, but all semester long. I was the only computer science major in the room. With trepidation, I found myself registering for a speech class as a freshman in college. I got education, asked for help, practiced … a lot I’d have to work that into my plan as well. Could I do the same with public speaking? What about my painful shyness? What was I going to do about that? With education, coaching and practice I got driving down. Reflecting on the fact that I had recently learned to drive a car, I thought maybe, just maybe, I could learn public speaking as well. Not entirely sure I believed it, but I gave it a shot. I tried to convince myself that public speaking is a learned skill. To conquer my fears, I had to shut down that negative voice and come up with a plan. How hard can it be to be an impactful public speaker? Quite hard.Īm I a natural public speaker? Certainly not.ĭid I learn public speaking? Yes. I had to conquer it – maybe even learn to like it. I survived it – barely.Īt that moment, I decided that I never wanted to just “survive” public speaking again. Somehow, the heavily memorized poem came out of my mouth. In front of a class of my fellow high school students who were certainly judgmental, incredibly smarter and definitely way cooler than me. Long I stood?! I felt like I stood there forever, reciting Robert Frost’s famous poem with no feeling, no emotion, just robotic memorization. Heart racing, palms sweating, I opened my mouth and began:
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