Last night I was talking with my friend Kel. We were discussing public speaking and the fear of it. Her brother's two year sober anniversary is today and he often goes to High Schools and groups to talk about reaching the point that he has. He was recently telling Kelly that he showed up at one thinking he was speaking to a group of 40, and it turned out he was speaking to 400. She of course assumed he went into a state of panic, as most of us would, but it turns out he was thrilled to have an auditorium full instead of a classroom.
In High School we were required to give an assembley to the entire High School as a graduation requirement. This was of course a huge deal. Not only did you have to stand up and share a piece of your own writing, but you had to do it infront of 200 girls watching your every move. I did mine on the Oglala-Lakota Sioux American Indians and Shannon did hers on smoking. A huge feat for an 18 year old - in fact Im not sure that Ive spoken infront of 200+ people since.
So Kel and I were discussing our dislike of the art that is public speaking. Shannon and I spoke infront of a club at our high school two days ago. Im not sure you can call talking in front of 30 16 year olds public speaking, but just the same, I could feel the awkwardness as I began with all eyes on me. As Jerry Seinfeld pointed out - statistically most people would rather be IN the coffin at a funeral than giving the Eulogy.
So what is my point you ask? Well, I mentioned to Kel that before we spoke I said to Shannon that 30 girls was a lot. And that Shannon looked at me and said very matter of factly, well you're going to say the same thing in front of 30 girls that you would in front of 6 right? And I thought about it for a second before nodding and agreeing. It was a good point, and when I relayed it to Kel on the phone it was like a lightbulb went off. She was thrilled at the rationale and said she would definitely have it in mind next time she spoke at a business meeting our anywhere else. I thought it should be shared here in case it helped anyone else as well. Its that or there is always picturing the audience in their underwear, but for some reason that has always seemed like far too much of an effort to me.
