Real Purpose
What do I do for a living? In the tradition of St. Augustine, John Adams, and some great thinkers, I teach rhetoric, better known and dumbed down as public speaking. And this week I started a new, elective, one-hour class in 20th century American political rhetoric. I'm enjoying it, but as with any new course, it's a lot of work.
Since I named this blog partsofspeaking and since I teach public speaking for a living, it seems that I should have blog entries about public speaking. I surely do have a lot of wisdom on it, after 30 years of teaching.
Of course, the first thing people think of with public speaking is fear. I hesitate to say that I am often not all that empathetic or understanding about my students' fears. These young people have been told they are the center of the universe since they were babies--what terrifies them so about public speaking if they supposedly have great self-esteem? (Of course, self-esteem doesn't come from being told one is the center of the universe when all reality tells one differently!) And to my older students I want to say, "You've been through a whole lot worse than a speech." But that's cynical. I know what the source is: fear of failure and fear of rejection. Fear is irrational, so my sardonic feelings have no value. People fear public speaking, and this isn't about to change.
So what's the solution? Just do it, as the Nike ads say. Any0ne who seriously wants to get over his/her fear of public speaking, as opposed to whining about it, should take every opportunity to get in front of an audience possible. Of course, do the fearful really want to get over it, or just avoid public speaking no matter how much it cripples their lives, stifles their careers, and hampers their civic involvement? Like almost everything, it becomes a matter of will.
I used to be an introvert. I am an extrovert now, due to public speaking training. To let oneself be limited by an habitual fear is sad and foolish. Life is too short and the problems of our world too severe for us to be worried about what people might think.
I do know this: there is no such thing as perfect in public speaking. Therefore, if your fear is that your presentation will be less than perfect, it's guaranteed it will be, so that becomes a nonissue.
Since I named this blog partsofspeaking and since I teach public speaking for a living, it seems that I should have blog entries about public speaking. I surely do have a lot of wisdom on it, after 30 years of teaching.
Of course, the first thing people think of with public speaking is fear. I hesitate to say that I am often not all that empathetic or understanding about my students' fears. These young people have been told they are the center of the universe since they were babies--what terrifies them so about public speaking if they supposedly have great self-esteem? (Of course, self-esteem doesn't come from being told one is the center of the universe when all reality tells one differently!) And to my older students I want to say, "You've been through a whole lot worse than a speech." But that's cynical. I know what the source is: fear of failure and fear of rejection. Fear is irrational, so my sardonic feelings have no value. People fear public speaking, and this isn't about to change.
So what's the solution? Just do it, as the Nike ads say. Any0ne who seriously wants to get over his/her fear of public speaking, as opposed to whining about it, should take every opportunity to get in front of an audience possible. Of course, do the fearful really want to get over it, or just avoid public speaking no matter how much it cripples their lives, stifles their careers, and hampers their civic involvement? Like almost everything, it becomes a matter of will.
I used to be an introvert. I am an extrovert now, due to public speaking training. To let oneself be limited by an habitual fear is sad and foolish. Life is too short and the problems of our world too severe for us to be worried about what people might think.
I do know this: there is no such thing as perfect in public speaking. Therefore, if your fear is that your presentation will be less than perfect, it's guaranteed it will be, so that becomes a nonissue.
Comments