Speak Up, Please!

Speak Up, Please! So in my very last semester at the community college, before transferring to a university, I found myself sitting in a speech class. Now I was not particularly interested in a speech class. I had no desires to do public speaking any time soon. The only reason I was taking this class was because it was a requirement in order to transfer to the university I had chosen. I have heard it said that on a list of things people are afraid of, public speaking is second only to death. Well, I can’t say that it was that drastic for me but I was not looking forward to it. In fact, the classroom I was sitting in that first day must have had 50 plus students there. This would have included hopeful add-ons and such. In the junior college I attended you rarely saw a room that crowded. On that first day, once the instructor had all the logistics out of the way, he asked; “How many of you are in your last semester here?”   90 percent of the students raised their hands. Well, there you go, not a course on the top of folks list of favorite subjects. No surprise though. My biggest surprise was walking out of there with an “A” at the end of the course. Here are a few little tips from a student who took this advice literally, and did well. First pick topics that you truly enjoy. If you love the subject chances are you are already very familiar with it. Also it will be related to the audience that you are into this topic, even if you are nervous about standing up there with all eyes staring at you, waiting for you to goof up so they can explode into a rage of laughter and judgment at your expense. Wait, did I just say that out loud? Just kidding. Just be prepared. When writing out your first speech, go ahead and just put down every word for now. Each time you go through the speech you will eliminate some text, so that your notes will become more like queue-card reminders, rather than your speech word for word. By the time you are ready to practice your speech on friends or family, you should end up with short simple notes that remind you where you are and what point you are making right now. If you are the nervous type when it comes to standing in front of a room full of people, in other words, most of us, your best bet for success is to practice, practice, practice! That is the most sure fire way to get your message across, even if you flub up here or there. In fact when you are so familiar with your topic people will not notice that you missed something because the rest of your material will be so convincingly clear that no one would notice what you skipped along the way. You will find, as I have that those skills in speech class will come in handy down the road of life, including everything from standing up in traffic court to defend and fight a ticket to, giving a eulogy at a memorial service for a loved one. And when all else fails…. Get a Tutor!