Why Public Speaking?

    

by Mari Werner

     Why would you want to speak in front of groups? Groups can be ugly. If you make jokes, they might not laugh. There you would stand exposed, painfully humiliated, scared for life. And who knows if your lawyer would be able to collect millions for your mental anguish or not.

     For most of us, an easier question to answer would be, why not speak? Reasons:

• The transformation of your heart into an alien being trying to escape from your chest.
• The perspiration that cascades down your forehead or your shirt.
• The garrote that tightens around your throat.
• The less than edifying effect of the stammering you’re finally able to force from your lips.

How do great public speakers happen?

     If you’re a person who can relate to any of the above reasons not to speak, you may also be under the impression that some people just have a knack for public speaking and some people don't.

     Well, where did these people with a knack for public speaking actually acquire it? In most cases, it turns out to have been practice and encouragement. When they were four years old they got up in front of their parents and talked, and their parents laughed at all their jokes. So they got up in front of the aunts, uncles and grandparents and talked, and the extended family likewise laughed at all their jokes. Then it was the neighborhood, the school plays and running for student body president. When you put it all together, they got a lot of practice and a lot of encouragement.

     Perhaps you could collect for yourself a “knack” for public speaking. There are techniques and skills involved in public speaking that can be learned. With practice and encouragement, a person with an utter dread of speaking to groups can become an accomplished, effective public speaker.

Why would you want to?

     Suppose you could become an effective public speaker and maybe even have fun at it. Why would you want to? Have you ever not bothered to tell people something because it was obvious, only to find later that they were blind to what was obvious to you? We all have blind spots. You have some of your own, you just don’t see them. (Could that be why we call them blind spots?) If we help each other by filling in the spots, maybe together we can see the whole picture.

     Buckets of false data are being continually poured into the society by the mass media. Advertisers tell us that the way to happiness is a slim body and a shiny car. Hillary and Tipper stand up and tell the world that the solution to violence in schools is to give more drugs to more children. You probably have something to say that would be truer than that. (If you tried, could you possibly think of anything to say that would be less true than that?) Say it. Your words may be what the world needs to hear.

     What if you could inspire and uplift people just by getting up and talking? What if you could make people laugh? Do you have something to say that you think matters? What if you could stand up in front of an audience and change people’s minds? What if you could use your words and your voice to change the face of the society? Maybe it’s time to let your voice be heard.

Mari Werner, CTM
Renaissance Speaker
Reprinted from The Latest Magazine, July 2000

Mari Werner is a freelance writer. She can be reached at mariw@earthlink.net